You 2 are some of my favorite retro tech content creators. And yes a logic probe is now in my Amazon cart. Now to learn how to use it and an O scope :)
Subscribed as soon as I watched your first video. I wish I was as good at fault finding as yourself. I have an old 386dx40 board. All works except the onboard speaker. Not a big deal. Cant wait to watch more videos
Oh man this video was super educational! I have to get a logic probe and start working on a bunch of broken motherboards that I didn't throw away in the hope that one day they would get fixed. I realized that I have the Ultimate Hardware 2019 in my bookmarks but I completely forgot about it, thanks for the reminder!
Awesome video! Thank you! Im learning to repair traces to fix an original Xbox and hopefully to upgrade it as well, and this comes in handy as you make it seem logical and easily understandable!
Greetings, I have been watching your videos for quite a while now, and decided to repair one of the 486 motherboards I got. And it so happens that it is a little above my usual level of comprehension. May I ask your advise on repairing a damaged 486 motherboard? I.e. to understand whether this type of damage can be repaired. Regards,
excellent work, i have a similar board (SOYO SY-019K1) and changed the Keyboard connector too. To protect circuit repairs i use green soldermask (in german: Lötstoplack) which hardens in daylight even without uv light.
Do all ISA slots go through a transceiver? Is it the same or each slot got his? Does that apply to all motherboards that have an ISA slot? Or newer chipsets have it integrated? That would be helpful for future troubleshooting. Again thanks for teaching me something new!
All ISA slots are interconnected in parallel, so every pin in one slot is directly connected to the same pin in another slot. Please watch my video about -5V Voltage Blaster, which I made with Phil. The transceiver is usually one for all ISA slots, but there are many transceivers each one responsible for an own bus. One for lower 8 data bits, one for upper 8 databits and three transceivers for 24 address lines. Some mainboards don't have a separate data transceiver, where data lines are going directly into the chipset, but it's not very common for mainboards of this age. Usually ISA is connected to everything else through a bunch of transceivers.
This is very helpful! I have a 386DX-33 motherboard that was damaged via a leaky battery as well. I got it going, but when I insert a multi I/O card in it, the serial ports do not work. I'm wondering if I have a similar issue with a disconnect on the bus transceiver and ISA bus?
Hi! First of all because I didn't expect a trace to be broken there. It is more common to have a broken transceiver in such case. Furthermore, as the transceiver was in the board, the input was floating giving me some feedback on the probe, so I didn't see it as "disconnected". I measured a logical 0 in that input pin as the IC was still in there but a logical 1 on related output, so I thought, that the transceiver could be broken. First as I desoldered the IC I could realize, that there is actually no input signal at all. The problem is, that broken parts can give faulty feedback into their pins rendering all the measurements around useless, so you have to remove them to be sure.
Hi and thank you! My second hobby is underwater photography and there I'm using a nice small camera for macro pictures. The camera is Olympus TG-5. It has a special microscope mode, where the camera is capable to focus from less than 1cm and full zoom. Microscope is the name, which it really deserves, using it with enough light and full magnification a human hair looks like a ship rope :D
Thanks! Yes, I use it sometimes too and it works, but a polishing tool works better. Not only because it's faster and more gentle, but also because I hate fiberglas shards in my fingers....
I have the same error on my board, also 386DX40, But I do not have the osciloscope, so I am unable to find the broken trace or faulty chip. Is there any way how can I fix it without the osciloscope? Question: Do you also repair boards from your fans for some little amount of money? You can make another great video with it ;-) Thanks in advance, Jiri from Prague, Cz
What temperature did you set on soldering station to restore broken traces with tin and wires? Nice job on diagnosing this old motherboard and even better on repairing it.Keep it up!
I like using a nail polish clearcoat for stuff like this, just so it dries clear. Luckily I was allowed to nab it because otherwise I'd probably have also vanished without a trace by now :D
Irgendwie bekomme ich die Frage immer wieder :D Ich nehme zwar keine Lehrlinge auf, aber meine Videos sind als Inspiration gedacht und ich hoffe damit dem einen oder anderem eine Hilfestellung zu geben. Auf jeden Fall vielen Dank für den Lob!
It was called Total Hardware. The last version was from 1999 and was called TH99 in short. That CD gave us eventually the initial data to start with UH19.
I have what is almost this exact board. It is rebranded Magnatron without any model info so no documents could be found. It does have the Cyrix Cx486DLC CPU installed and the i386 is empty. It also has the same damage, down to the DIN socket and a few pins on the first ISA slot. It works OK, but will randomly crash with a HALT message. Still needs some cleaning up.
You should never run it with the oxidation. Not even turn it on. The chemical reaction is ongoing and eating away the copper and as soon as current flows through the traces the dissolving process goes a lot faster.
Very interesting video ! Could have helped me years ago when I found a 486 board that had no corrosion whatsoever and had issues with RAM and also didn't start with a VLB video card. Unfortunately I attempted to remove/resolder the chipset and it failed. And thanks for supporting UH19 once again :)
Hi! Es wird im Video kurz erklärt. Es ist ein sog. Logik Tester. Wenn Du damit eine Leitung berührst, sagt es Dir ob da gerade eine logische 1 oder 0 anliegt bzw. zwischen den Zuständen pulsiert. Wenn es wegen der Sprache etwas problematisch ist, youtube hat eine ganz gute automatische Übersetzung. Einfach Untertiteln einschalten und Deutsch einstellen. Ich weiß, dass es für viele ein Problem ist, da ich häufiger Anfragen bekomme die Videos auf Deutsch zu machen. Aber Deutsch ist nicht meine Muttersprache und da ich mehrere Sprachen spreche, bekomme ich diese Anfragen genau so für andere Sprachen auch und ich kann es leider nicht allen Recht machen.
I always enjoy your videos, gives me some good ideas when trying to repair stuff. It is too bad the site mentioned at the end is already shut down less than a year later. Oh the fleeting fickle nature of the web :(
You have to read 12, 13. So 12 was the last step, 13 is the current one and means on the AMI BIOS among other SIMM memory initialization. For POST codes description see for example: 1-2-8.net/manual_postcard_32.pdf
@@necro_ware Thank you for the reply,sadly there were battery leakage under the SIMM sockets and my frined said there is not too much to do with that board anymore :( it was put in a box a year ago as a working one with another 3 .. but one with a leaky battery what I didn't removed in time,case closed.
No the DS12887 is just the real time clock module with integrated memory. It can be used to save the bios settings, but the bios itself is on another chip.
Hi my friend, amazing job!!!! You go like a pro! I wish my damaged mobos were also straightforward has it looks here... I say looks because there is some amount of work not shown here to keep it short.
Hi Jorge! Thank you very much. Yes, it is not possible to press everything into 15 minutes, especially desoldering oxidized parts is very tedious and boring job. I guess, not many would be happy to see me 2h desoldering :D
Don’t lie, the nail varnish was yours, you didn’t steal it from your wife 😀 Some PCB’s are multi layered and have tracks on every layer, which are a nightmare to repair
Ah, you got me :D .... no, I really took it from her, no jokes.... O_o An yes, not even some, most of mainboards starting with 286 are multi layered. If the electrolyte remains too long and gets inside of the PCB, it is a real pain to repair. One such example was a 286 mainboard in one of my previous videos about rebuilding a 286 PC. I tried my best, but couldn't rescue the board :(
@@necro_ware I have been in repairs since 85/86 and worked on Taxan, then worked for DEC. It saddens me now that Electronics is disposable, as true “Fault Finding” is a lost art. Great Channel Thankyou
I think, I don't understand your question. You mean which replacement to take? There is a pin header, on all of the mainboards of that age. You can grab a pair of AA or one CR2032 batteries and connect them to that pin header. I already showed it in some of my other videos.
@@necro_ware Anyway, nice fix, but because of the battery it was a bit unfinished feeling. It won't remember your choice of the beautiful setup colors! I thought "nooooooo. don't put it into bag just yet"
@@futu1983 No, the pin header is for non-rechargeable batteries. Only the soldered battery, which leaked on this board, will be recharged. So, you are safe to connect a normal battery to the pin header.
@@futu1983 Well, I never store mainboards together with batteries. They will be added first, when the mainboards go into a PC. The BIOS settings have to be setup for each PC anyway, so there is nothing to remember ;)
It's a cheap no name flux and in this video I'm using is SH72 soldering iron, but I also use a 10€ no name 60W device from Amazon. I don't really care much about that things, if it works for me, it's good enough...
@@necro_ware and so it is . . this gives me hope in restoring a 486-vlb board - because i got a few vlb cards never able to test.. but maybe there is a smarter way not fail-testing a 486board.. it be so bad if it burns out because i had a bonfire once ..
![เปิด อาณาจักร หมื่นล้าน "สาระตั้ม" l [Nickynachat]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3XE0nPF4YkQ/mqdefault.jpg)
You give us a new level of quality to the retro community. Thank you.
The logical steps towards effective repair are always a joy to watch, great video.
Great repair! 👍🏻. Thanks for sharing with us. I enjoyed every minute of it. I need this simple logic probe as well. Very useful.
Glad, that I can give you some joy in return. Thank you also for the your awesome channel!
You 2 are some of my favorite retro tech content creators. And yes a logic probe is now in my Amazon cart. Now to learn how to use it and an O scope :)
Excellent repair job, this is professional stuff. I am looking forward to the rest of this series! 🙂
Your videos are just amazing, thank you so much for making them. Please never stop, they're so interesting and satisfying.
Underrated Channel! Klasse Arbeit, wirklich! ;)
Subscribed as soon as I watched your first video. I wish I was as good at fault finding as yourself. I have an old 386dx40 board. All works except the onboard speaker. Not a big deal. Cant wait to watch more videos
Nice job on this repair! You're a man of technical talent and great courage for daring to steal the wife's nailpolish.
:D
fantastic! and I love the retro community linked at the end too!!
WOW!! Very good video!! Great production quality, intelligent, and entertaining!
Oh man this video was super educational! I have to get a logic probe and start working on a bunch of broken motherboards that I didn't throw away in the hope that one day they would get fixed. I realized that I have the Ultimate Hardware 2019 in my bookmarks but I completely forgot about it, thanks for the reminder!
A true early 486 rival. Very nice job.
I'm loving the repair videos and have taken a couple notes about your methods of trace bridging!
This channel is pure gold!
Loved this video. It’s a joy to watch skill and craftsmanship like this.
I finally found someone who competes with me.
Great Fix
Thank you! Not that I wanted to compete with anybody, but well.... :D
Great job !!, I can't wait for another repair.
WOW..... Damn you're good.... It may have taken me decades to notice that crack 11:25
amazing work, you can see that you are familiar with the craft of repairs
Awesome video! Thank you! Im learning to repair traces to fix an original Xbox and hopefully to upgrade it as well, and this comes in handy as you make it seem logical and easily understandable!
Great repair work there. The board probably wouldn't have ever got fixed if it wasn't for your skill and patience.
"vanish without any trace" that's a good pun!
This is the content I love the most in your channel :-) Thanks for this!
Again a pro grade repair! I must get that logic probe tool, seems really useful. 👍
Awesome restauration! Looking forward to the next videos!
Very inspirational. Makes me want even more to fix my Suntac 286 :))
Nice video!
P.S: Thanks for the UH19 shout out by the way.
Thank you too for all the hard work on UH19!
You're doing excellent work. Thanks for sharing :)
Gonna love this series
Greetings,
I have been watching your videos for quite a while now, and decided to repair one of the 486 motherboards I got.
And it so happens that it is a little above my usual level of comprehension. May I ask your advise on repairing a damaged 486 motherboard? I.e. to understand whether this type of damage can be repaired.
Regards,
excellent work, i have a similar board (SOYO SY-019K1) and changed the Keyboard connector too. To protect circuit repairs i use green soldermask (in german: Lötstoplack) which hardens in daylight even without uv light.
Yes, it's probably also safer for me too not to steal a nail polish from my wife.... :D
Do all ISA slots go through a transceiver? Is it the same or each slot got his?
Does that apply to all motherboards that have an ISA slot? Or newer chipsets have it integrated?
That would be helpful for future troubleshooting.
Again thanks for teaching me something new!
All ISA slots are interconnected in parallel, so every pin in one slot is directly connected to the same pin in another slot. Please watch my video about -5V Voltage Blaster, which I made with Phil. The transceiver is usually one for all ISA slots, but there are many transceivers each one responsible for an own bus. One for lower 8 data bits, one for upper 8 databits and three transceivers for 24 address lines. Some mainboards don't have a separate data transceiver, where data lines are going directly into the chipset, but it's not very common for mainboards of this age. Usually ISA is connected to everything else through a bunch of transceivers.
@@necro_ware This is helpful! Thanks!
Very impressive repair.
Back 2 Basics "gear head" joy.. Thank you!
Nice repair man. Another one saved ;-)
You sir are a wizard.
Thank you for pinup :)
Instead of nail polish you can use green UV lack, it hardens faster and looks a bit better :)
This is very helpful! I have a 386DX-33 motherboard that was damaged via a leaky battery as well. I got it going, but when I insert a multi I/O card in it, the serial ports do not work. I'm wondering if I have a similar issue with a disconnect on the bus transceiver and ISA bus?
May be yes, but I also would check -12V line and if the ISA slot gets it properly. Serial ports need both -12V and +12V.
So much effort, good job.
Thanks, interesting repair) Thy you de soldering a buffer instead check line from CPU? For fun?))
Hi! First of all because I didn't expect a trace to be broken there. It is more common to have a broken transceiver in such case. Furthermore, as the transceiver was in the board, the input was floating giving me some feedback on the probe, so I didn't see it as "disconnected". I measured a logical 0 in that input pin as the IC was still in there but a logical 1 on related output, so I thought, that the transceiver could be broken. First as I desoldered the IC I could realize, that there is actually no input signal at all. The problem is, that broken parts can give faulty feedback into their pins rendering all the measurements around useless, so you have to remove them to be sure.
Awesome job! Can I ask how you perform your close up shots of the motherboard? Do you use a microscope or camera with macro lens?
Hi and thank you! My second hobby is underwater photography and there I'm using a nice small camera for macro pictures. The camera is Olympus TG-5. It has a special microscope mode, where the camera is capable to focus from less than 1cm and full zoom. Microscope is the name, which it really deserves, using it with enough light and full magnification a human hair looks like a ship rope :D
2:38 Why you are not recommending a fiberglass pen? It is working quite well for me.
ps. nice video anyway :)
Thanks! Yes, I use it sometimes too and it works, but a polishing tool works better. Not only because it's faster and more gentle, but also because I hate fiberglas shards in my fingers....
Most excellent work
I have the same error on my board, also 386DX40, But I do not have the osciloscope, so I am unable to find the broken trace or faulty chip. Is there any way how can I fix it without the osciloscope? Question: Do you also repair boards from your fans for some little amount of money? You can make another great video with it ;-) Thanks in advance, Jiri from Prague, Cz
What temperature did you set on soldering station to restore broken traces with tin and wires? Nice job on diagnosing this old motherboard and even better on repairing it.Keep it up!
Thank you, I'm usually using leaded solder @300°C or lead-free @350°C
I like using a nail polish clearcoat for stuff like this, just so it dries clear. Luckily I was allowed to nab it because otherwise I'd probably have also vanished without a trace by now :D
Great investigation :)
I would love that system with a 386 DLC
could you share the model of the dremel bit that you're using please? Thanks!
de.aliexpress.com/item/1005001941797709.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.760cad44KqLC6X&ad_pvid=202111140323113705241098917750029386699_5&s=p
@@necro_ware Thank you!
@@necro_ware I got the bits today and wow. They are just amazing. Too bad I don't need 50 of them! LOL Thanks again!
well done, good overview!
Very good repair job, and it happened to be an interesting board in the end ;)
Thank you for the hint about the cache ;)
Absoluten Respekt für deine Reparaturleistung! Hut ab. Nimmst du auch Lehrlinge auf??
Irgendwie bekomme ich die Frage immer wieder :D Ich nehme zwar keine Lehrlinge auf, aber meine Videos sind als Inspiration gedacht und ich hoffe damit dem einen oder anderem eine Hilfestellung zu geben. Auf jeden Fall vielen Dank für den Lob!
Great methodology!
Back in these Days I had this Oak VGA-Card. It was stunning fast.
I'm not sure... I guess I had also exactly this Mainboard and an Am 386/40.
One moment, please... is this 386 directly soldered to the mainboard? Okay, I never had this Mainboard. 😁
Do you remember the Database on CD for old Hardware? What was its name? I missed it so much, but the Ultimate Hardware looks very interesting!
It was called Total Hardware. The last version was from 1999 and was called TH99 in short. That CD gave us eventually the initial data to start with UH19.
@@necro_ware That's it! Thanks a lot!
I have what is almost this exact board. It is rebranded Magnatron without any model info so no documents could be found. It does have the Cyrix Cx486DLC CPU installed and the i386 is empty. It also has the same damage, down to the DIN socket and a few pins on the first ISA slot. It works OK, but will randomly crash with a HALT message. Still needs some cleaning up.
You should never run it with the oxidation. Not even turn it on. The chemical reaction is ongoing and eating away the copper and as soon as current flows through the traces the dissolving process goes a lot faster.
Weitek option in the BIOS. Uuuu, interesting.
Excellent. Continuation = Continuity. Who cares? I like seeing old workhorses being given new lease of life!
Oh, did I misspell it somewhere? ) Even if I speak English a lot, it remains a foreign language for me and sometimes I do funny mistakes...
Would you consider putting affiliate links to your tools like the signal probe, flux paste etc. Thanks a lot for the great videos!
Too much of a hustle for a couple of cents. Just go to your favorite online shop and buy what you need....
Very interesting video !
Could have helped me years ago when I found a 486 board that had no corrosion whatsoever and had issues with RAM and also didn't start with a VLB video card.
Unfortunately I attempted to remove/resolder the chipset and it failed.
And thanks for supporting UH19 once again :)
Thank YOU Deksor! It is great to see how UH19 is improving.
Amazing job!
Was ist das für ein Gerät was du da benutzt mit den LEDs?
Hi! Es wird im Video kurz erklärt. Es ist ein sog. Logik Tester. Wenn Du damit eine Leitung berührst, sagt es Dir ob da gerade eine logische 1 oder 0 anliegt bzw. zwischen den Zuständen pulsiert.
Wenn es wegen der Sprache etwas problematisch ist, youtube hat eine ganz gute automatische Übersetzung. Einfach Untertiteln einschalten und Deutsch einstellen. Ich weiß, dass es für viele ein Problem ist, da ich häufiger Anfragen bekomme die Videos auf Deutsch zu machen. Aber Deutsch ist nicht meine Muttersprache und da ich mehrere Sprachen spreche, bekomme ich diese Anfragen genau so für andere Sprachen auch und ich kann es leider nicht allen Recht machen.
I always enjoy your videos, gives me some good ideas when trying to repair stuff. It is too bad the site mentioned at the end is already shut down less than a year later. Oh the fleeting fickle nature of the web :(
Thank you. The project just has moved to an own domain: www.ultimateretro.net/
what is 1312 code stands for at 5:55? my board does the same,but cant go further..
You have to read 12, 13. So 12 was the last step, 13 is the current one and means on the AMI BIOS among other SIMM memory initialization. For POST codes description see for example: 1-2-8.net/manual_postcard_32.pdf
@@necro_ware Thank you for the reply,sadly there were battery leakage under the SIMM sockets and my frined said there is not too much to do with that board anymore :( it was put in a box a year ago as a working one with another 3 .. but one with a leaky battery what I didn't removed in time,case closed.
@@analog303 There is no such thing, like closed case ;) May be this can inspire you: th-cam.com/video/XdT0byPMnZY/w-d-xo.html
AHA!!!...:))) Impressive work.
Good job man!
I'm having issues with a Dell Pentium XPS 90 board. Does anyone know if Dell had the bios in the Dallas DS12887 Time stamp chip?
No the DS12887 is just the real time clock module with integrated memory. It can be used to save the bios settings, but the bios itself is on another chip.
@@necro_ware
Ok, then the problem is my workmanship in the socket installation-I hope.
Great work sir i want like you respect
From pakistan
Sehr schön =)
Danke 😊
wow keren
Hi my friend, amazing job!!!! You go like a pro! I wish my damaged mobos were also straightforward has it looks here... I say looks because there is some amount of work not shown here to keep it short.
Hi Jorge! Thank you very much. Yes, it is not possible to press everything into 15 minutes, especially desoldering oxidized parts is very tedious and boring job. I guess, not many would be happy to see me 2h desoldering :D
Nice!
Don’t lie, the nail varnish was yours, you didn’t steal it from your wife 😀
Some PCB’s are multi layered and have tracks on every layer, which are a nightmare to repair
Ah, you got me :D .... no, I really took it from her, no jokes.... O_o
An yes, not even some, most of mainboards starting with 286 are multi layered. If the electrolyte remains too long and gets inside of the PCB, it is a real pain to repair. One such example was a 286 mainboard in one of my previous videos about rebuilding a 286 PC. I tried my best, but couldn't rescue the board :(
@@necro_ware I have been in repairs since 85/86 and worked on Taxan, then worked for DEC.
It saddens me now that Electronics is disposable, as true “Fault Finding” is a lost art.
Great Channel
Thankyou
8:34 you found Snoop Dogg !!
Hah :D
So how about a battery?
I think, I don't understand your question. You mean which replacement to take? There is a pin header, on all of the mainboards of that age. You can grab a pair of AA or one CR2032 batteries and connect them to that pin header. I already showed it in some of my other videos.
@@necro_ware I've heard that this pin header is for rechargeable batteries and you can't just put CR2032 on it?
@@necro_ware Anyway, nice fix, but because of the battery it was a bit unfinished feeling. It won't remember your choice of the beautiful setup colors! I thought "nooooooo. don't put it into bag just yet"
@@futu1983 No, the pin header is for non-rechargeable batteries. Only the soldered battery, which leaked on this board, will be recharged. So, you are safe to connect a normal battery to the pin header.
@@futu1983 Well, I never store mainboards together with batteries. They will be added first, when the mainboards go into a PC. The BIOS settings have to be setup for each PC anyway, so there is nothing to remember ;)
Now I know what for wife is needed.
LOL :D
the wife
click for 555 - and it be perfect
which model/watt iron is used
what type of solder - flux ?
i want to know ALL !
ah, that Et4000 - i got one like that - hmm.. sigh..
It's a cheap no name flux and in this video I'm using is SH72 soldering iron, but I also use a 10€ no name 60W device from Amazon. I don't really care much about that things, if it works for me, it's good enough...
@@necro_ware and so it is . .
this gives me hope in restoring
a 486-vlb board - because i got a few
vlb cards never able to test..
but maybe there is a smarter way
not fail-testing a 486board..
it be so bad if it burns out
because i had a bonfire once ..
Very nice job!