PA-2013 Rev. 2.0 EO-036 BIOS 1.15JI36 Keyboard Not Recognized

Man.

First time I decide to check a mainboard "out of the case", I run into
this problem.

I got this board on eBay for $30 delivered to run with a K6-III+ 450
I've had running on a VA-503+ 1.2 for years that was getting cranky.
The PA-2013 was supposed to have been used only about a week, and it
looked clean as a whistle.

I put in a K6/2 350 to check it out before flashing to the JI4333 Bios.
Set jumpers. (yawn.)

The new MOBO won't recognize my keyboard. Tried 3 different keyboards.
It said my CMOS checksum was bad. Tried clear CMOS. No dice. Check
CMOS battery voltage on my Fluke: 2.98 volts. Tried another known OK
battery. Nada.

Tried a different AGP board. Tried a PCI video board. Moved my
Crucial ram to another slot. I tried a different P/S. Nichts.

Tried jumping "KEYBOARD LOCK" pins. It just told me to unlock it on
the boot up page, but still didn't find the kbd.

Then I happened to find this on an obscure FIC page:

QUOTE >>>>>

Q7: I experience often keyboard lockups and during boot up occasionaly
hear beeps. Why? 2001/1/1
A: Most likely the system is having a static noise problem with your
Keyboard socket. The solution for this is to install a finger stock on
the keyboard socket that grounds this socket to the case. When the
keyboard connector is properly grounded, the lockups will disappear
(the FINGER STOCK is a metal fastener that slides over the keyboard
socket).

<<<<< END QUOTE

OK. I tie the P/S 2 shield to the power supply case (mobo still on the
benchtop on 1" 6/32 brass stilts.) Nothing.

I put it in the case. Shazzam! Christ, I thought I'd seen it all.

 

Here's the FIC FAQ link (for the short period of time it will be
valid):

http://www.fic.com.tw/support/motherboard/faq.aspx?type=general#qid381

 

Wow, I thought I had seen it all, too. I suppose this is probably
related to that annoying problem I have noticed with some computers...
when the power goes out because of a thunderstorm, the computer will not
turn back on unless you unplug the PS/2 keyboard and mouse, first.

Thanks for the update!

 

Well, I may have been optimistic. It seems that the pressure that the
case exerted on the PS/2 connector housing may have completed an
intermittant circuit. It looks like either a problem with an internal
trace on the board, or the housing itself.

I'm going to try a USB kbd tonight.

bummer

mac

 

Well, that didn't do it. The board was bad, had to return it. Bummer.


I've got too many other projects. ' Twas fun whilst it lasted...

Does anybody want to buy a slew of AMD processors?

K6-2/300 - one each
K6-2/350 - one each

These next units run great on FIC boards VA-503+ and PA-2013 (2.0 or
greater) with special bios JE4333 or JE4331, with no need for upgraded
power regulation as they are mobile processors and don't draw the
current of the standard K6-2 and K6-III running at these frequencies:

K6-2+/450 - one each (runs great at 2.1V and 550 MHz) Burned in 12
mos.
K6-III+/450 (runs great at 2.1V and 550 MHz) I've got 2 of this one,
both burned in for 6 mos.

pc