nedoPC.org

Hi all,

I bought a sprinter motherboard (sp2000 light) some time ago. It worked perfectly, but for some reasons I have not used it for a long time (maybe one year).

Yesterday I tried to use it again, but I found a problem: the HDD and floppy are not detected anymore . I checked all cables and everything was just as I left it last time. I even tried with a diferent HDD, with no luck.

Anybody has any idea of what could be happening? I will make some more tests today, but I'm afraid the motherboard could have died

BTW, everything else seems to work ok: keyboard, scart output, etc.

Thanks and regards,

utopian

What version of BIOS and BDOS do you use?

The BIOS version displayed during bootup is 2.06.251. I don't know what is BDOS

I have made some more tests. The HDD is properly seen by a PC (as a Quantum 2.1 GB), but the Sprinter just says:

Detecting IDE Primary Master... None

It is the same with the floppy disk. The funny thing is that if I reverse the ribbon cable for the floppy, the floppy LED stays on all the time (as it would do with a working controller), so there is some signal going on , but it does not even try to access the FDD when trying to boot.

It's strange. Wrong cables? HDD has primary partition formatted as FAT16? Settings set to access floppy on boot?

It seems like you're using modern FDD which has been made as B: drive (on fabric). I had something like that, try to connect it as B: (without A: installed in the system). About HDD: disable (set as NONE) secondary hard drive in BIOS. Might help.

I tried all those things: different cables, different HDD, disabling the secondary hard disk... Nothing works. The computer worked perfectly well some time ago, and I did not change anything until it started failing.

I'm afraid the mainboard has died. I tested it with a different RAM module, and now it does not even show anything on the screen.

Thank you anyway for your help.

What if you will try to install new BIOS/DSS?

Well, I think that is the main problem of underground platforms is the total absence of any kind of support. So, I do believe that in your city you can find some tallented guys who will find what is is wrong with your m-board and fix it up. Completly Russian kind of businnes - no support, firm is died tough, only enthuasists can help
Anyway, I'm glad that is you are interested in sprinter computer. This show up that is good planed bussines in computer industry can be... =)

I cannot try, because there I cannot see anything on the screen Even with that, I need to load the new BIOS using a floppy or a hard disk, and I can't access any of them

Could you try to remove the КР1818ВГ93 IC from the motherboard ? It is large 40-pin IC. It is usually installed in panel and can be removed easily. Try to switch on your Sprinter without the IC, could help too. The IC is integrated FDD and HDD controller.

I think this chip is old FDD controller ONLY. HDD is controlled through Altera.