Potentially blown Intel MMX chip on PS2 TOOL PCI card - queries

Having spoken to Unclejun and confirmed that his DTL-T10000 (PS2 Tool) is happy to operate using 2 x 32Mb EDO 72pin DRAM (which is what is currently installed in mine) it would appear that the main culprit is the PCI card installed in the unit.

The card is marked PCI-586HV-S (knock off the -S) and it's easily found via Google. It employs an Intel 200MMX processor. In closer inspection, having removed the PCI card from the casing I noticed that the fan cable (although it runs) has a small burn mark at the terminal end (inside the fan). On taking the fan off, removing the heat sink and looking at the processor there was NO protective grease and the heatsink might not have been seated precisely.

My impression is that the processor might have blown, which could be the crux of the matter...

Does anyone know whether any further damage might have occured if a processor blows and whether it is 100% safe to test this card in a more modern PC?

 

Yep, a fairly comman fault with TOOL's, blowing their PCI cards, it doesn't usually do any other damage, so you should be in luck

 

I think I remember you mentioning you had repaired a similar fault on another PS2 Tool? Was it the processor? I am wondering whether merely replacing the 200MMX processor would be sufficient? Hopefully eh!

 

You could try, but to be honest the cards are seriously cheap and crappy, I think you may find that the CPU will be fine...In fact I'd test the CPU first as they are usually bullet-proof.

 

Its its a socket 7 Intel MMX 200 then I have some spares somewhere around here I would give you if you just cover shipping. I dont know ANYTHING about these tool units so I cant say for sure if thats what your talking about. Also why dont you ship the ram to someone else who has a similer unit and let them see if your ram works on their unit to make sure its not the ram. Anyway just my 2 cents. Good luck!

 

Hi, yes! If you have a spare MMX processor (200Mhz) then I'd be interested. Let me know S&H to the UK. Many thanks! It is a Socket 7 Intel processor. The processor on this PCI is the first step. I could ask Unclejun to test various parts, but I shall begin with the parts that are straight forward and move on from there.

Thanks for your 2 cents - always welcome!

 

Not a problem. Let me hunt some up. A while back my uncle and I got some old school computers. About 80 of them. All were Pentium 1 MMX scoket 7 lol. Over the years we have used them for varios things but we should still have some.

Anyway I will post back when I find some. As for shipping im not sure. Never shipped anything to the UK before.

 

just checking specs for the PS2 online it seems that perhaps the problem is two fold. I pulled a MMX200 from the PCI slot. The specs listed elsewhere suggests that the Tool uses an MMX233 socket 7 chip.

Now I don't know which to trust - my own eyes (and possibly someone tampered with the unit) or the well informed spec on a fairly good site?

 

What did you end up doing to resolve the issue? Was it a case of tracking down a spare card? If so, I think I might have to give up on this particular unit and break it up for spare parts to help someone else out. I'd obviously prefer not to have to and get the unit going again.

:banghead:

There is probably no chance of obtaining a replacement PCI card unless someone out there knows of any spares?

 

Right, the Intel MMX233 CPU has been replaced and bingo!

1) DTL now starts BOOT sequence. It finds 1 HDD (Maxtor) (Primary Slave)
2) No video out on PS2 AV out
3) VGA out works (obviously)
4) The amount of memory is wrong, so I suspect the DRAM I have is faulty
5) If I swap over the HDD IDE cables, then no HDD are found.
6) The boot sequence halts with a Boot Error and requests set-up / install disc.

http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q265/Parris1972/Sony%20PS/Sony%20Playstation%202%20TOOL/PS2%20Tool%20boot%20sequence%20images/?action=view&current=PS2Toolbootsequence2.jpg

At one stage I added another HDD and STILL it was not located. Might be the fact that the additional HDD is formatted wrongly.

 

Possibilities for the hdd offhand (since I don't know what the Tool uses for a mobo):

Jumper set wrong, pcs of that time frame were tempermental of this one.
Bad IDE cable. I've seen boxes boot fine then get sent into PIO mode.
Might have to set the hdd manually within the BIOS. I've had a box where it would let you auto detect it but if you didn't hit the right options in the right order it wouldn't save it, but it would report the drive as being there.

I did have a p133 box die so I've got some 2x32mb SIMM EDO sitting here. The ram worked fine but the box didn't take advantage of EDO so I can't say if those functions worked (as I've never had a box use EDO). I would definately swap in new IDE cables. ATA133 cables will work just fine but some of the older boards had odd keying methods so you might have to mod the cable or dig up an old one.

EDIT: After taking a closer look at those images it's got the same BIOS type as one of my old p233 systems did, extremely tempermental when it came to hdds and problems with them. It's showing 2 drives on master and slave on the primary channel but aside from LANDZ numbers theres nothing but 0s, so the drive isn't being properly detected. Does the hdd work in another box?

 

2 and 6)normal as you don't have a boot hdd
5)have you tried setting the jumpers to master?

The maxtor drive is hooked up to the pci card, right?

I'm getting a bit OT here:
Are the linux login and password similar on all TOOL?
Does anyone around here know them?
The lilo prompt offers 2 options, "tool" and "linux", I haven't tested yet but
is the "linux" one for the WS mode(the default option is "tool")?

Talk to you soon, Parris!

 

Thanks folks! Lots of information there. I am NOT familiar with such old PC units as back in the day (1998 / 1999) I was using an Apple Mac. I did have a previous Win95 PC, but that was a few years earlier and if I remember rightly it ran on a 486 chip. So, this BIOS is unfamiliar territory and I certaintly would have no idea which keys to press in what order re the HDD.

The enclosed Maxtor actually doesn't have an image of the jumper settings so I dropped in a spare OLD drive I had which might not have been fully recognised. I did notice the information appear in BIOS, but as you say it was mostly all ZERO settings, so. I'm going to look for the specific Maxtor online to see whether jumper settings are available.

As for which IDE cable is connected to the HDD that is found. Yes, Unclejun it is connected to the PCI card. The loose cable is the longer IDE line that goes to the motherboard just beside the PSU.

APE thanks for the EDO offer! PM me and I shall send contact details.

Unclejun, I was given the password settings, which are apparently the same on all TOOL units. PA gave it to me. I shall dig it out.

Right re 2) - I thought I might still get video out, but that is fine. I can see the screen flicker and it goes pitch black (but you know there is a video image trying to display).

re 6) That's what I thought - just wanted to check.

 

APE, thanks for the offer! I have however just been handed 2 x 32Mb for free in Glasgow. I also bought a 30Gb replacement HDD from Stewart Recycling. So now, I have 1 or 2 questions.

1) The main IDE line is from the PS2 motherboard, not the PCI card I assume.

When I set the 2 HDD units together the secondary slave HDD is found, but the boot HDD on the main IDE line is not found. I have definately got the right jumper settings. I've looked through the BIOS settings and I can't see anything to influence the unit to see the new HDD. It's a straight forward 30Gb Maxtor drive. It is different from the ones supplied by Sony initially, but I would have thought that made no difference.

Can I assume this is normal and that it will not be found until a set-up disc is installed?

2) Should the lights on the motherboard still be red despite the fact I have added two HDD?

3) I have just noticed on the Linux motherboard there are 8 little switches all set to the DOWN position. This corresponds to the 8 switches found at the rear of the unit. Does anyone have any idea what these things do, how they should be set?

4) There is a master reset button on the Linux motherboard. Pressing this currently does nothing at all. Is that another setp up / not booted yet issue?

 

The boot hdd(primary master) must be connected to the same ide cable the primary slave.

In the bios, Integrated Peripherals section, the PIO mode is set to auto, the fifo is disabled and the hdd block mode is enabled, is that the same for you?

I have some old hdds that are mutually exclusive, they wouldn't work together on the same cable with a different brand hdd even with the right jumper settings, western digital for instance...or maybe your ide cable is defective.

2)I'll check that later

The insert system disk message is just a complain from the bios not able to find something to boot from, if there a floppy connector on the pci card you might as well hook up a fdd and boot on msdos 6...

 

Can you take a photograph of your HDD connected to the system please Unclejun? I have 2 IDE lines. On standard PC units I am familiar with the concept of HDDs connecting on the same IDE cable in parallel, however this PS2 Tool has 2 separate IDE cables. Is it possible that we have different versions? Perhaps your unit is a later revised edition?

Have a look at the connections I have: http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q265/Parris1972/Sony%20PS/Sony%20Playstation%202%20TOOL/PS2Toolinternalrepairs1.jpg

The rear IDE is grey, just below the PSU on the motherboard. That is what I THOUGHT was IDE 1 (the main one) and the other is on the PCI card, which I THOUGHT was IDE 2 (the secondary). If I take the IDE cables out (and they appear to be original) they are 2 separate cables, do not join and have no means of connecting 2 HDD - they both appear to be single IDE connections to one specific HDD.

I will check the BIOS suggestions.
EDIT: Just checked. They are the same as your settings. Auto / Disabled / Enabled.

I am stumped by this "on the same IDE cable" - I have definately got 2 different lines. Has someone just thrown in or tampered with the cables too? Man, they really never wanted me to get to the bottom of this unit did they!

 

Right, I need 1 clarification

I have 2 Maxtor HDD. A newly purchased BOOT (empty) HDD, set to primary master. I then have an emulation (I assume) HDD, set to secondary slave.

The BIOS is working correctly and BOTH HDD are detected if I connect them one at a time to the PCI card.

Is the PCI card meant to have a double IDE cable so that 2 HDD are fed to the one IDE line on the PCI card? (i.e. Boot and emulation HDD)

Why then have I got two single IDE cables, one of which runs to a grey IDE input on the main motherboard? Is this an early revision, a red herring or someone's idea of a joke when they tried to sort it in the past?

Can I get a really clear image of someone's DTL-T10000 guts so I can check please? Many thanks.

P.S. The only double IDE cable I have has one of the pins filled in, so it won't fit the damned board to test the theory. Maplins tomorrow I guess!

 

Sorry I haven't opened it yet...but I will, I just lacks time and motivation...

My thoughts: the primary master must be connected to the black right connector from the pci card(the black left connector being a floppy disk interface according to the pci-586hv manual), the gray connector is for the emulation hdd.
What eludes me is why is there a slave hdd as it's alone on its cable?
Both Primary hdds should be on the same cable or I missed something since my first PC...Time to switch to scsi maybe!

When hooked up to the pci card, the bios detects only a primary slave even with the hdd jumpers set to master?

There are some images here http://www.interq.or.jp/red/freedom/g_page02.htm
We can see the 2 hdds each on his own...

 

No, sorry perhaps I am not clear.

If I change the HDD to the PCI card cable (either HDD 1 or HDD 2) and change their jumper settings, then the BIOS detects that HDD alone and correctly labels it as primary master or secondary slave depending on which HDD I attach to it.

I have lost your BIOS screen picture. Does your BIOS image of the HDD (right at the beginning) detect the Primary master and not the secondary slave?

 

Most likely you are clear and I need to sleep!

It detects only a primary master, I don't even know IF there is a second hdd inside.

Could you on another pc make a dos partition on your new hdd and install msdos only to boot on it?
You still have only 4megs of ram detected?