problems with pci-usb-card on aptiva 2168

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wilfried
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2002 2:19 pm

hi there,

a friends daughter is a poor student and still works with an old aptiva 2168 (pentium 100). last week her printer died so she had to buy another one and because usb-printers are nowadays the cheapest in the market she asked me to put an usb-add-on card in her pc so she could start printing again.
i know that adding an usb-card is (most of the time) a job that takes just a couple of minutes, but i'm in serious trouble with it because there seems to be an problem with the pci-slots on the mobo.
the shared isa/pci slot is occupied by an scsi-card with 2 hd's and a cd, but when i insert the usb-card, win98 doesn't recognise it. when i move the scsi-card to another slot i have the same problem: the card isn't recognised.
i grabbed a couple of utilities from the internet to see if i could locate the problem but i'm stuck because it seems that there is something wrong with PCI IRQ routing table.

usbready (an usb-testprogram) says that the software is usb-ready but the hardware isn't (the bios is bg2nl0m-12/16/98 and that's the most recent, according the ibm-website)

PCI from Craig Hart gives following results

Craig Hart's PCI+AGP bus sniffer, version 0.47á, freeware made in 1996-2001.

PCI BIOS Version 2.00 found!
Number of PCI Busses : 1
PCI Characteristics : Config Mechanism 1 Special Cycle Mechanism 1

Searching for PCI Devices using the System BIOS

Vendor 1045h OPTi Inc
Device C557h 82C557/8 Viper-M Pentium Bridge
Command 0007h (I/O Access, Memory Access, BusMaster)
Status 0280h (Supports Back-To-Back Trans., Medium Timing)
Revision 11h, Header Type 00h, Bus Latency 00h
Self test 00h (Self test not supported)
PCI Class Bridge, type PCI to HOST

Vendor 1045h OPTi Inc
Device C558h 82C558 Viper PCI to ISA Bridge with PnP
Command 0007h (I/O Access, Memory Access, BusMaster)
Status 8200h (Detected Parity Error, Medium Timing)
Revision 11h, Header Type 00h, Bus Latency 00h
Self test 00h (Self test not supported)
PCI Class Bridge, type PCI to ISA

Vendor 1023h Trident Microsystems
Device 9660h TGUI9660XGi/968x/938x GUI Accelerator
Command 0003h (I/O Access, Memory Access)
Status 0200h (Medium Timing)
Revision D3h, Header Type 00h, Bus Latency 00h
Self test 00h (Self test not supported)
PCI Class Display, type VGA
Address 0 is a Memory Address (anywhere in 0-4Gb) : 40000000h
Expansion ROM of 64Kb decoded by this card

Vendor 9004h Adaptec Inc
Device 8178h AHA-2940U/UW/2940D Ultra/Ultra Wide/Dual SCSI Host Adapter
Command 0107h (I/O Access, Memory Access, BusMaster, System Errors)
Status 0280h (Supports Back-To-Back Trans., Medium Timing)
Revision 00h, Header Type 00h, Bus Latency 40h
Self test 00h (Self test not supported)
Cache line size 32 Bytes (8 DWords)
PCI Class Storage, type SCSI
Address 0 is an I/O Port : 00001000h
Address 1 is a Memory Address (anywhere in 0-4Gb) : 20000000h
System IRQ 10, INT# A
Expansion ROM of 64Kb decoded by this card

Vendor 1045h OPTi Inc
Device C621h 82C621 IDE Controller (Single FIFO)
Command 0005h (I/O Access, BusMaster)
Status 0280h (Supports Back-To-Back Trans., Medium Timing)
Revision 11h, Header Type 00h, Bus Latency 00h
Self test 00h (Self test not supported)
PCI Class Storage, type IDE
PCI EIDE Controller Features :
BusMaster EIDE is supported
Primary Channel is at I/O Port 01F0h and IRQ 14
Secondary Channel is at I/O Port 0170h and IRQ 15
Address 4 is an I/O Port : 00001890h

ROM PCI IRQ routing table Windows 9x Compatibility Tests....
No ROM PCI IRQ routing table found!!!

IRQ Summary: IRQs 10,14,15 are used by PCI devices
Shared IRQs: There are no shared PCI IRQs

Anyone any idea how i can get this machine going??

thanks anyway

wilfried van ginneken
NickS
BIOS Bodhisattva
Posts: 3145
Joined: Fri May 03, 2002 10:34 am
Location: Thames Valley, UK

- This is the output with the USB card installed ?
- Do you have just one spare slot ?
- When you moved the boards, did you enable ESCD update in the CMOS ? (Maybe this doesn't apply to an Aptiva BIOS)
- Some clock generator chips have the ability to disable individual outputs ("to reduce EMI") for unused slots; have you checked the CMOS to make sure it hasn't got any slots disabled?
wilfried
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2002 2:19 pm

Hi NickS,

- Yes, the output is when the USB card was installed
- I do have 3 spare PCI-slots, but the problem is that they don't seem to respond (when i plug the scsi-card in one of the free slots i can't boot the system anymore
- Concerning the CMOS, the Surepath-bios doesn't seem to offer me much options to play with:
I can only change the bus mastering (which i tried both)
PCI CARD OPTIONS
PCI-1 Card Bus Mastering [Enabled] Disabled
PCI-2 Card Bus Mastering [Enabled] Disabled
- I can't find in the CMOS anything that tells me that there are any slots disabled

What I find odd at this computer is that the shared ISA/PCI-slot seems to work, while the others don't. especially since the pci-check tells me that the IRQ-table is missing. I should think that also the shared slot needs a valid irq-table, or not?

wilfried
KachiWachi
The New Guy
Posts: 1451
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

I was looking at the PCI SNIFF results...

You have the SCSI card in your shared slot, and your Trident Video Card in another...correct? If so, you have at least 2 PCI slots working...

Nothing should be in the ISA slot associated with the shared PCI slot...it's either one or the other...just FYI.

Look more carefully at the BIOS settings as I think NickS may be onto something, since moving the cards around seems to make the machine not find them...as if they were turned off.

Good Luck!
NickS
BIOS Bodhisattva
Posts: 3145
Joined: Fri May 03, 2002 10:34 am
Location: Thames Valley, UK

- Can you tell us exactly which model Aptiva 2168 ? 142 ?
wilfried
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2002 2:19 pm

hi guys,


You have the SCSI card in your shared slot, and your Trident Video Card in another...correct? If so, you have at least 2 PCI slots working...

the scsi-card is in the shared slot (and the associated isa is empty as it should be) but the trident video chip is on board!

- Can you tell us exactly which model Aptiva 2168 ? 142 ?

it is indeed a aptiva 2168 model 142.

hope you guys can come up with something, otherwise i think i'll try to find another mobo (maybe someone has one under the dust?)

thanks anyway
NickS
BIOS Bodhisattva
Posts: 3145
Joined: Fri May 03, 2002 10:34 am
Location: Thames Valley, UK

This uses a riser, supports the PCI 2.0 spec, Opti Viper chipset, spec says only 2 PCI slots.
Is it just possible you're trying to use a slot which isn't actually active ?
wilfried
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2002 2:19 pm

indeed, there is a risercard mounted on the mobo, which has (top-bottom) 1 pci, 1 shared isa/pci (which contains the scsi), 2 dedicated isa and 3 pci slots.
whether there are any pci-slots inactive i don't know where to look for: can i see somewhere in the surepath-bios if there are pci-slots deactivated?

thanks
NickS
BIOS Bodhisattva
Posts: 3145
Joined: Fri May 03, 2002 10:34 am
Location: Thames Valley, UK

This is an all-original set-up, is it ? Could someone have replaced the riser at some time ? If the BIOS only mentions PCI-1 and PCI-2, and the spec I linked to above only specifies 2 PCI, 6 ISA (2 shared), maybe that's all the motherboard is designed to take. IIRC, each PCI slot has its own addressing so that's quite possible. Do you have the part number for the motherboard (looks like there were two possible motherboards)?
wilfried
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2002 2:19 pm

NickS,

the motherboard has a label 11h9669 ibm fru 55, the risercard has printed on the board the following 60h9499 and caep301901. does that mean anything to you?

greetz
KachiWachi
The New Guy
Posts: 1451
Joined: Fri Mar 29, 2002 10:32 pm
Location: Pennsylvania, USA

I downloaded the Service Manual but it lists a different riser card...

This link of your board PN 11h9669 shows a riser board that almost looks all ISA or even VLB...
wilfried
BIOS Newbie
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2002 2:19 pm

i don't know the origin of the machine but it seems like there has been tempered with, so i think i'll step over to plan b, swapping the mobo. i have already found an old p166 mobo. just looking for another case, because the aptiva-case is not designed to take a mobo without riser (the card-frames in the back don't match!) and then i'll do a small rebuild, hoping (and assuming) that will solve the problem.

thanks anyway for the assistance

wilfried
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