AST Premmia P/133 POST Failure

davisckeith · Wed Jan 22, 2003 6:11 am

My AST Premmia GX p/133 will not get past early POST failure. I hear 2 long beeps and 3 short beeps; no video ever gets initialized...the machine simply hangs after the POST failure.

The most detail I've received from the beeps is system board failure. I've pulled every card, checked RAM, etc but I do not know how to troubleshoot from here. The only visual oddity is the BIOS battery has oozed a bit of its internals inside the case.

How can I troubleshoot from here to run the specific issue to ground?

Keith

Wed Jan 22, 2003 9:25 pm

I'd try removing the battery. I got a 286 board. When powered up, it initialized the VGA card and then displayed "CMOS INOPERATIVE. SYSTEM HALTED". Then I desoldered the battery and the board works. The battery was dead and shorted.

Wed Jan 22, 2003 11:52 pm

See if there is a jumper to disconnect it easily...like from internal battery to external battery...could be of the 4-pin variety...

You can then connect an external battery of the proper voltage later on to support the BIOS in retaining its info when you power off.

If it is really leaking badly I'd clip it out as that stuff will etch the motherboard and cause who knows what problems down the road.

Couldn't find "2 long beeps and 3 short beeps" as an error code...AMI BIOS??

Thu Jan 23, 2003 12:25 am

IIRC, AST computers used to have their own BIOS.

davisckeith · Thu Jan 23, 2003 4:59 am

I'll try the battery removal/cleanup suggestion. If that fails, I'll try to find a "secondhand" motherboard replacement since I found out today from Tandy (Radio Shack via ARI-Service) that the original OEM board replacement is a bit pricey.

Any suggestions on where to find "secondhand" or "aftermarket" motherboard replacement?

Many thanks for the assist, Rainbow and KachiWachi...

Keith