Board ID Help

[Zissou]

Hi folks,

I'm trying to put together an old Pentium III 450 mhz system that got fried. This is a learning project, just to see if I can do it.

I'm having trouble IDing the mobo. The Seanix CS Series reference manual says the system has a Columbia BX mobo, but the schematics don't match what I'm looking at and neither do the pics that I've found online.

There is no FCC # or name stencilled on the board, and I can't do a bios scan because the beast won't turn on.

The only info that might help is a sticker on the board that says: GAT. B/H/A - 10
I can't find any info on that when I google it.

So, any suggestions?

 

[jvnn]

Well you could try looking at the bios chip to see if it has any designation on it.
put the designation plus "bios" into google - you might get lucky.
the other thing that might work is to put various parts of that sticker plus motherboard into google. eg gat motherboard etc.
you could also google seanix cs or columbia motherboard.
It gets time consuming and doesn't always pay off.
When it does you get to feel real smart tho...
good luck!

 

[Zissou]

Thanks for the Bios + Destination tip jvnn.

I guess that's about all I can do.

I appreciate the reply, I was worried that nobody was going to respond.

Take care...

 

[mindless1]

Also try clearing CMOS, checking battery voltage.

With the board out of a case you might also get an idea about any jumper or switch settings by following their traces to the next connected parts.

Generally speaking, that CPU should be multiplier locked and being a low speed for the family, not too picky about being undervolted a bit either. Overvoltage could be bad but they were "supposed" to be using auto voltage settings by that era. Who knows with a generic board though, if you have a multimeter you could always probe for the vcore voltage and try a few jumpers while the CPU is not installed.

"Columbia" doesn't ring any bells but if you could post a moderately hi-res picture somewhere and link it, maybe that'd help ID it. Also look in the corners, like next to the PS2 ports for silk-screened numbers or letters, that was a popular spot for PCChips and their rebranded parts to be numbered.

 

[networkman]

You might trying going to motherboards.org and using their MOBOT utility.