POST card. Your experience please?

[lucky13]

Hello all,

I am trying to resurrect a Gigabyte Socket A board (see my other post). I borrowed a POST card and found it may be a beneficial testing tool.

On the other hand, the card I borrowed has not produce any meaningful result. It shows 4 dashes on the 4-digit readout. The LEDs to show the voltages may be helpful but I already have a DMM. I plug this card into my working computer and it does display different #s on the 4-digit display during boot. The problem seems to be different BIOS provides different "info" and there is no correct guide to indicate what is the problem with the board.

I don't understand what some of the other LEDs are for; IRDY, FRAME, RESET and how these relate to the troubleshooting of the defective mobo.

I see on e Bay there are several versions of these "low cost" POST cards.

Most goes into the 1st PCI slot.

There is one design that uses parallel port & USB port.

Anyone here owns these and please post your experience?

[PCBONEZ]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

IRDY, FRAME, and RESET are signal lines on the PCI BUS.
The lights tell you if the signal is being asserted or not.

You have to look up the POST codes for the BIOS you are dealing with.
There -SHOULD- be an instruction book with the POST card that has the common codes. Since you don't have it use google or search the mobo manufacturer's site.

What 4 dashes means depends on the POST card. Another reason to have the book.
My guess would be that POST in not even starting, but that' just a guess.

There are two digit POST codes in some [usually older] BIOS's and four digit codes in others. There -may- be a switch or jumper on the POST card to switch between 2 and 4 digit modes. [Yup, need the book again.]
.

[everell]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

I bought one of these POST card testers a few months ago and am having "fun" learning how to use it. Yes, you need to get a manual! My manual refers to a Chinese website www.61131568.com (unless you understand Chinese, find and press the little button that says English). You will have to explore their website some til you find the page that lists the post card products. Pick a product similiar to yours and view the details. At the bottom is a "download manual" button. Then you will have a manual to work with.

I have Abit KT7A with raid. Spins the fan but won't post. I am going to get bios chip reprogrammed before going further. Then will see what this POST card will do for me. My blue esr meter did not show any bad caps, so this may be a big learning experience.

Lots of luck on your mobo.

Tom

[PCBONEZ]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

How they work is:
The POST sequence is a series of checks 'ordered' by the BIOS program.
The code you see is the last check 'ordered' by the BIOS.
If the check passes the BIOS issues the next command in the sequence.
If the POST hangs the last check that was 'ordered' failed and that command's code will still be displayed [locked in] on the card.

Each Core BIOS program [as like "Award Version 4.50"] has a standard set of codes built into it but motherboard manufacturers can [and often do] extend that either based on their brand as a whole [all of their boards] or specific to a particular motherboard - or both.

So the full code set for whatever mobo might be one of
[Core BIOS codes]
[Core BIOS codes]+[Brand extension]
[Core BIOS codes]+[Model extension]
[Core BIOS codes]+[Brand extension]+[Model extension]

This might help
http://www.postcodemaster.com/
.

[PCBONEZ]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

BTW:
I've been looking for one that works in a 3.3v PCI slot and/or one that works in a PCI-E slot.

I have boards with no 5v PCI slots and no parallel port either and I haven't found a POST card that works for those.

The ones that say USB only use the USB for -power-, not the signals.

I even tried:
a mini-PCI version with a PCI-E to mini-PCI adapter card - no go, doesn't work.
and an add-in parallel port card [3.3v PCI slot type] - no go, doesn't work.
.

[kikkoman]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

http://www.postcodemaster.com/products.shtml

[PCBONEZ]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

Thanks!
Now to find one with 4 digits too.

And for PCs with permanent POST issues::::
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=110384897033
A POST card with a front bay display!!! ~ WOO HOO!!!

[lucky13]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

Well, I can't find a card on that site looks the same as the one I borrowed. They have so many kinds!

On the other hand, I've plugged this POST card into 2 different working computers and observe that once the boot process starts, the POST card's 4-digit readout changes but not necessary ending at FF.

So..... I guess the Gigabyte mobo I am working on has not started to boot yet!

So the last chance perhaps is to replace those VRM caps even they "look" ok?

[volto]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

I would make sure you are using a good power supply first. Maybe swap a known good one in and try booting. Also remove any unneeded peripherals, and make sure the CPU is properly mounted. Check for bent pins or chipped core. Bad CPU will cause no-post.

Edit: I just found your other post. Looks like you already have this covered. Never mind =)

[PlainBill]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

Well, I can't find a card on that site looks the same as the one I borrowed. They have so many kinds!

On the other hand, I've plugged this POST card into 2 different working computers and observe that once the boot process starts, the POST card's 4-digit readout changes but not necessary ending at FF.

So..... I guess the Gigabyte mobo I am working on has not started to boot yet!

So the last chance perhaps is to replace those VRM caps even they "look" ok?

A couple of things to keep in mind.

It is not possible to detect all bad caps just by looking at them. Yes, obviously bulging, leaking, or deformed caps are bad. But a cap that appears to be perfect can be bad.

All motherboard problems are not due to bad caps. I had three identical Via motherboards. Two worked, one sometimes would not post. All had a few obviously bad caps. I recapped all three. The first two work very well. The third still will often not post.

PlainBill

[lucky13]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

Yep, these POST cards don't perform miracles....

See my other POST for the sad conclusion.

[gdement]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...m=110384897033
A POST card with a front bay display!!! ~ WOO HOO!!!

That looks like the card I have. Mine didn't come with that mounting thing though.
The external display is pretty useless of course. It might be cool if server software like Apache could do something useful with it.

Something I did find useful with that card is it will report the PCI frequency. It's off by half though, rounded down. Mine will say "F-16" when at 33MHz.

[Per Hansson]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

Port80H can also be written to by many software temp monitoring programs, so you can send the temp of the CPU to your debug card when Windows is running...

I recommend http://www.elstonsystems.com/
I've got all three of their POST cards and they work great

[gdement]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

I had forgotten the name, but Elston is where I got mine.

It's fine, but QC is less than perfect. The PCI frequency thing is off as noted above, but at least it's consistent so I can still use it. Also, the LEDs aren't all as bright as they should be, some it was hard to tell if they were on.
Fine product, typical Chinese construction.

[lucky13]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

Port80H can also be written to by many software temp monitoring programs, so you can send the temp of the CPU to your debug card when Windows is running...

I recommend http://www.elstonsystems.com/
I've got all three of their POST cards and they work great

I see all the POST cards they show are being sold at eBay by many other sellers.

So, are these from elstonsystems the "original" or they are just a reseller?

[Per Hansson]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

I do know elstonsystems has an official seller on eBay, name escapes me tho, fire off a mail to them and ask them, their support was great for me

Got a failed card on eBay from their official Chinese seller but it did not work properly, they sent me 3x new cards no questions asked!

[PCBONEZ]

Re: POST card. Your experience please?

I see all the POST cards they show are being sold at eBay by many other sellers.

So, are these from elstonsystems the "original" or they are just a reseller?

elstonsystems is not the manufacturer.
They have their name put on stuff made in China.
Presumably they are a little picky about the quality when they put their name on it and choose a builder carefully but the design and major parts used [IC chips and firmware] are exactly the same as those the el'chepo dealers sell.
[There is nothing wrong with that companies like Belkin do a lot of that.]

If you look here:
http://www.elstonsystems.com/products/
I have two of those exact POST cards and that exact Network/Telephone Cable tester all purcahsed from "el'chepo dealers" and all worked fine out of the box.

Oh, 6-7 ?? years ago I got a POST card for an "el'chepo dealer" that needed some resoldering but the thing worked fine once that was done.
- gdement notes the QC isn't so great from elstonsystems either so that might be necessary even if you buy from them.

.