Help: dead Presario 520

Hi there,

Just a quick question on the off chance that someone knows of a way of
resurrecting my ancient Presario CDS 520.

I recently decided to upgrade the memory to 64mb. To do this I picked
up a pair of 32mb SIMMs on Ebay. Took the old memory out, slotted them
in, turned it on... and nothing. It didn't power up at all; no fans, no
BIOS beeps, nothing.

I then replaced the original memory cards, turned it on... Still
nothing.

Confusingly, if I slide the motherboard out and power the machine up
without it, the motors will start whirring.

I've presumably either blown something on the motherboard (processor?)
or inadvertantly disconnected something somewhere. Any clues would be
much appreciated...

Mark

You did use fast page mode SIMMs, NOT EDO, correct?

HH

"Mark" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi there,

Just a quick question on the off chance that someone knows of a way of
resurrecting my ancient Presario CDS 520.

I recently decided to upgrade the memory to 64mb. To do this I picked
up a pair of 32mb SIMMs on Ebay. Took the old memory out, slotted them
in, turned it on... and nothing. It didn't power up at all; no fans, no
BIOS beeps, nothing.

I then replaced the original memory cards, turned it on... Still
nothing.

Confusingly, if I slide the motherboard out and power the machine up
without it, the motors will start whirring.

I've presumably either blown something on the motherboard (processor?)
or inadvertantly disconnected something somewhere. Any clues would be
much appreciated...

Mark

Umm.... they were EDO actually. Is that bad?

The Presario CDS 520 is a 486 system. Yes, EDO is not right for the system.
Nearly all 486s require fast-page mode memory to run properly. The system is
limited to 64MB of memory, according to one of the companies on the web still
selling memory for the system. Either parity or non-parity fast-page mode
memory will work, with the parity information being ignored by the system's
memory controller.

Put the old memory back into the system in the EXACT SIMM sockets where it was
before you attempted the memory upgrade. Installing EDO memory should not put
the system in a non-operational state, but it sure won't boot.

By some miracle of serendipitous design, some 486s actually run with EDO memory,
but yours is not one of them... Ben Myers

On 17 Mar 2006 06:15:48 -0800, "Mark" wrote:

Umm.... they were EDO actually. Is that bad?

Thanks for the reply Ben. I've tried putting the old memory back where
it was to no effect.

I wonder if I've somehow fried something else on the board - possibly
the processor or the on-board memory? Is this possible?

It's possible that improper installation could have fried something on the
board... Ben

On 17 Mar 2006 09:56:18 -0800, "Mark" wrote:

Thanks for the reply Ben. I've tried putting the old memory back where
it was to no effect.

I wonder if I've somehow fried something else on the board - possibly
the processor or the on-board memory? Is this possible?

Well well well... turns out I just needed to reset the CMOS and it's
back from the dead once again. Miracles never cease.

Yep. The 520 uses Fast Page Mode SIMMs. EDO won't work.

HH

"Mark" wrote in message
oups.com...
Umm.... they were EDO actually. Is that bad?