Garbled Display IBM Aptiva, Finding PC support from IBM web page

I have recently acquired an Aptiva model number 2153-E3U. It is a machine that has a socket 7 motherboard (probably AMD K6-2 (?) processor) with an onboard VGA card. It has been slightly parted out as it is missing its hard drive and some ribbon cables but otherwise appears to be intact with a stick of original ram still in place. All but a couple of screws were removed from the motherboard and as a result it is a tad warped, though will probably straighten out one I reinstall the screws.
When I had tried to start the computer up, I had received a garbled display where nothing was intelligible. There was a single beep, indicating that the boot was successful (from a boot code that is similar to other Aptiva’s). At that point, I have not attempted to reconnect any of the drives; the pins on the floppy drive and motherboard were bent. The ram was seated in place. Is there a way I can address this problem?

When trying to find some support from IBM’s web page I had found that information for Aptivas and other desktop had been moved to Lenovo’s page. I was able to find support information for newer aptivas but not for a 2153-E3U. Is support information still around for this model. Addressing a larger issue, is there still support for older PC’s? Not too long ago it was still possible to find support for machines going back to PS2 days.

Thanks in advance,

amtk_350

PS> I was hoping to use this machine as a CDRom server. Would any have any suggestions on a Unix or Linux distribution that I could use to fulfill that purpose? Is it possible to use an OS that is entirely confined onto one floppy disk? Alternatively, using a Live CD that could copy it self to ram?

There's some stuff here:

ftp://ftp.pc.ibm.com/pub/ps1aptiva/

Assuming your monitor and the connection is OK it sounds like the on-board video controller is bad. You can probaby add a regular PCI video card.

A couple of things that can cause garbled video other than the video being bad are a bad PS, or possibly poor ram connections.

Check your PS.
See response 4 in this:
http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...

See response 2 in this - try cleaning the contacts on the ram modules.
http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...

Original case:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/s...

2173, etc. manual - same case, mboards probably different:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/s...

127gb hard drive supported:
(128gb in Windows and most bioses; 137gb manufacturer's size)
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/s...

Recall of speaker AC adapters
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/s...
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/s...

Installing a video card auto disables onboard video
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/s...
.......

Don5408's Unofficial Aptiva Support site:
http://members.aol.com/don5408/apti...

Bios update:
http://members.aol.com/sentinel84/u...
Says you have onboard ATI Rage Pro graphics.

ALi chipset - AGP and IDE drivers update:
http://members.aol.com/sentinel84/u...

Same flash BIOS update for 2153 Aptivas using the AMD K6 processor.
http://members.aol.com/sentinel84/u...

ha ha, I recently picked up a K6-2 IBM Aptiva with the same problem. You should definitely check your PSU as Tubesandwires suggests, the Aptiva I picked up had a pathetic PSU in it, only 1.5A on the 12V rail! see how it goes with an add in PCI vid card and a better PSU If you have one laying around. If it doesn't run then you probably have bigger problems.

Mattwizz3 : )

Sempron 2600+ @ 2.2GHz
1Gb DDR400
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
200GB SATA
2X 80Gb IDE
256Mb MSI 6800 Ultra

I'm running dsl from the ram, as I'm posting this it is using 74mb. According to the cd it needs at least 128mb to run from the ram & 16mb to run from a hard drive install.

larry

Are you out of your mind? Get yourself a hard drive!

"Addressing a larger issue, is there still support for older PC’s? Not too long ago it was still possible to find support for machines going back to PS2 days. "

That was true up until 2000 or 2001 or so.
Up till then www.ibm.ca used to have all the info for the really old models, including PS/2's, even after that disappeared from the www.ibm.com web site.
Unfortunately most brand name builders, and mboard makers in general, have been eliminating making that info available since then. If the info hasn't been saved on some third party web site somewhere, it's gone.
Even Intel has been paring back on the old mboard stuff in the last year or so.

As you have seen, I was only able to find a small amount of info about your model and mboartd, so far.
You may be able to find more info on the Lenovo support site or the Don5408's Unofficial Aptiva Support site if there are more numbers or whatever that can be used to search with.
Many models often use the same mboard, but I haven't found a list anywhere yet. Apparently some other 2153's use very different mboards, Intel cpu's rather than AMD ones.

IBM does not make the mboards - they are supplied to them OEM by mboard makers and they or IBM put an IBM bios version on them, which is often identical to the overall mboard makers version with only what you see inside the bios Setup customized to what IBM wants you to see and be able to set.
Many older IBM computers use Intel mboards with an IBM bios version on them. Sometimes if you examine the mboard it has Intel mboard model numbers on it - often near the center of the mboard.
If you see E139761 in large characters, it is definately an Intel mboard, but only older mboards have that.

In any case, since this computer is booting, if you can get a reasonable display on it eventually, I may be able to find you a mboard manual and more info about what it has on it and what drivers you would need to get, etc.

The following works even if you have no drives at all connected to your mboard but you are able to boot and get a display on your monitor.

The bios string is usually a long string of numbers/letters at the bottom of the first black screen as you boot your computer - usually you can press the Pause key to read it and copy it down. Press any key but Pause to continue booting.

It could also be higher up the screen under or beside the bios version line, e.g. under or beside Award or AMI or Pheonix...

Post the bios string you find here, and include any dashes, etc.
Please make sure you copied it right. Most Award and AMI Bios strings do not have spaces. Newer Phoenix bios strings, based most often on those for Intel mboards, are often like so: xxxxxxxx.xxx.xxxxxxxxx

Sometimes the bios string is not visible because a logo screen is displayed overtop of it while booting. In that case go into your bios Setup while booting. Sometimes the bios version date, and sometimes the bios version number, are stated in the bios Setup screens somewhere, and/or some show the identifier part of the bios string at the top of one or more screens.
Or you could try disabling the display of the logo screen if there is such a setting, or disabling fast boot or similar, which often disables the logo screen.
Tell us what you find.

***********************************************************************

Look for IBM part numbers on the mboard, probably on a label, maybe that also has bar codes on it, or on a label inside or outside the case.
Tell us what you find.

These are all good leads with very good links to back them
up. I will try to fiddle with the graphics cards and perhaps
the power supply. Thanks for the information.

-amtk_350

You're welcome.

An update,

I had changed the power supply and had the same
display. I had installed a PCI vga card and it had worked.

Now the question is, how diffilcult will it be for me to
install an ISA vga card? Will the board be able to detect it
automatically? There are three expantion slots, two ISA,
one PCI. I would like to use the PCI slot for a NIC so I
won't have to fiddle with an ISA NIC> which I have not had
too much success with. This machine will likely become a
server of some kind. I believe Linux or Unix will have
some of the same challenges reading the older cards as
Windows does.

I still havn't gone through all the stuff yet and I did not
have time yesterday to find the parts numbers, I hope
there is some chance I can use the onboard card so I don't
have to use up as many parts. I do know that there is
probably an Acer board with a Phoenix bios (90% certain).
It does have an AMD-K6 350mghz processor.

The links and the information above is really useful. If not
for this machine then for others.

Thanks,
amtk_350

Used ISA network cards are cheap - get one - or if there is such a thing as a USB connected network adapter for a wired connection, or if you used a usb connected wireless network adapter, that would be the better way to go - then you could use a PCI video card no problem. Your ISA video will be very basic, and it is likely some graphics and web pages will not display properly.

You could try an ISA video card. It will usually auto disable the onboard video on older mboards. However it does say here the onboard video is disabled if you install a PCI card - it doesn't mention ISA ones:
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/s...

Take a look in the bios settings to see if there is a setting to intialize video in an ISA slot first, or similar.

If the onboard video is not auto disabled when an ISA video card is in a slot, there is no jumper on this mboard that can do that (see the same link, above) and there is almost always no setting to disable onboard video in the bios.
In that case you could try disabling the onboard video in Windows, but from previous experience I have had mixed results doing that - sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and the two videos still clash with each other.
You probably will have no problem installing Windows after the ISA card has been installed as long as it's not really ancient, but I can't say for sure for higher than Win ME - you might.
If Windows is aready on the hard drive, in any case you should Un-install any drivers listed in Add and Remove Programs before you install a card, or if there is nothing there set the display adapter to a basic VGA mode in Display - settings - Advanced.

Thanks to "Name" in this for this FTP site link:
http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...

Archive of old IBM FTP site:
http://greyghost.dyndns.org/pccbbs/

File list:
http://greyghost.dyndns.org/pccbbs/...

(there may be other similar file list text files, including indexxx.txt, all over this FTP site)

In that I found:

20l2222.pdf 1759607 10-29-98 Reference Guide for Aptiva 2139 and 2153 models.

2139-53.pdf Hardware Maintenance Manual for 2139 and 2153 model Aptiva systems.

agpide.exe 828631 10-22-98 Update for IDE and AGP Drivers on Aptiva 2153
(read the txt file first to make sure it's for your chipset)

agpide.txt 480 10-22-98 Instructions for the update to IDE and AGP drivers for Aptiva 2153 systems

flyflsh.exe 879887 10-22-98 BIOS Update for 2153 model Aptivas
(read the txt file first to make sure it's for your mboard)

flyflsh.txt 484 10-22-98 Instructions for using BIOS update for 2153 model Aptivas

wininst.reg 125 01-26-99 Updates Windows 98 Registry on 2139 and 2153 systems to remove the prompt for the Windows 98 CD when installing new components.
..........

All those files are in this directory:
http://greyghost.dyndns.org/pccbbs/...

***********************************************************************

Thank you Tubes and Wires, once again this is very helpful.

An ISA VGA card did work, did find an ISA NIc as well. Will work at well enough for dead storage for now.

Still trying to work out problems when I can.

-amtk350

It's good to hear an ISA video card worked and you now have video, but as I said before you're probably better off with a PCI card.

Even an ISA 10mbps NIC card is fine for high speed internet, but it's slower between computers. 10mbps is 10 megabits per second, not megabytes. 8 bits per byte, the overhead for error correction and negotiation results in a max average 1 megabytes per second data transfer rate to another computer. x that by 10 for a 100mbps card.

If I were to test another AMD k6-2 processor, a 330mghz, what would I need to do to the Bios in order for it to work correctly. I had swapped in the second processor and the IBM computer had perceeded to go into a boot loop.

On the other socket 7 board, the computer would not boot with the fans turning on for a second with the keyboard flashing. With the second computer I had tried another power supply and still it would not boot. The ram was inserted correctly, other parts including the AGP graphics, PCI sound, and PCI were removed as was hard drive. I may have to try again with new power supply to see if the board works again.

-amtk350

There may be a BIOS update to support further processors or some switches/jumpers to configure on the motherboard.

Since you are putting so much work into this system you may want to put your finger on the chipset heat sink and see how hot its getting, I placed PCI video card on my Aptiva and its working too, but I noticed the chipset was heating up alot which was surprising for such an old one. I stuck a small fan on it to keep it cool, I recommend you do the same if you want this thing to last you. This is also possibly the cause of the on board graphics dieing on both yous and my Aptiva.

Mattwizz3 : )

Sempron 2600+ @ 2.2GHz
1Gb DDR400
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
200GB SATA
2X 80Gb IDE
256Mb MSI 6800 Ultra

If you haven't got the Hardware Maintenance Manual yet, get it here:
http://greyghost.dyndns.org/pccbbs/...
get
2139-53.pdf
Hardware Maintenance Manual for 2139 and 2153 model Aptiva systems.

(Apparently
20l2222.pdf
1759607 10-29-98 Reference Guide for Aptiva 2139 and 2153 models.
Is not in this directory, nor does it seem to be anywhere else on the FTP mirror site.)

According to the Hardware Maintenance Manual

- there is a 2153/K6, and a 2153/Celeron model - ignore the specific info for the latter one.

- Bios setting are explained. There is nothing in the bios to set for the cpu, other than Memory/Cache options - both the L1 cache in the cpu and L2 cache on the mboard should be enabled on this mboard.
The ram you have installed on the mboard must support the fsb speed - in your case it must be able to run at 100mhz or higher.
The bios settings must be no lower than 100mhz for your cpu.

- Page 166 of pdf - mboard diagram
Page 167, 168, 169 of pdf - jumper settings
cpu core voltage, fsb speed, multiplier

NOTE that if you have a K6S 300 cpu, that's a different situation - fsb is 66mhz, core voltage is higher!

Page 170 of pdf - CN2 - front panel pinouts

If it is a k6-2 300, it should be set to 100mhz fsb and the 3X multiplier.

If it is a 333mhz it should be set to 95mhz fsb and the 3.5X multiplier

The ram you have installed on the mboard must support the fsb speed - in your case it must be able to run at 100mhz or higher!

If it is a a 350mhz it should be set to 100mhz fsb and the 3.5X multiplier

Assuming it's a k6-2 for desktop computers, the core voltage must be no more than 2.4v, or you can alternately use 2.2v, especially if overclocking the fsb speed a bit.

HOWEVER
If it is a k6-2 meant for mobile (laptop) use, there will be a + after the speed marked on the cpu itself, e.g. k6-2 300+, or k6-2+ 300.
If it doesn't say exactly that, there would be a + on it somewhere, or you could supply the cpu part number and I could look it up.

Not all desktop mboard bioses can recognize a k6-2+ cpu - some have updates available that add that.
Most IMPORTANT the core voltage of a k6-2+ cpu is lower - 2.0v, absolute maximum 2.1v. If you run a k6-2+ cpu at more than 2.1v it WILL BURN OUT in a short time, no matter how well the cpu is cooled!
This mboard's lowest core voltage setting is 2.2v - you WILL BURN OUT a K6-2+ cpu on this mboard in a short time if you use that setting!

I hate to admit this, but I still have an IBM Aptiva 2153-E3N running. My wife got it new before we were married and it is still running strong. It has the original mobo and psu but I upgraded the following:

K6-2 300 to K6-2 550
64MB Ram to 512 MB
CD-rom to CD Burner
added PCI Tv tuner
USB 10/100 ethernet adapter.

You might consider using your usb for your nic instead of your only PCI slot since you will need to use it for your Video.

I used the 550 cpu since it had the exact same voltage as the 300 but I did have to change the multiplier by using the dip switches on the mobo (which is an ALI oem for IBM).

By the way it is essentially a TIVO type of machine since we basically use laptops now.

The only downside of the USB adapter is that since it is USB 1.1 then it will only max out at 12Mbs but I doubt it even gets that fast. I set mine at 10Mbs and it works fine.

There is no bios support for the "+" processors mentioned above and to be quite honest it wouldn't really matter on this mobo since it has plenty of other bottle-necks. Even the change from the 300Mhz to the 550Mhz was only a marginal improvement; the 550Mhz/512MB combo is the only thing that makes this a usable machine and that is probably your best bet for the platform.

Good Luck.