PCI and ISA won't work with old HP Vectra

[KraM]

I picked up this old HP Vectra from a computer fair a few days ago:
http://www.support.vectra.hp.com/vec.../Driver26.html

I also bought an 80GB HDD to put in it (hehe, what's the chance that will work huh?). I had a big problem putting the drive in because there were no 3.5" bays. So out comes the drill, and I attached a bay thingy from an old pc.

I booted it up and the BIOS said it was 8GB, o well. I chucked Red Hat 7.1 on it. Surprise surprise, Linux sees it as a full 80gig drive

But that's not the problem (I thought I'd share that though ), here is:
The motherboard has a separate card (daughterboard???) that plugs into it, which has all the PCI and ISA slots. I've tried a few network cards in there (including this useless token ring card that came with it). Linux doesn't see any of these cards. I also tried an SB16, no luck

I've looked through the BIOS (PhoenixBIOS) for stuff to change. All IRQ's are enabled for ISA, and I tried all the PCI slots with and without bus mastering on. I can't see anything else to try in there.

I could try putting Win2k or 98 on there (I need to run Linux on it though), does anyone think that will help? I could also flash the BIOS?

Any ideas?

[Tomteriffic]

You might try re-seating the "riser card" and see if that helps. It could be toast, tho. I had a Packard Hell with that form factor of mobo, and the way the PCI and ISA slots were on the thing, the cards effectively hung upside-down. Needless to say, one of 'em worked loose and toasted the whole affair. Fortunately, it was still under warranty.

BTW, Win 95 and 98 worked OK on that thing.

[Dax_Brandy]

the problem with LPX mobos' was that it comes together with the riser card. you fried the riser, you replace both. and usually that kind of form factor is not so popular because of poor heat management. the space is so compact that heat is not exhausted fairly well inside the case.

[capybara]

"all the irqs are enabled for isa"
can you change some irqs to be enabled for
pci or for plug n play?

[KraM]

Ok, thanks for the replies guys.

Tom: The riser card is seated in the case such that it can't be moved unless the motherboard is taken out (the mobo plugs into the riser card, not the other way round). There doesn't appear to be any components on it that would fry easily (ie chips, IC"s). I guess the controller for it could be stuffed though.

capybara: There is no option like that. It gave me an idea though, so I turned PnP OS off. Red Hat detected the USB controller (which it didn't before), but it doesn't start X now, even when I switched back

I just tried flashing the BIOS. Hmm, I'm not sure that it did anything, it went so quick (about 3 secs). It also made some really scary beeps. Luckily, it booted properly, but nothing changed...

BTW, I know that the LAN cards are getting power because the LEDs on them turn on.

Any other ideas???

[KraM]

Update:

I compiled a new kernel (2.4.18), taking special care to include the relevant modules for the LAN card I'm using (3Com 3C509B). Well, it booted properly, but the LAN card still didn't work.

So, I gave up and put Windows 2000 on it to see if I could get it working that way. In Device Manager, it recognised the card but said it could not start. So, I changed the IRQ and memory range for it, rebooted, and it worked I was able to ping other PC's

I guess this vendor pile of junk has a buggy BIOS.

Now, I think I just need to figure out how to change the IRQ's and memory ranges in Linux. I have a feeling it's not going to be anything like troubleshooting a device in Windows.

Once again: Any ideas? Any help is appreciated.

[KraM]

The PC has a 'Designed for Microsoft Windows 95/98/NT' sticker. Will it work in Linux if I peel that off?

[Tomteriffic]

I'm a Linux idiot, so I can't help ya there. However, if you peel off that sticker and replace it with a TechIMO case badge, at least you'll feel a bit better