Intel Motherboard in my ION Evo Help Please.

[STL_Tom]

In my ION EVO am installing an Intel MB to replace the failing Purple ECS.  I have just begun and am working on mounting the board in to the chassis.

My question is about cables.  The old ECS used the COM port to interface with the I/O Board.  Will it work this way with the new Intel motherboard?  I have an SA10068-03 I/O board.

Do I need to buy an newer I/O board?  What is this "Requires USB cable (EC0232-01)?"

Advice is much appreciated.

[lilshawn]

the intel d945 has a serial port, if that's what you are asking. just plugs right in, same same.

Requires USB cable (EC0232-01)

no idea, where did you read that from?

[STL_Tom]

Thanks for the reply!

I got that bit of info from a Merit manual.

I see where my I/O board has both the COM connection and another 10-Pin USB Header Connection coming off it.

I have attached the photo of my board.

[Megatouchmike]

The serial port connection to the ioboard is for the modem. Top circle white cable. Get rid of it.

 Your ioboard plugs directly into the USB headers of the motherboard. i see the connector in the top right corner of your picture. Bottom red circle

[STL_Tom]

Thank You.

I am getting no Analog Signal to the touchscreen.  I tried a separate monitor - no signal, either.  I tried pulling the battery and resetting the CMOS and waiting.  Nothing.

It is such a simple motherboard.  I wonder what is going on?

[Megatouchmike]

Did you plug in the 4 pin CPU power? If you had the purple board, usually the monitor is plugged in with this connector. You either need to do some splicing or soldering to get the cpu powered

[STL_Tom]

Right.  That is tonight’s task to add that 2x2 connector.

I hope I did not damage the m/b.

[Megatouchmike]

Should be good still

[STL_Tom]

All connected on the CPU plug, now.

The Intel Boot logo screen is not coming up.  At least the vga is outputting!

I am attempting a bios Recovery using a usb stick and the LF0140P.BIO file.  The best i get is a single non-flashing "_" in the upper left corner of the screen.

Ugh.

I saw POST complete about three times out of three hundred attempts.  There is nothing repeatable about it.  The video is dropping in and out and is wavering, too.

My thought is to try a full-size power supply next.  It looks like a wonky motherboard, maybe?

[Megatouchmike]

Yeah this is a frustrating problem with these boards. First try a CMOS reset. Then Try disconnecting everything from the mobo except power supply and video and try again. Use only 1 memory stick and try different sticks. Board is extremely picky about ram

Sometimes the only way to recover is flashing the bios with an external programmer. Even still that doesn't always fix it.

If you have the original 150-200w power supply it's worth replacing also. Assuming you did bench test this mobo outside of the megatouch before installing right?

[STL_Tom]

Yes.  Problem was power supply.  Likely the cause of the poor behavior on my ECS board that was in there, too.  I can see the caps bulging when I open it up.

The game was working just great and i decided to update the bios... I knew better and i did it anyways.  sheesh.



I now have an Error 16:Inconsistent filesystem structure on boot.  Is there a fix for this?

[Megatouchmike]

Are you using any adapters like ide to SATA? If so, ditch it, your board supports both ide and sata

 Otherwise a software install should work.

[STL_Tom]

Thank You, Mike.  I am using IDE.

Is there an image to restore? or, is there a procedure?

I have not had to work with the hdd since I bought it years ago.

[Megatouchmike]

I can send you an image. Although you are much better off with a SATA SSD. Will be much faster on your board

[STL_Tom]

Let me take you up on your offer.  Thanks!

I will attempt to restore with what I have (except I know i need to order a new Power Supply.)  I will then take your advice and swap in an SATA after all is right in the world, again.

[Megatouchmike]

I'll pm you about the image

[STL_Tom]

It took two weeks to sort it, but my Ion is back in business.  Better than ever!

New Intel motherboard, New 350W Power Supply, New SATA hdd, New Software install.

I know I could've avoided all this drama by simply checking the power-supply first.  Hopefully, this bit of advice saves somebody else from going down the same rabbit-hole.

Cheers.

[Megatouchmike]

I'm lost. Why do you have ion hardware in the first picture and the next picture says force?

[STL_Tom]

I have two at the bar.

The photo shows my Force machine on the left & my Ion machine on the right.

I notice you must scroll the photos left and right when viewing them on a phone.

[Megatouchmike]

Ah makes sense. Now just gotta get that ion upgraded to 2014. Nice job with the repair

[STL_Tom]

Thanks.  The Ion is actually 2013 - I had long forgotten my update from 2011!

 

[game_nerd]

Ah makes sense. Now just gotta get that ion upgraded to 2014. Nice job with the repair

is it difficult to do that? I have a working 2011, and a spare intel motherboard. Gonna try to pick up another chassis or two this weekend and put the new mobo in it. I'd like to have one of them be 2011 and the other be 2014.
I didn't know you could update them. They use the same hardware?

[Megatouchmike]

Yes ion 2011 and 2014 can use the same hardware

[STL_Tom]

You will need a matching security license key for the version you wish to install.

[mahkeymike]

You will need a matching security license key for the version you wish to install.

That ebay listing looks like a scam. I can tell you, Merit never used those key holders for ION, and also the font on the label is not Merits font. Also, Merit stopped using 00 40 00 00 after version 2008. all versions 2009 to 2011 will be 00 40 00 01 or 00 40 00 02. 2012 to 2014 will be 00 40 00 03

[STL_Tom]

Wow.  Good info then.

I am thankful to be settled in this.  I didn’t know there were bad actors in this space.

[mahkeymike]

Wow.  Good info then.

I am thankful to be settled in this.  I didn’t know there were bad actors in this space.

Megatouch was , and all ways will have bad actors. Most greedy coin-op business i ever seen.

[MasterOfNone]

As usual, I agree with Mahkey. That key is very suspicious, but I've not had any other kind of trouble with that seller. I wonder if they're programming new keys, printing labels, and recycling old MAXX/Force plastic handles?  Guess some guinea pig just has to buy one and see if it works!

[MomoneDk]

Hello STL_Tom

I have 3 IONS that all are dead.
I plan to buy intel D945 as you used.
Can you let me know where you put exactly the cables on the motherboard please ?

[lilshawn]

Hello STL_Tom

I have 3 IONS that all are dead.
I plan to buy intel D945 as you used.
Can you let me know where you put exactly the cables on the motherboard please ?

honestly, it doesn't really matter. all the ambiguous motherboard headers are all USB anyway, and they can be placed in any position as long as they are in one of them... the USB plugs can go any which port on the back... and the serial is self explanatory and only goes in one place.

the only odd one is the single wire reset line from the IO board...and i always leave them off since it never worked anyway.

[STL_Tom]

…the USB plugs can go any which port on the back... and the serial is self explanatory and only goes in one place.

the only odd one is the single wire reset line from the IO board...and i always leave them off since it never worked anyway.

I concur, MomoneDk.  The installer figured put the devices just as lilshawn described.

[MomoneDk]

Thank you for the answers, i bought several motherboards and i will (try) fix my 3 "ION" as soon as i receive them (intel d945).

In general, the ASUS on the ION machines are very bad motherboards, XL, MAXX, and FORCE does not have these problems.

[STL_Tom]

FYI, those boards suffer from the bad caps made from Chinese IP theft of Japanese manufacturing.

"In 2001, a scientist working in the Rubycon Corporation in Japan stole a mis-copied formula for capacitors' electrolytes. He then took the faulty formula to the Luminous Town Electric company in China, where he had previously been employed. In the same year, the scientist's staff left China, stealing again the mis-copied formula and moving to Taiwan, where they would have created their own company, producing capacitors and propagating even more of this faulty formula of capacitor electrolytes."

[lilshawn]

"In 2001, a scientist working in the Rubycon Corporation in Japan stole a mis-copied formula for capacitors' electrolytes. He then took the faulty formula to the Luminous Town Electric company in China, where he had previously been employed. In the same year, the scientist's staff left China, stealing again the mis-copied formula and moving to Taiwan, where they would have created their own company, producing capacitors and propagating even more of this faulty formula of capacitor electrolytes."

ohhh... so THATS why when you peel open those caps, they stink like piss.

[MomoneDk]

STL_Tom, can you let me know which type of memory did you put on the intel945 ?

The motherboard i have has no memory, and don't want to buy a bad one.

Thanks

[STL_Tom]

Intel published this doc on tested memory. 

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000007029/boards-and-kits/desktop-boards.html?wapkw=D945gclf2

Memory sticks from this era are dirt cheap, nowadays.  Which is good!

[MomoneDk]

Thank you STL_Tom, it will help me to buy good ones.