Older gigabyte boards don't send data (keyboard controller chip issue)
Older gigabyte boards don't send data (keyboard controller chip issue)
Hi! My name is giuspepy and im searching a way to fix this mobo for a year now. Thanks to some really nice people we managed to narrow the problem down. The problem was the mobo would not post and make a series of 6 beeps the motherboard is a ga-8ipxdr-e this is quite a old board. I buyed it for exeperiments and see how dual cpus work. The actual problem is the 6 beep code means that the keyboard controller dosent work whatever its probably replaceble. Whats blocking me from desoldering it and replacing it is that i cant find it. The board being old and the fact that the ics are also old means documentation is probably been lost in time. I have basic soldering skills and also a multimeter. I could really use some advice with this. I tried finding it with connections between the ps2 port and the chips with the multimeter in "short mode" but all that they had in common was gnd wich isent of much help. Here are the photos of the mobo and chips that are near the ps2 port. Any help or tips on the procedure to take to find the problem would be a lot for me. Ps: i dident yet desolder anything. I used the soldering iron in the background for desoldering old capacitors from another board lol.
It seems you're questioning whether the keyboard controller belongs to the south bridge. If correct, finding and swapping the south bridge might be tricky. Another option could be reinserting the BIOS chip if it's a DIP type—typically the black chip with visible pins.
Update: Ok, I may have found what you are looking for. You are looking for the Intel IC3H-S chip. check out this datasheet and ctrl+f to find the word keyboard. https://www.intel.com/content/dam/doc/da...asheet.pdf
The keyboard and mouse (PS2) are located either in the southbridge (integrated into the chipset) or in SuperIO/FastIO (which also handles voltage monitoring, possibly includes fan controls, LPT port, serial ports, etc.).
Northbridge forms the link between CPUs, sometimes contains a memory controller and connects memory to processors, and may also host AGP slots.
Integrated graphics card (ATI/AMD) with its memory (2A), likely ranging from 8 to 32 MB SDRAM or similar.
Southbridge (chipset component) links northbridge and thus the CPU, managing less bandwidth peripherals such as USB ports, onboard audio, network, PCI slots, and any onboard graphics.
Bios chip handles basic system initialization.
FastIO provides ports for keyboard and mouse in certain configurations, LPT port, serial ports, sometimes a floppy disk controller, IDA, monitor voltage control, fan speed reading, and alerts for fan issues.
A remote management chip (IPMI, KVM over IP, etc.) is also present.
I don't notice PS/2 controllers in that southbridge. The keyboard features relate to a chipset providing the "legacy keyboard" for USB devices—essentially mimicking an older standard keyboard to enable USB functionality within BIOS. It doesn't appear to be the component that generates the actual PS/2 ports if the board includes them. Also, the six beeps might not indicate a keyboard error; their meaning varies depending on the BIOS used. You could consider purchasing a PCI/PCI-E debug board with a 2-digit code display and additional LEDs. Please capture a clear image of the chip beside your BIOS chip (the one labeled SST) so I can provide the part number. No, the IPMI_CON footprint isn't connected to keyboard or mouse functionality—it refers to a different interface. For more details, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligen..._Interface