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CARDINAL -286 Build

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First post, by Aui

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Hi everyone – I decided to make a separate dedicated 286 build log. I am sure I will have lots of questions along the way so I may as well document it all properly. I wanted to have (not necessarily build) a 286 for a long time. A few years ago, I bought THIS computer

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It looked a lot more dirty and has since the been repurposed. This case now houses my favourite 386 (though I only have one)
AT (Clone) - Motherboard Formfactor
The original had an awesome NEAT motherbard

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with RAM onboard and in sockets

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and a socketed 286/287

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however it also had a real problem and this was the first time that I saw firsthand what a barrel battery can do to a motherboard.

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I spend many hours trying to lay new wires and traces but for now a repair of this board is beyond my skills.

Reply 1 of 7, by Aui

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The original also came with several expansion cards
An CGA or EGA or VGA card?

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An I/O card (with extra memory ?)

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And a controller card

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I hope I will be able to use them in the new build

Reply 3 of 7, by Anonymous Coward

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The I/O board seems to be an Everex EV 173. I don't think documentation is available, but it seems to be an odd choice for a 286. Normally this type of card is used to expand memory in 8088 systems. My guess is that the onboard memory must be disabled, otherwise there would be an address conflict with the memory on your 286 board.

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 4 of 7, by Aui

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Well, its not exactly my choice. Its simply what was installed on the original NEAT bord when I got it. And I dont know if and how it worked on that board either. I actually have never worked on a board with individually socketed RAM nor have I ever used a PC where RAM expansions is done via ISA cards. I think the onboard memory is probably 1MB. So would you say without documentation its impossible to use that I/O board additional RAM expansion?

Reply 6 of 7, by Anonymous Coward

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The extra ram is probably 256kb. It’s not really usable on a 286 due to its 8-bit nature. I guess in theory if you disabled all but 256 or 512k on you 286 board you could use the card ram, but it would be super slow. Of course you’d need the documentation to configure the starting address.

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 7 of 7, by Aui

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so - the machine is alive - but I have a ton of new problems. The good thing is that the graphic card and the mainboard seem to work fine. That I/O board failed spectacularly with one of the small yellow caps making a firework. I think I wont use that board for now. However the biggest problem for now is the controller card.
It is too big! Its full lenght anyway but it is too broad fro the case.

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Im really dissapointed.

Other things I noticed
- Dallas RTC fix seems ok and holds the time
- except for reset, I cant find any other headers for LEDs. Are those just missing or simply not labeled on the board?
- Due to the design of the board the graphic card wnt go into the first ISA slot - is this a problem ?
- Although I cant use the controller board anyway, I wondered - it has a header for a HDD but its not an IDE but much thinner - what is it and what kind of drive can you connect to such a controller?

Gratefull for any help suggestions questiosn or discussion

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