Help identify unknown motherboard \ VOGONS

Help identify unknown motherboard

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First post, by Boohyaka

Posted on 2020-02-27, 12:23

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Hi guys,

I am sure some of you love a good unidentified hardware investigation 😀
I have an unbranded Socket 3 motherboard I am unable to find anything about online. As I always like to check potential BIOS updates (bigger drives support usually) and just for curiosity's sake I'd be happy to know more about it, if possible!

Please see attached pictures. What I know and what we can see on the pics, typed out for convenience:

- It's an AMIBIOS chip from 93, only 14 pairs of pins, 2 pairs unused. Don't know if that's common but I don't think I've ever seen it before. Could it be a bastardized chip from another card?
- BIOS menu itself is a graphical interface I've personally never seen before, and contains no identifying information whatsoever
- BIOS ID String : 40-0B02-008045-00101111-121593-OP802G-H. On Wim's BIOS page, 008045 manufacturer code doesn't exist, while 8045 could be "VTech", "PcPartner" or "Aristo"
- It's an OPTi True Green based MB, with chips 82C895 and 82C602
- Big "802G PCI REV:P.4" between ISA slots.
- "702677B CS" and "35-8199-01" near the CPU slot.
- AMI ID Utility (AMIMBID v1.4) reports "Unknown, please contact AMI Support", no information whatsoever.

Are there other potentially useful tools I could try, apart from AMIMBID?
In case it's impossible to ID which I know is perfectly possible, is there a way for me to try and apply a proper BIOS update without taking any risk to brick it (I mean, apart from regular BIOS flashing risks obviously)?

Thanks! 😀

Reply 1 of 11, by iulianv

Posted on 2020-02-27, 14:47

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Closest I could find is https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/E/E … VL3-MP032F.html followed by https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/B/B … 6-BEK-P402.html

Unfortunately BIOSes don't seem to be available for either of them, so I guess there's very little chance for one to be available for yours either...

Reply 2 of 11, by Boohyaka

Posted on 2020-02-27, 17:33

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Damn! Thanks for checking, good find already, the layout definitely is extremely similar. I'll look some more 😀

Reply 3 of 11, by dionb

Posted on 2020-02-27, 17:35

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Vtech=PCPartner=Aristo, so good indication that it was sold with one of the three brands.

Reply 4 of 11, by Deksor

Posted on 2020-02-27, 18:00

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I've found something here : http://www.elhvb.com/mboards/vtech/manuals/48 … /35-8199-01.ZIP

Its name seems to be "OPTI 486 VIP/VI"

I couldn't find any bios for it though. Feel free to post yours here : 80486 BIOS image collection

Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative

Reply 5 of 11, by evasive

Posted on 2020-11-08, 17:48

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This board comes with PCI slots as well, this variant has them stripped off. Both versions are mentioned in the manual.

Reply 6 of 11, by evasive

Posted on 2020-11-08, 18:53

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UltimateRetro page created: https://www.ultimateretro.net/en/motherboards/6730

Last edited by evasive on 2021-11-24, 22:10. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 7 of 11, by cyclone3d

Posted on 2020-11-08, 18:58

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That would have been a killer board with the PCI slots.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 8 of 11, by DevilsJoker

Posted on 2022-02-07, 14:05

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Is it possible to get a dump of the BIOS from this board?

Reply 9 of 11, by Deunan

Posted on 2022-02-07, 17:56

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cyclone3d wrote on 2020-11-08, 18:58:

That would have been a killer board with the PCI slots.

Why? In my experience PCI on 486 mobos works, more or less, but it's temperamental. You need a Pentium system to get "proper" PCI support. And any chipset with PCI support usually has to trade in some ISA performance to actually do PCI properly, with bus mastering and all. It's just on Pentium+ the CPU is so fast you don't really feel the downgrade, in fact CPU makes up for it. But on 486... not so much, especially if it's not a DX4. VLB can be pain to get working properly, some plain ISA cards simply do not like VLB ones in the same system, etc. I can imagine a VLB+PCI mobo can be as much fun as it can be a headache to get it working, and stable.

Reply 10 of 11, by Boohyaka

Posted on 2022-06-05, 14:47

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It took some time but here's a dump of that motherboard I just removed from storage. This is the version from my original post, nothing changed.

Reply 11 of 11, by 0xCats

Posted on 2022-06-07, 18:18

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Just saw this thanks to your contribution on TheRetroWeb

I actually just want to add some detail about the missing parts of this board.
The big empty pad near the PCI slots is very likely the famed OPTi 82C822 VLB to PCI bridge chip.

The attachment Screenshot_20220607_201853.jpeg is no longer available

The attachment OPTi 82C822.png is no longer available

So if you ever considering transforming it into it's full form, that's how you could go about it.

There are two types of devices, those that know they've been hacked and those that don't yet know they're going to be hacked.

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