I downloaded that. I can post it somewhere if you want it.

I hope it works for you, and maybe the vogons drivers site has a place for it: http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/

Oh, I wasn't aware of the Driver site. Most likely someone mentioned it before and it slipped my mind. I'll add it there. I also found some drivers for a Serial Game Pad made by InterAct called the ProPad 6. I was unable to find the drivers for it online but was able to find the install floppy in my parents basement last night.

Do we use our normal forum credentials to log into the Drivers Site?

I don't think so, Vogons user SquallStrife maintains it, and he gives usernames and passwords to certain people. I don't have an account there either.
But in case you don't want to bother with vogonsdrivers, I will PM you my email address.

Just keep working with this system and if you master it then you have proved your self to being able to handle just about anything else as these older systems you had to earn your way unlike the new stuff. That is a very neat board but eventually you might upgrade to something with a better chipset. If you can't find any drives below 2GB then look into CF cards but they are not always easy to get working on old systems.

I want to make sure I'm on the right path here. All I need to do on this machine is install OS, install drivers for audio, video, and CD-ROM. Do I need drivers for the board as well? Or any of the controller cards? Or are they taken care of by the OS?

rodimus80 wrote:

Oh, I wasn't aware of the Driver site. Most likely someone mentioned it before and it slipped my mind. I'll add it there. I also found some drivers for a Serial Game Pad made by InterAct called the ProPad 6. I was unable to find the drivers for it online but was able to find the install floppy in my parents basement last night.

i thought those were the ones on DriverGuide. Whatever, please upload them to VogonsDrivers! 😀

rodimus80 wrote:

Do we use our normal forum credentials to log into the Drivers Site?

No, SquallStrife needs to make you an account, please send him a PM. 😀

Does anyone know how to enable IDE on a A111-860?

Looks like ESS took out the ability to enable the IDE Port on this card. Did some searching and found a guy who got it enabled though I'm confused by his method. Is anyone here familiar with it?

However, since I am using this card on an old 486, I actually need the IDE header to work. Yet again, I found that I had to complete a drivers installation under Windows just to extract an older DOS program. Buried within 1868W31_41653.zip, in a Microsoft-specific compressed format, is the small DOS driver that simply turns on the IDE interface.

1414 Aug 9 1996 ES1868.COM

ESS IDE CD-ROM controller ( ES1868 ) enable program V4.4
Copyright (C) ESS Technology, Inc. 1995-1996
In CONFIG.SYS:

; DVD-ROM activation, part 1.
; If JEMMEX is used, ES1868.COM must precede JEMMEX.EXE to avoid a crash.
DEVICE=C:\ESS\ES1868.COM
DEVICE=C:\BIN\XMGR.SYS
DEVICE=C:\BIN\UIDE.SYS /S5 /H
DOS=HIGH
In AUTOEXEC.BAT:

REM DVD-ROM activation, part 2.
C:\BIN\SHSUCDX.COM /C /D:UDVD1

REM Audio and joystick configuration.
REM AuxB and speaker inputs don't exist.
C:\ESS\ESSCFG.EXE /A:220 /I:5 /D:1 /E:3 /B:330 /J:E
C:\ESS\ESSVOL.EXE /V:6 /L:0 /W:7 /M:7 /C:7 /S:7 /A:0 /P:0
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 P330 T4

Interesting motherboard. What kind of chipset is it using?

From the looks of things, it's probably a "Mini EISA" board, so it likely won't work with cards that require the full implementation.

What is full implementation mean?

It was a cost cutting measure. Usually they can't do fancy things like full DMA and "level triggered" interrupts (sharing of IRQs).

quoting from: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/comp. … n32/uDh7RWrEltc

"With the Caesar Chipset, the G486HVL supports all main EISA features
such as down-shift masters and 32bit Master DMA capable of bursting to
33MB/sec transfer rate, EISA specfication configuration, Refresh,
Extended NMI status and controls, EISA bus master and command timeout,
software NMI generation. Direct Map Cache and Write-back or
Write-through scheme."

Section 4-3 of my manual:
"HiNT Caesar Chipset does not support the following functions:
Non-ISA compatible DMA
Non-ISA compatible Interrupts
Non-ISA compatible Timers"
followed by a list of EISA LAN cards not supported with some notes
about supporting only 32-bit DMA transfer and only level triggered
interrupt on a couple of the cards.

Section 4-4:
"HiNT's P-EISA architecture is unique in its design such that we harness
the performance of EISA at cost similar to that of ISA. ... and therefore
HiNT decided to abandon Non-ISA compatible redundant features defined
by EISA. ... HiNT chose not to implement the sanity timer because it
is not an ISA function and its function in EISA applications are not
obvious. The sanity timer does nothing but generates periodic interrupts
which may slow down system performance. At the BIOS level, the timer
is turned off upon system power-up. No applications have been known
to use this feature yet."

Appendix I:
Instructions to modify AHA-1742A's !ADP0002.CFG to change
SHARE = "AHA1740" to SHARE = NO
TRIGGER = LEVEL to TRIGGER = EDGE

The manual refers to the board as a "Super ISA" instead of an EISA.

Q) 2.43 What disadvantages are there to the HiNT EISA chip set?

The HiNT Caesar Chip Set (CS8001 & CS8002) can come in three different configurations. All three of these configurations have EISA style connectors and are (sometimes incorrectly) sold as EISA motherboards. The differences should be carefully noted, though.

The rarest of these configuration uses a combination of the first HiNT chip (CS8001) and the Intel chip set. This configuration can support the full EISA functionality: 32 address bits, 32 data bits, level sensitive (sharable) interrupts, full EISA DMA, watch dog (sanity) timer, and so forth.

The second configuration is called Super-ISA, which uses both of the HiNT chips. This configuration is very common in low-end models. It supports a very limited functionality: 24 address bits, 32 data bits, edge triggered (non-sharable) interrupts, ISA (16 data, 24 address) DMA, and no watch dog timer. Some EISA boards, such as the Adaptec 1742A EISA Fast SCSI-2 host adapter, can be configured to work in this mode by hacking their EISA configuration file (.CFG) to turn off these features. Other EISA cards require these features and are therefore unusable in these systems.

The final configuration is called Pragmatic EISA, or P-EISA. Like Super-ISA, both HiNT chips are used but external support logic (buffers and such) are added to provide a somewhat increased functionality: 32 address bits, 32 data bits, edge triggered (non-sharable) interrupts, ISA (16 data, 24 address) DMA, and no watch dog timer. The full 32 bits for address and data allow bus mastering devices access to the complete range of main memory. As with Super-ISA, there may be incompatibilities with some EISA cards.

Your board appears to be a "P-EISA" implementation of the EISA bus.

I have the drivers to enable to IDE Controller on the Sound Card. When I get a chance I'll try it out. On a side note, I was able to resolve the conflict I was having with my CF IDE Adapter working and then not working. Tip: Don't plug the CF Card into a HUB in Windows 7. It ruins it. 486 is up and running with beautiful sound and a healthy amount of storage. It's a good day.

rodimus80 wrote:

I have the drivers to enable to IDE Controller on the Sound Card. When I get a chance I'll try it out. On a side note, I was able to resolve the conflict I was having with my CF IDE Adapter working and then not working. Tip: Don't plug the CF Card into a HUB in Windows 7. It ruins it. 486 is up and running with beautiful sound and a healthy amount of storage. It's a good day.

Had the same issue with Seagate ST3134a 134MB hard drive. After plugging it in Windows 7 machine to copy a bunch of files, I could not get 386 to boot. Happened 3 times until I canged it to 6GB Quantum Fireball 😀

I'm having trouble getting my mouse recognized in Windows 3.11. Cute Mouse finds it in DOS, though it still doesn't work in any games I've tried. Namely Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

I'm using Mau1's DOS Zip with CTMOUSE. I have SET MOUSE=C:\MOUSE in the autoexec.bat and changed the path in the system.ini. But Windows 3.11 fails to start when I have that line in the system.ini. And no DOS game I have tried yet recognizes the PS/2 M$ Mouse connected via Serial Adapter to COM1. Suggestion?

rodimus80 wrote:

Tip: Don't plug the CF Card into a HUB in Windows 7. It ruins it. .

Eh? HUB as in memory card reader? I do it all the time with my CF card with out ill effects. Or am I miss-understanding something? 😦

rodimus80 wrote:

I'm having trouble getting my mouse recognized in Windows 3.11. Cute Mouse finds it in DOS, though it still doesn't work in any games I've tried. Namely Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis.

I'm using Mau1's DOS Zip with CTMOUSE. I have SET MOUSE=C:\MOUSE in the autoexec.bat and changed the path in the system.ini. But Windows 3.11 fails to start when I have that line in the system.ini. And no DOS game I have tried yet recognizes the PS/2 M$ Mouse connected via Serial Adapter to COM1. Suggestion?

I find that CTMOUSE tends to default to a non serial mouse if it can't find anything... and that can cause issues. I ended up just running 'ctmouse /S1 /Y' on my machines which forces it to just check COM1 for a serial mouse and if it finds it, it sets it up, else it fails.

Nice 486 btw, seriously keep with it. There's nothing quite like a nicely working 486, even if it takes ages to properly configure!

rodimus80 wrote:

I have the drivers to enable to IDE Controller on the Sound Card. When I get a chance I'll try it out. On a side note, I was able to resolve the conflict I was having with my CF IDE Adapter working and then not working. Tip: Don't plug the CF Card into a HUB in Windows 7. It ruins it. 486 is up and running with beautiful sound and a healthy amount of storage. It's a good day.

Also got no issues to report and I do a LOT of sneaker netting 😀

With the mouse, does it work without the adapter?

In the ZIP is also the Logitech driver. Try that.

I don't know if I'd say it is gold, but it is nearly impossible to find a nice minitower like that, all I ever see on the used market is crummy desktop cases. I don't really go looking for the stuff, though. Most of the stuff you find in thrift stores these days is early pentium/pentium2/pentium3 vintage, hardly any of the older stuff.

I believe someone else may have already mentioned this, but the EISA slots are a nice addition, you can probably find some faster NICs and SCSI cards that will make use of those, in addition to the fact that you can put regular ISA cards in them. Also, it looks like you've got both 30 pin and 72 pin simms? Are you able to run both at the same time? I had a very similar motherboard back in the day, just without the EISA slots. If I remember correctly, it was possible to run both types (but you had to fully populate the bank of 30 pin simms).

Anyway, it is a nice little box. You should be able to have a lot of fun with it.

As it stands, the ESS Sound Card I got at a Flea Market is allowing me to connect a IDE CD-ROM which is just making everything easier. And with the CF IDE Adapter working flawlessly, I'm in a very happy place. Got DOS 6.22 installed and Windows 3.11. Audio is working wonderfully in all games tested. I am using a PS/2 Mouse with a Serial Port Adapter because the machine does not have any PS/2 Ports. I ordered a Serial Mouse which should be here tomorrow. I'm hoping that will resolve my Mouse dilemma. I purchased another CF IDE Adapter to put into one of my work horse PC's to make file transfers even more easier. All in all, the struggle was hard and I wanted to give up a lot of times as you guys probably could see, but at this point it all seems worth it. Being dropped in the deep end of old PCs was a learning experience. Although my back, after sitting for over a week, is killing me. I'm going to have to take a day break from sitting at the computer desk I think.

Currently I'm attacking another machine. Gateway G6-333 Pentium II. I got a AWE64 Gold IDE and I'm going to put that into the Gateway. The Gateway's onboard audio in Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis was horrible. It currently has Windows 95 and is my only Windows 95 machine. It's got crappy onboard MPACT Video with a Voodoo 2. While I was planning the AWE64 install something occured to me. Should I throw in a 2nd HDD and get DOS 6.22 installed? The 486 I have is nice, but the DOS games near the end of the OS Life can't be played well on it. But they would scream I think on the Pentium II. If it was your PC, would you dual boot Windows 95 and DOS 6.22? Or just stick with Windows 95? Bear in mind I have a few Pentium III machines to handle anything the Pentium II couldn't. And to top off what I consider retro, are my AthlonXP machines.