Have you tried changing IRQ setting of the NIC?
My preferred setting for 16-bit ISA NICs is IRQ 10.

Grzyb wrote on 2024-01-27, 01:18:

Have you tried changing IRQ setting of the NIC?
My preferred setting for 16-bit ISA NICs is IRQ 10.

thats what the 3 seperate 3COM cards are defaulting to. no changes.

and im getting around faulty headers for Serial 1 & 2 on this board w/ an MultiIO card

What do you mean by this? Bent pins? Wrong cables to rear I/O? Dead chip?

giantclam wrote on 2024-01-27, 02:08:

and im getting around faulty headers for Serial 1 & 2 on this board w/ an MultiIO card

What do you mean by this? Bent pins? Wrong cables to rear I/O? Dead chip?

when connected to em, my Serial mice has Zero Response. by both Windows & CTMouse.

Well if you're using the original (known good) header cables/DB9 connectors and things aren't working, the board has a problem ..least of which being the possibility of the board 'stealing' IRQs that don't actually get used. If it were me, I'd be addressing this problem first =)

Hi. Checkit! has a serial/parallel port test.
It can do a basic test without a dongle, too.

giantclam wrote on 2024-01-27, 03:58:

Well if you're using the original (known good) header cables/DB9 connectors and things aren't working, the board has a problem ..least of which being the possibility of the board 'stealing' IRQs that don't actually get used. If it were me, I'd be addressing this problem first =)

the orginal cables were long lost, as the board was at an electronic recycler,

CaelThunderwing wrote on 2024-01-27, 09:51:

giantclam wrote on 2024-01-27, 03:58:

Well if you're using the original (known good) header cables/DB9 connectors and things aren't working, the board has a problem ..least of which being the possibility of the board 'stealing' IRQs that don't actually get used. If it were me, I'd be addressing this problem first =)

the orginal cables were long lost, as the board was at an electronic recycler,

Ahh.... then that may be the problem there ; there's a couple of different ways the header<->DB9 cable can be wired (no idea what Dell did), and if it's not the 'right' wiring, it won't work. There's 2 main ways they did it iirc, and whatever you've got now presume you need the other arrangement (requires desoldering/resoldering wire at DB9 connector in correct sequence)... should be some reference to this on the site somewhere...

edit: https://www.frontx.com/pro/cpx102_2.html

Some info there...depending on what you've got, you may be able to repin the header connector.

giantclam wrote on 2024-01-27, 10:37:

Ahh.... then that may be the problem there ; there's a couple of different ways the header<->DB9 cable can be wired (no idea wha […]
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CaelThunderwing wrote on 2024-01-27, 09:51:

giantclam wrote on 2024-01-27, 03:58:

Well if you're using the original (known good) header cables/DB9 connectors and things aren't working, the board has a problem ..least of which being the possibility of the board 'stealing' IRQs that don't actually get used. If it were me, I'd be addressing this problem first =)

the orginal cables were long lost, as the board was at an electronic recycler,

Ahh.... then that may be the problem there ; there's a couple of different ways the header<->DB9 cable can be wired (no idea what Dell did), and if it's not the 'right' wiring, it won't work. There's 2 main ways they did it iirc, and whatever you've got now presume you need the other arrangement (requires desoldering/resoldering wire at DB9 connector in correct sequence)... should be some reference to this on the site somewhere...

edit: https://www.frontx.com/pro/cpx102_2.html

Some info there...depending on what you've got, you may be able to repin the header connector.

so i tried something last night as a last ditch to go "no way this is the reason .. it cant be this bady made.." the Parallel header and both serial ports haveto be heccin populated to function! but atm its not so much w/ the IO Card installed (eating up resources) but some IRQ's causing now it to boot but after some time after a successful boot Video artifcating occurs. so i cant use IRQ5 7 or 15. (lockup at boot or video glitching.)

i have tried... various video cards on the board and all in 3.xx or 95 cause this artifacting issue. i can only either think my ISA Videocards have all some kind of Defect.. the ram in that 486 board is bad given the only set that didnt give parity errors when parity checking was enabled was the 8MB kit it came with... or the DX2 is faulty in some way (which i doubt..)for now i think im going to shelve it and try the next board which was some IB Branded Pentium Pro system. i dont like giving up on something, but this 486 has taken my attention span so much over the last week or so.. its time to move on for now.