VOGONS


First post, by aykfc

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So it's kind of a long story but I am trying to get into the bios on a 486. The board is used in control modules for old CNC engraving machines to receive the data and it control the motors and power. The manufacturer has an I/O card that plugs into the ISA port that has the data and firmware. When the computer boots up it loads the card. When the battery dies and the CMOS is cleared it no longer loads it up. Well I am trying to repair two of the control modules. I have a third control module that works and when I install a graphics card to go into the bios I get video no problem. However when I install the graphics card in the two control modules that don't load the I/O card, I don't get any video. They do power on but no video. Tried two graphic cards and they both worked on the working control module. I removed the battery last night from both of the non working boards and did notice some corrosion that I hadn't seen when the battery was in the way. I plan to clean the board and remove the corrosion. It didn't seem too bad but I'm not sure if that's the reason for the issues. I am at work right now and don't remember the motherboard model or have any pictures. I can post some tonight. The working 486 is newer then these two boards. I was wondering if I needed drivers to get it working or if the leaking battery might be the issue. Any advise is appreciated! Thanks.

Reply 1 of 2, by Jorpho

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There's a certain old arcade system notorious for using "suicide batteries", wherein critical system data is lost when the onboard battery dies and there's no way (without extensive reverse engineering) to revive the board without returning it to the manufacturer. For all we know your "control modules" could have something similar.

Did these machines not come with manuals? Can you contact the original manufacturer?

aykfc wrote:

I was wondering if I needed drivers to get it working

I'm not clear on how you think that would work. Do you have some reason to believe these things are working despite having "no video" ?

if the leaking battery might be the issue

It would be quite impossible for anyone here to make any call on that given the lack of information. You would at the very least need to post pictures.

Reply 2 of 2, by emosun

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Can these cnc control cards not be used on a newer motherboard with isa slots?

You say the machine "loads the card" when it boots up. Is the machine booting an OS then loading drivers for this card or is the machine booting straight off the card itself?