I have finally built up my board, and eventually will proceed to testing it. I still have to isolate the LDRQ signal but I know it is accessible from one resistor under the PCH heatsink.

And the LDRQ1 is sneakily routed to unused pin on the TPM header :

Nice, but wouldn't you need that hole for heatsink mount? Why not keep the wire on top side?
http://rayer.g6.cz/hardware/gap67ad3/ldrq1a.jpg
http://rayer.g6.cz/hardware/gap67ad3/ldrq1b.jpg

The wire does pass through the heatsink mount thing in place, although I did have to cut a tiny slice off it. Unfortunately my board has no convenient resistor at the TPM header for an unused signal to tap into so going underneath like this was the least pain option.

There's always "jamming a pin into the top of the plug on the header" or "soldering to the base of the header pin"

I considered one of those briefly but decided against at that moment. Ultimately I had to break the shround around the pins since I couldn't find any connector to fit in with the shroud in place, and had I known that I would have just soldered the wire on top.
But what I ended up doing is invisible on the board and there are people who appreciate stealth mods 🤣.

EDIT: At first I had a PSU, then I got that sorted out and machine bootable again... then it was time to connect the bridge aaaaaand no success.

With the bridge connected the machine keeps restarting after a few seconds, without ever reaching POST screen. I tried both $4E and $2E addresses... I'll have to investigate board schematic to see if there's something getting in the way of things and if I can take it out the equation... Windows Device Manager showed "motherboard resources" in both addresses. One is likely occupied by the SuperIO chip but what the other can be, I'm not yet sure.

I also had to cut the sides of plastic housing of the header with knipex. They just didn't expected someone would use ribbon cable there 😀 if someone don't want to do it then can use some small PCB with female header at bottom side and male header at top side...

As you have problems to boot. Maybe you have to double check your soldering, try another cable ( flat/ribbon works fine, no need twisted), try without LDRQ... I woul then fear if the Fintek bridge is not damaged/thrash/fake... Try to look with scope if it's responding some way and are there correct logic levels. I have found Gigabyte MBs quite legacy friendly, this one has UEFI, not sure if someone tested it. My MBs has classic Award yet...

Yeah, there are many possible issues and ways to go about it. The priority isn't super high however, I'll have to make readyness for measurements etc. later on as the workdesk is full of other project(s) 🤣.

Tiido wrote on 2025-03-20, 22:31:

... as the workdesk is full of other project(s) 🤣.

Ya, I have to put all my retrocomputing temporarly on a bed (that's bugging me I couldn't leave it when need to sleep)...
like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DuXoMHgSDo
BTW I seen you was in touch with nocash on NesDev forum but I don't have an account there, could you let him know I already tested his player on a real 386? I sent him PM here but seems he don't visit Vonongs often and I couldn't find any mail to him...

Sorry for a bit of offtopic, but would anyone be interested to undertake a spinoff project of a tiny LPC YMF719 soundcard module for Kontron 886LCD-M/mITX motherboard that has an LPC header? I'm offering one such NOS motherboard for the project.

hard1k wrote on 2025-03-22, 14:59:

Sorry for a bit of offtopic, but would anyone be interested to undertake a spinoff project of a tiny LPC YMF719 soundcard module for Kontron 886LCD-M/mITX motherboard that has an LPC header? I'm offering one such NOS motherboard for the project.

Just checked your board manual. It seems to be a 855GME chipset board targeting Pentium M family.

The 6300ESB southbridge it used was an exception in the part that it does not support PC-PCI unlike ICH5, but related configuration registers are the same as the older ICHs so its LPC probably works the same way as those up to ICH5.

From the manual, its onboard LPC header has everything needed including LDRQ#. The header doesn't appear to have a LPC RESET# signal, but that can be pulled high through other means and no need for a connection...

(Though I'm not sure what "unsupported" means in the manual. Could it be that Kontron doesn't guarantee that header's functionality or they don't provide support to its usage...)

Can this work on older motherboards with 14 pin LPC/TPM port?
I'm targeting Intel G31 if possible since the project I'm running has to be running on XP SP1 (SP1 doesn't work properly on newer platforms than G31)

For example this is from an MSI G31M manual

If you find the LDRQ signal too (for DMA), then the potential it'll work does exist.

Will the disappointment work as an 8 bit ISA? I have an ancient industrial control PC I am trying to resurrect. Any advice on build or appropriation of parts - perhaps a fully built adapter?

tbulgrin wrote on 2025-04-04, 12:47:

Will the disappointment work as an 8 bit ISA? I have an ancient industrial control PC I am trying to resurrect. Any advice on build or appropriation of parts - perhaps a fully built adapter?

It will, but for industrial use I wouldn't recommend it. There are much easier ways to get a PC with an ISA slot than using disappointment.

rasteri wrote on 2025-04-04, 13:03:

tbulgrin wrote on 2025-04-04, 12:47:

Will the disappointment work as an 8 bit ISA? I have an ancient industrial control PC I am trying to resurrect. Any advice on build or appropriation of parts - perhaps a fully built adapter?

It will, but for industrial use I wouldn't recommend it. There are much easier ways to get a PC with an ISA slot than using disappointment.

Thank you for your quick response! I am indeed finding later motherboards that will support legacy hardware. They're pricey, but I think they will be a much better solution for my application. Again, thank you for you help.

I'm full of emotions. We (retro community in Ukraine) finally did it. Not sure is it possible at all to do that by themselves for individuals having little soldering skills.
I'm pretty sure the person who made final soldering job eventually start selling those on ebay (with compatible and prepared mobos).
Soooooo. Let's begin with impressions (and cons).
Observations: fantastic compatibility (after figuring out why sapphisa GPF-ed from the start).
Asrock Z87M-Pro4, 4670k only one core enabled, 4.5GHz, 2x2 DDR3 1866, IGP as a graphics card.
680FPS Q1 640 demo1
250fps Q1 1280 demo1 (300 demo2)
140FPS Q2 1600x1200 demo1 (121 demo2)
400+ FPS Duke3D (unplayable due to tearing and flickering), or 150+ fps 640, with mtrrlfb lfb UC fantastically playable
560-590 realticks Doom1 shareware bench (from Phil's pack), not the fastest, but at least mtrrlfb VGA WC didn't crash doom/hang the system. 330fps fastdoom benchmark.
8008 sysbench
Dune 2 - my very first love from 1994 - everything works: speech, sfx, GM and FM music.
Sound card:
I ended up with ESS 1868 "Super" branded, because of low pass filter. Yamaha clone also works, but there's annoying lack of low pass filter, apparent aliasing artifacts and overall less balanced to my ears.
Also Wp32 McCake works flawlessly with ESS.
Now for issues, not really cons:
1. you may face "too much memory" leading to "not enough memory" = jemmex maxext limit to one gig
2. buffershigh/lastdrivehigh and other resources high = saphhisa will GPF you. DOS=HIGH,UMB works well though.
3. you should init SFX by running something modern, like fastdoom before starting doom or dune2, otherwise there will be no SFX in them, some proper additional init required
4. still trying to figure out "how to" with himem only, himemx has issues on this setup, crashes everywhere, while jemmex has the best compatibility
5. if you're facing sapphisa or MTRRLFB GPF, or doom/duke/quake wont start - start with shift-F5 - disable everything, and go up from there.
6. PicoGUS's init see no card, I'll look into the code, seems different set of registers not routed to the bridge.
Images clickable, you may notice mobo black wire glued to the tpm and military-grade cabling.
for power I have used some ITX PSU, powered by graphics card PCIe connector, I don't like the idea of sharing power from ATX connector because of intermediate joints.

vsharun wrote on 2025-04-08, 07:17:

I'm full of emotions. We (retro community in Ukraine) finally did it. Not sure is it possible at all to do that by themselves fo […]
Show full quote

I'm full of emotions. We (retro community in Ukraine) finally did it. Not sure is it possible at all to do that by themselves for individuals having little soldering skills.
I'm pretty sure the person who made final soldering job eventually start selling those on ebay (with compatible and prepared mobos).
Soooooo. Let's begin with impressions (and cons).
Observations: fantastic compatibility (after figuring out why sapphisa GPF-ed from the start).
Asrock Z87M-Pro4, 4670k only one core enabled, 4.5GHz, 2x2 DDR3 1866, IGP as a graphics card.
680FPS Q1 640 demo1
250fps Q1 1280 demo1 (300 demo2)
140FPS Q2 1600x1200 demo1 (121 demo2)
400+ FPS Duke3D (unplayable due to tearing and flickering), or 150+ fps 640, with mtrrlfb lfb UC fantastically playable
560-590 realticks Doom1 shareware bench (from Phil's pack), not the fastest, but at least mtrrlfb VGA WC didn't crash doom/hang the system. 330fps fastdoom benchmark.
8008 sysbench
Dune 2 - my very first love from 1994 - everything works: speech, sfx, GM and FM music.
Sound card:
I ended up with ESS 1868 "Super" branded, because of low pass filter. Yamaha clone also works, but there's annoying lack of low pass filter, apparent aliasing artifacts and overall less balanced to my ears.
Also Wp32 McCake works flawlessly with ESS.
Now for issues, not really cons:
1. you may face "too much memory" leading to "not enough memory" = jemmex maxext limit to one gig
2. buffershigh/lastdrivehigh and other resources high = saphhisa will GPF you. DOS=HIGH,UMB works well though.
3. you should init SFX by running something modern, like fastdoom before starting doom or dune2, otherwise there will be no SFX in them, some proper additional init required
4. still trying to figure out "how to" with himem only, himemx has issues on this setup, crashes everywhere, while jemmex has the best compatibility
5. if you're facing sapphisa or MTRRLFB GPF, or doom/duke/quake wont start - start with shift-F5 - disable everything, and go up from there.
6. PicoGUS's init see no card, I'll look into the code, seems different set of registers not routed to the bridge.
Images clickable, you may notice mobo black wire glued to the tpm and military-grade cabling.
for power I have used some ITX PSU, powered by graphics card PCIe connector, I don't like the idea of sharing power from ATX connector because of intermediate joints.

Very nice work! I might grab a Asrock Z87M-Pro4, I haven't been able to find many motherboards that work and I kinda want one with builtin PCI

What a fantastic result! 😎🏆

Do you think the adapters will be sold on eBay too? I have a Supermicro motherboard ready to go!

vsharun wrote on 2025-04-08, 07:17:

I'm full of emotions. We (retro community in Ukraine) finally did it. Not sure is it possible at all to do that by themselves fo […]
Show full quote

I'm full of emotions. We (retro community in Ukraine) finally did it. Not sure is it possible at all to do that by themselves for individuals having little soldering skills.
I'm pretty sure the person who made final soldering job eventually start selling those on ebay (with compatible and prepared mobos).
Soooooo. Let's begin with impressions (and cons).
Observations: fantastic compatibility (after figuring out why sapphisa GPF-ed from the start).
Asrock Z87M-Pro4, 4670k only one core enabled, 4.5GHz, 2x2 DDR3 1866, IGP as a graphics card.
680FPS Q1 640 demo1
250fps Q1 1280 demo1 (300 demo2)
140FPS Q2 1600x1200 demo1 (121 demo2)
400+ FPS Duke3D (unplayable due to tearing and flickering), or 150+ fps 640, with mtrrlfb lfb UC fantastically playable
560-590 realticks Doom1 shareware bench (from Phil's pack), not the fastest, but at least mtrrlfb VGA WC didn't crash doom/hang the system. 330fps fastdoom benchmark.
8008 sysbench
Dune 2 - my very first love from 1994 - everything works: speech, sfx, GM and FM music.
Sound card:
I ended up with ESS 1868 "Super" branded, because of low pass filter. Yamaha clone also works, but there's annoying lack of low pass filter, apparent aliasing artifacts and overall less balanced to my ears.
Also Wp32 McCake works flawlessly with ESS.
Now for issues, not really cons:
1. you may face "too much memory" leading to "not enough memory" = jemmex maxext limit to one gig
2. buffershigh/lastdrivehigh and other resources high = saphhisa will GPF you. DOS=HIGH,UMB works well though.
3. you should init SFX by running something modern, like fastdoom before starting doom or dune2, otherwise there will be no SFX in them, some proper additional init required
4. still trying to figure out "how to" with himem only, himemx has issues on this setup, crashes everywhere, while jemmex has the best compatibility
5. if you're facing sapphisa or MTRRLFB GPF, or doom/duke/quake wont start - start with shift-F5 - disable everything, and go up from there.
6. PicoGUS's init see no card, I'll look into the code, seems different set of registers not routed to the bridge.
Images clickable, you may notice mobo black wire glued to the tpm and military-grade cabling.
for power I have used some ITX PSU, powered by graphics card PCIe connector, I don't like the idea of sharing power from ATX connector because of intermediate joints.

Any itx boards?