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3/486 hybrid motherboard - replacement BIOS

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First post, by jesolo

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I have an old 3/486 hybrid motherboard with an OPTI495XLC chipset.

This motherboard was kept in storage for a long time and one day I wanted to test out the motherboard again, but when I tried to boot it up, nothing happened.
Eventually, I swopped out the AMIBIOS 386DX ISA BIOS with a similar BIOS, but from a totally different motherboard with a different chipset.
Sure enough, the motherboard did manage to start up at the BIOS screen, but wouldn't post (most likely due to the incorrect BIOS).

I happen to have another 3/486 hybrid motherboard with exactly the same chipset.
I decided to try out that motherboard's BIOS on this motherboard, but no luck (the motherboard doesn't even want to start up).

What I have been looking out for is a replacement BIOS (either a chip from a similar motherboard or a BIOS dump) to try and revive my old motherboard.
However, I'm wondering whether this will actually solve my problem, since I would thought that if I plugged in a BIOS from a motherboard with exactly the same chipset, it would at least start up.

Attached are some pictures of the motherboard, plus some pictures of the BIOS setup screens from this motherboard's manual.

WP_20160806_001.jpg
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WP_20160806_001.jpg
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988.92 KiB
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Motherboard
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Fair use/fair dealing exception
WP_20160806_002.jpg
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WP_20160806_002.jpg
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309.4 KiB
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Manual - 1st page
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Fair use/fair dealing exception
WP_20160806_003.jpg
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WP_20160806_003.jpg
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321.93 KiB
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File comment
Manual - 2nd page
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
WP_20160806_004.jpg
Filename
WP_20160806_004.jpg
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322.36 KiB
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File comment
Manual - 3rd page
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 1 of 4, by Jo22

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Hi jesolo, I've found a thread about OPTI495XLC for you at vcfed.org from two years ago.
Same problem as yours, so you're not alone with this. 😀 They also mention two BIOS files..

*link*

Also, you're lucky, because AMI mentions your chipset on its ftp site (incl. name of the manual).
ftp://ami.com/archive/Other_Manuals/!index.txt

The index file says:
OP495XLC.Z08 96002 12-09-93 OPTI 495XLC for 8/8/93

So the direct link for your manual is..
ftp://ami.com/archive/Other_Manuals/OP495XLC.Z08

(Note: the *.z08 file is a zip file)

Word Perfect reader
ftp://ami.com/archive/Other_Manuals/WPVIEW.ZIP

If this is a newer release of your manual, it maybe can help you. ^^

Another thing I've also found was an article about PC hardware which mentions your chipset.
So you can be proud of it, because it was kinda popular! 😁

Hope this helps you a bit. I also looked into my 386 mobo "collection" to find a BIOS for you, but sadly I don't have a matching one. 🙁

Anyway, good luck!

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  • OP495XLC.png
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    OP495XLC.png
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    OPTI495XLC manual
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

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Reply 2 of 4, by nforce4max

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Had the same with one board and resorted to pulling the bios from a dead board which worked (very lucky) without issue. Interesting to have a working award bios like one would have on a newer system but on a vlb board with no 3.3v support. Have you tried a bios from a 82c495slc based board?

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 3 of 4, by jesolo

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@Jo22. Thank you for the info. I initially found the link to the first page you listed, but not the second one.
Will definitely help.
@nforce4max. I did consider looking at motherboards with the 495SLC chipsets as well, but I don't have any myself and haven't had luck securing one yet

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