I recently bought a FIC 486-VE4 motherboard, but the BIOS may be faulty in that the boot screen doesn't prompt for EISA. does anyone have a motherboard like this?
Motherboard
BIOS startup screen
I dump BIOS file.
You are missing the Dallas RTC (empty socket with DS1---8 ?) showing. Usually those are the Dallas DS1387 or equal (has 4k extra ram t0 hold the EISA config's)
This FIC board has exact same chipset and is EISA but with two added VLB slots. Its BIOS is also dated 6/6/92 and may work...
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/fic-48 … -ve-v#downloads
There are quite a few differences between your bios dump and it's BIOS, one notable thing is "EISA"string near end by the date in it, but not yours,,,,
Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun
Horun wrote on 2023-09-13, 23:07:You are missing the Dallas RTC (empty socket with DS1---8 ?) showing. Usually those are the Dallas DS1387 or equal (has 4k extr […]
You are missing the Dallas RTC (empty socket with DS1---8 ?) showing. Usually those are the Dallas DS1387 or equal (has 4k extra ram t0 hold the EISA config's)
This FIC board has exact same chipset and is EISA but with two added VLB slots. Its BIOS is also dated 6/6/92 and may work...
https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/fic-48 … -ve-v#downloads
There are quite a few differences between your bios dump and it's BIOS, one notable thing is "EISA"string near end by the date in it, but not yours,,,,
It's not missing, just not in this picture.
Ok, I'll try to take a look, but I don't have an EISA configuration.
What happens when you boot into DOS and run the EISA-config utility ("ecu207.exe")?
As far as I remember all is done with that utility, at POST/boot the 486-VE4 looks just like some non-EISA 486 mainboard.
majestyk wrote on 2023-09-14, 11:53:What happens when you boot into DOS and run the EISA-config utility ("ecu207.exe")?
As far as I remember all is done with that utility, at POST/boot the 486-VE4 looks just like some non-EISA 486 mainboard.
I extracted ecu207.exe and executed SD.EXE to configure it, but after reboot it still says EISA configuration error.
Have you installed the .cfg (and .ovl) files for the mainboard itself and all present EISA cards?
If you did and it finished without error, the EISA configuration is probably not stored correctly. And of course you need to replace the battery ("Dallas-Mod").
"Battery state low" usually means empty.
Doesn't appear to be an .ovl file in that package.
Far as I can find, the only FIC 486 EISA board referred to by LEO Systems (in their file library ) was the 486VE-V https://web.archive.org/web/20001110115000/ht … ort/bios.html#2
majestyk wrote on 2023-09-14, 16:30:Have you installed the .cfg (and .ovl) files for the mainboard itself and all present EISA cards?
If you did and it finished without error, the EISA configuration is probably not stored correctly. And of course you need to replace the battery ("Dallas-Mod").
"Battery state low" usually means empty.
I processed it by directly downloading the EISA-config utility ("ecu207.exe").
Yes, I have replaced the battery ("Dallas-Mod").
PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2023-09-14, 16:48:Doesn't appear to be an .ovl file in that package.
Far as I can find, the only FIC 486 EISA board referred to by LEO Systems (in their file library ) was the 486VE-V https://web.archive.org/web/20001110115000/ht … ort/bios.html#2
I saw it, but unfortunately there's no way to download it.
The VE-V is the same chipset, has EISA + 2 x VLB, it can be configured for up to 1MB L2 cache, so the BIOS and .cfg will probably be different.
There´s only the .cfg. file, no overlay - bus this is not unusual.
majestyk wrote on 2023-09-14, 18:13:The VE-V is the same chipset, has EISA + 2 x VLB, it can be configured for up to 1MB L2 cache, so the BIOS and .cfg will probably be different.
There´s only the .cfg. file, no overlay - bus this is not unusual.
I tried to edit and save the EISA configuration with SD.EXE, but after rebooting and running SD.EXE it still says unconfigured.
How come the configuration utility detects everything correctly, but gives you "Realtimeclock - Reserved"? Can you edit this line?
majestyk wrote on 2023-09-15, 18:04:How come the configuration utility detects everything correctly, but gives you "Realtimeclock - Reserved"? Can you edit this line?
It can be viewed, but not edited.
I bought a new DS1387 and replaced it on it, but it didn't work, it still prompts a checksum error.
Not exactly new - it was made in 1994. But if the battery still works it´s o.k.
Does the utility write the config file on the floppy disk when you try to save the configuration?
And why is there a keyboard error being reported?
majestyk wrote on 2023-09-17, 07:04:Not exactly new - it was made in 1994. But if the battery still works it´s o.k.
Does the utility write the config file on the floppy disk when you try to save the configuration?
And why is there a keyboard error being reported?
No, I can't back up the configuration.
Before running the EISA utility, have you entered BIOS setup and configured everything like time, date, boot order etc? Can you save these settings without getting any error message?
majestyk wrote on 2023-09-17, 07:48:Before running the EISA utility, have you entered BIOS setup and configured everything like time, date, boot order etc? Can you save these settings without getting any error message?
Yes, BIOS setup works fine and can be saved.
The boot process if using the FIC 486 VE-V BIOS will prompt 'EISA CMOS checksum failure'
You can boot DOS without any problem.
So you´re booting DOS from HD? Have you tried booting DOS fom floppy (with no HD attached) and running EISA cfg?
EISA config might be unable to handle "non-A:\" paths I´m afraid.
