386 motherboard with a vesa slot \ VOGONS

386 motherboard with a vesa slot

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First post, by 2Mourty

Posted on 2010-02-05, 05:53

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I have been looking for a cheap 386 motherboard for a while, just won this on ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem … e=STRK:MEWNX:IT

comes with a 386/40, but the funny thing is that this board has a vesa slot. Anybody acutally used a 386 with a vesa bus video card? I found this on the internet, and the board is made by the same company...

http://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/E/EF … CA-34M50HL.html

anyways, I am going to try it out and see how it goes.

Reply 1 of 9, by retro games 100

Posted on 2010-02-05, 06:31

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Unfortunately, I know almost nothing about 386s, but that 386 VLB mobo does look interesting. The stason page says it can run a 80386DX-20 up to a 80486DX2-66, and the cache can go up to 256KB, and the DRAM up to 32MB. Nice find! 😀

I notice that jumper W1 is "Battery type select external/external", and that the J1 header accepts the external battery.

Reply 2 of 9, by 2Mourty

Posted on 2010-02-05, 14:46

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I saw the external battery option too. I am definitely going to use that because I don't know how to replace a barrel battery. What voltage external battery should I use I wonder.

Reply 3 of 9, by PowerPie5000

Posted on 2010-02-07, 02:18

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2Mourty wrote:
I saw the external battery option too. I am definitely going to use that because I don't know how to replace a barrel battery. What voltage external battery should I use I wonder.

I'm just using an external 3V lithium cell and it's working fine 😀 the original battery was a 3.6V barrel type but i removed it before it got a chance to leak everywhere.

Reply 4 of 9, by 2Mourty

Posted on 2010-02-09, 14:11

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Thank you for the tip, I will be getting the board by Friday, I will experiment with the external battery.

Reply 5 of 9, by SquallStrife

Posted on 2010-02-10, 05:51

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In reality, it's a 486 board. The Am386DX-40 has a 32-bit data bus, though, so it can act like a 486, including suporting VLB.

VogonsDrivers.com | Link | News Thread

Reply 6 of 9, by 2Mourty

Posted on 2010-02-26, 23:09

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How do I get this barrel battery of the motherboard? Just rip it off? Some acid has started to leak out of it, luckily it hasn't touched any of the components, but I want to get the battery of as quickly as possible.

Reply 7 of 9, by Anonymous Coward

Posted on 2010-02-26, 23:23

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You can clip it off if you like (with some sharp pliers), or you can desolder (the way I like to do it). I highly recommend cleaning up the spilled acid with cuetips and strong isopropyl alcohol.

"Will the highways on the internets become more few?" -Gee Dubya
V'Ger XT|Upgraded AT|Ultimate 386|Super VL/EISA 486|SMP VL/EISA Pentium

Reply 8 of 9, by 2Mourty

Posted on 2010-03-01, 06:16

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I found this CMOS battery on ebay. It is a 4 pin connector like the battery connector on my motherboard. Think this might be a good match?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem … e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Reply 9 of 9, by Amigaz

Posted on 2010-03-01, 07:58

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2Mourty wrote:
I found this CMOS battery on ebay. It is a 4 pin connector like the battery connector on my motherboard. Think this might be a good match?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem … e=STRK:MEWAX:IT

That's a 4.5v battery which will be thw wrong voltage.

What you should buy is a 3.3V battery

My retro computer stuff: https://lychee.jjserver.net/#16136303902327

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