I MAY have a motherboard with one of those chipsets, but how would you even make an image of the BIOS? I only have 3 386 mobos, but many 486 boards

Would uniflash work?

NSSI has an option to save the contents of the BIOS. http://www.navsoft.cz/products.htm

There are other ways, but I've found NSSI to be pretty reliable and it is easy to get hold of and run.

feipoa wrote:

Would anyone be willing to make an image of their 386 motherboard's BIOS with VLSI VL82C330/331/332 chipsets? Thanks.

I have a motherboard with these chipsets, sadly it only has the BIOS even. I would be willing to try and extract the BIOS even for you if it helps, I have never done it before though.

I am also interested in finding the BIOS odd.

turtlesedge - Does the motherboard you have contain two BIOS sockets, with one missing? Or does it contain a single BIOS socket?

I think there is software which can create even/odd BIOSes from a board with only a single BIOS chip.

feipoa wrote:

turtlesedge - Does the motherboard you have contain two BIOS sockets, with one missing? Or does it contain a single BIOS socket?

I think there is software which can create even/odd BIOSes from a board with only a single BIOS chip.

Yes it contains two BIOS sockets and there is one BIOS missing. I haven't tested it properly yet but assumed there was a missing BIOS. I have to try and fix a couple of the traces and replace the DIN socket first since a nicad battery leaked, the damage seems to be only around the keyboard socket.

It would be great if I could make another BIOS.

Strange that one BIOS chip is missing.

If you need my BIOS images, let me know.

Thanks that would be great, what kind of equipment will I need to create a BIOS?

A universal programmer would be helpful. I use a Wellon VP-390. You also need the appropriate sized EEPROM chips. Attached are the even and odd BIOSes from my AMI Mark V Baby Screamer.

turtlesedge wrote:

Thanks that would be great, what kind of equipment will I need to create a BIOS?

I recently asked for some advice on the same topic and received some good feedback.
Refer: EPROM burner and "blank" BIOS chips

Thanks feipoa and jesolo, I ordered a TL866CS and some EEPROM ICs.

Will let you know how it goes in about a month when they arrive...

Ok, I look forward to your results.

feipoa wrote:

Strange that one BIOS chip is missing.

Not that strange, I've seen it on other motherboards. It's not really "missing", but it has an extra socket for installing BIOS extensions. I have for instance a XT clone motherboard with no less than 8 BIOS sockets, all mapped throughout the F000-FFFF region. Five of them are populated ( one is the BIOS itself, the other 4 are the IBM Basic) and three are open. I have actually used one of the open sockets to install some custom BIOS extensions that I burned in an EPROM. 😀

stamasd wrote:

feipoa wrote:

Strange that one BIOS chip is missing.

Not that strange, I've seen it on other motherboards. It's not really "missing", but it has an extra socket for installing BIOS extensions. I have for instance a XT clone motherboard with no less than 8 BIOS sockets, all mapped throughout the F000-FFFF region. Five of them are populated ( one is the BIOS itself, the other 4 are the IBM Basic) and three are open. I have actually used one of the open sockets to install some custom BIOS extensions that I burned in an EPROM. 😀

It is strange because his existing BIOS chip says "even", which means there is also a missing "odd" BIOS chip. Both of these BIOSes are needed. It seems odd to me that the previous owner would remove one of them and not put it back.

> which means there is also a missing "odd" BIOS chip

There are boards with a single chip which has also printed 'even' on it. Wether this is the case here can be tested with a multimeter in continuity checker mode: When i.e. the pins 15 of both sockets show zero ohms it's an 8-bit interface and works with a single chip.

I actually tried to boot the motherboard and it was working but would fail after post or when I would would try to save settings to the CMOS. It would come up with a "parity error" in large text.

I am guessing the previous owner just pulled the other ROM out for some reason.

It means there was no other ROM. You wouldn't get any sign of life if two ROMS were required. Parity error is a hint to defective RAM.

h-a-l-9000 wrote:

> which means there is also a missing "odd" BIOS chip

There are boards with a single chip which has also printed 'even' on it. Wether this is the case here can be tested with a multimeter in continuity checker mode: When i.e. the pins 15 of both sockets show zero ohms it's an 8-bit interface and works with a single chip.

Interesting. I was not aware of that. turtlesedge, could you measure this with a multi-meter?

If his board was meant to work with a single chip, what would be the purpose of the other socket.

Since we already know that it POSTs with only one ROM it's an 8-bit interface.