Hmm didnt solve the problem. Still no RAM detected. Tried 2 different 🙁

Did you try using some contact cleaner on the Lock / Normal switch ? Also maybe re-clean the ISA contacts ...

Yes, already cleaned the ISA-connector with a rubber. Will test the switch with my multimeter...

You are using 9 chip 70nS simms so it should see them. Maybe something in the motherboard BIOS is causing it ? I have a 286 that I have to enter the total ram window or it will not see a 2Mb add-on ram card. just a thought...

I am currently using a 286 with 1 MB onboard and MR-BIOS, see here
How about a MR-BIOS ROM file repository?
There is nothing to be entered about RAM. The card-RAM should be autodetected.

Before that I tried the card in a 486 with 4 MB, same result.

Do you also own the Rampat?

Predator99 wrote on 2020-03-08, 21:43:

I am currently using a 286 with 1 MB onboard and MR-BIOS, see here How about a MR-BIOS ROM file repository? There is nothing to […]
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I am currently using a 286 with 1 MB onboard and MR-BIOS, see here
How about a MR-BIOS ROM file repository?
There is nothing to be entered about RAM. The card-RAM should be autodetected.

Before that I tried the card in a 486 with 4 MB, same result.

Do you also own the Rampat?

No not a Rampat, mine is an old IBM AT 16bit XMA/EMS memory card. The Rampat docs say you must use 9 chip 80nS or faster simms. And for two simms use top two sockets.
A picture shows the driver screen and "Next Starting Address". Is the driver configurable ? Maybe it needs a specific config.sys line ? I am stumped.

The driver comes as a boot disk. It loads really quick without a config.sys or autoexec.bat. There is no option and no kind of interaction. It just shows the screen (screenshot on the top of the thread) and asks to reboot.

You can also load the config program from DOS. But there are no command line options, too. I have read somewhere that one should use the bootdisk.

Have you tried a different set of 1Mb parity SIMMS ?

I recently got a Ramp!AT Plus.

I tried it on a 386sx with an Ali1209 chipset with 8 MB on board (max) & AMI Bios and no extra ram is found, regardless of how the card is populated.

I tried it on a 286 with a C&T Chipset with 1 MB on board (max) & Phoenix BIOS and sees RAM, but it only ever sees 2MB, regardless of how the card is populated. (tried 2,4,8,16)

My guess is that the ram detection has something to do with the BIOS.

The card seems super sensitive on the SIMMs. Looks like I only have one set that is stable in the 286.

Would adding a memory wait state in the BIOS make things more stable or would that only affect the onboard RAM ?

I have a card like this and so far it gets recognized on the few boards I tried it, including XT machine recently.
It requires a software driver that works on 286 and later hardware for the memory to be used.
It is not that i am an expert in these matters.
But are you saying that you use the card without a driver ?

pshipkov wrote on 2022-03-04, 06:47:

I have a card like this and so far it gets recognized on the few boards I tried it, including XT machine recently. It requires a […]
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I have a card like this and so far it gets recognized on the few boards I tried it, including XT machine recently.
It requires a software driver that works on 286 and later hardware for the memory to be used.
It is not that i am an expert in these matters.
But are you saying that you use the card without a driver ?

I have a RAMPAT!-PLUS & this board: https://www.ultimateretro.net/en/motherboards/4113

The BIOS detects an extra 2MB of ram, 3MB RAM total and the ram count up during post is about 50% slower for the last 2 MB.

The BIOS on this board also supports EMS, but I have not tried configuring the RAMPAT!_PLUS ram for EMS.

Does anyone have a Winimage bootable diskette image for this card (non-Plus)? I am having the same issues as the original poster. I run the config.com file and there is no RAM detected. I tried 3-chip 1 MB modules, 3-chip 4 MB modules, and 9-chip 4 MB modules. I only tried it on a 386 board so far, not a 286 board. My 386 motherboard has 16 MB installed and know it will work with 32 MB installed.

The manual mentions that install.exe is for setting up expanded memory, which I'm not trying to do. Setting it up for Extended memory should work mostly out of the box after running the bootable diskette, which I presume runs config.com, but cannot say for certain.

I feel that the RAMpAT card needs to know the start address for its RAM. Maybe it is expecting the motherboard to have only 1 MB installed?

I have the a 360K diskette image in IMD format, which I haven't really researched how to extract it to floppy yet. I don't remember where I found it. I should have a 360K blank diskette.

feipoa wrote on 2023-02-04, 23:58:

Does anyone have a Winimage bootable diskette image for this card (non-Plus)?

Do have a few diff versions (1.1, 1.2 and 1.3 iirc) of the RampAT standard driver/setup archives.
Here they are in .IMA format so should be able to Winimage them to 720k or 1.44m if needed.
The IMD image you posted is Config.com v1.3

Thanks a lot for these. Looks like you need to a 720K or 360K diskette for Winimage to write these images. There is a way to convert a 1.44M diskette into a 720K disk, which I already have from years ago. I wrote the v1.3 diskette and it booted right away. It looks like it does is run config.com.

I tried the v1.1, v1.2, and v1.3 of config.com that you have provided, but in every case, it shows the RAMpAT capacity at 0 K. It does correctly identify the next starting address, which in my case is 16384K.

I noticed that there is a good number of programmable logic chips on the PCB. I read somewhere that these don't normally hold their data for more than 30 years. Is this true? And if so, good chance that the three of us on here with bad cards are out of luck.

feipoa wrote on 2023-02-05, 15:43:

I noticed that there is a good number of programmable logic chips on the PCB. I read somewhere that these don't normally hold their data for more than 30 years. Is this true? And if so, good chance that the three of us on here with bad cards are out of luck.

The datasheet says 10 years on the battery. Am wondering if it a fault in the DS1206 where it is not reading the ram or bus or ???

I was referring to the programmable PAL/GAL type chips.

Right, it does a bunch.

This is how i use the RAM controller.

The config.com can be run from regular DOS prompt, you don't need a bootable diskette.
It works well with 4Mb of installed system memory (in the motherboard slots).
With 16Mb of installed system memory the RAMPath config utility shows 0Mb capacity.
May test later with different size of system memory on a 486 machine, but this device controller makes sense for 286 class hardware only.

pshipkov wrote on 2023-02-06, 02:29:

This is how i use the RAM controller. […]
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This is how i use the RAM controller.

The config.com can be run from regular DOS prompt, you don't need a bootable diskette.
It works well with 4Mb of installed system memory (in the motherboard slots).
With 16Mb of installed system memory the RAMPath config utility shows 0Mb capacity.
May test later with different size of system memory on a 486 machine, but this device controller makes sense for 286 class hardware only.

Thanks ! I think if you max the onboard ram...say: a motherboard only allows max of 16Mb and have 16Mb, you cannot use RampAT with 4Mb because it exceeds the motherboard/chipset limit.
Does that sound about right ?? It makes sense to me as the total exceeds the chipset or bios limit. And makes no sense to use in a 486 anyway, maybe a low end 386SX would be ok.
....just curious.

RAMPath's design is to overcome such limitations and provide additional memory.
I think the 16Mb limit is RAMPath centric.
The card came to market in 1990. 16Mb or RAM at that time was Star Wars -like stuff.
The motherboard i tested with (in the pics above) the RAM limit is 32Mb.

Used the card successfully in 286 machines.
But not each and every chipset/mobo like it, or the other way around.