VOGONS


First post, by keropi

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Hiya!

anyone recognizes what his motherboard could be?

k0mTftEl.jpg
full resolution link: https://i.imgur.com/k0mTftE.jpg

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All I have found is that it uses the ELITE EAGLE E88C311/312 chipset
It had battery damage and I cleaned it that is why the socketed chips are missing
It looks like very well built - a grade above the random 386DX mobos of 1991 , pcb is heavy and rigid, smd components, nice routing....

Any info/guess would be appreciated, thanks!

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Reply 1 of 18, by Deksor

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I found this which could be a match http://www.win3x.org/uh19/motherboard/show/5271

Can we use your photos ?

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Reply 2 of 18, by keropi

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ofcourse you can use them I can even take better ones tomorrow hopefully!
and if you need the full-res 10mb ones just tell me so I can upload

the mobo you linked matches except the JP304/303 jumpers - my board just has a JP301 instead
on my mobo the chipset has engraved "40mhz" so I guess it's just a later revision - it also came with nice ceramic cpu/fpu chip 😀

rf1Ho7K.png

thanks for the help Deksor, it seems we have a match!!!!

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Reply 3 of 18, by PD2JK

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Does it work?

Looks like it's missing an oscillator/crystal?

Edit:
Sorry didn't read carefully, you got it that way. Also a missing bios rom and keyboard controller.

i386 16 ⇒ i486 DX4 100 ⇒ Pentium MMX 200 ⇒ Athlon Orion 700 | TB 1000 ⇒ AthlonXP 1700+ ⇒ Opteron 165 ⇒ Dual Opteron 856

Reply 4 of 18, by Deksor

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Great ! Checkout UH19 for compatible BIOSes
I think there must be at least one motherboard with that chipset being recorded in there.

For the photos, sure you can send us 10MB photos (make sure to remove your phone's watermark ^^)

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Reply 5 of 18, by keropi

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PD2JK wrote on 2020-12-06, 16:14:

[...]
Sorry didn't read carefully, you got it that way. Also a missing bios rom and keyboard controller.

chips are all present I will put them back and test when I repair the battery damage
missing oscillator is for fpu if you need it running in async mode - no need since it's a 40mhz part as well

I will take new pics tomorrow Deksor!

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Reply 6 of 18, by Deksor

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Oh you have the original bios ? If you can dump it, please share 😁
Especially if it's an AMI or a Award, it could tell us who is the manufacturer of that board exactly

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Reply 8 of 18, by keropi

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full res pic: https://mega.nz/file/sYtDBCab#ozM9_pD8DZamIu- … IG9BErxkWX1Dw0k
and AMI bios attached here

Attachments

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Reply 9 of 18, by Deksor

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String is 30-0100-ZZ1289-00101111-050591-ELITE-A1
Manufacturer code is 1289 ...
Unfortunately I can't find any name for that manufacturer ID online (maybe we have a identified mobo from them in UH19 who knows ? But I can't look it up right now).
However this has to be a taiwanese brand in my opinion.

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Reply 11 of 18, by keropi

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QUEST was a pc-seller here in Greece - in the 90s they had some really nice systems with DFI cases and Seasonic PSUs. All re-labelled as "QUEST" but opening them nowdays reveals the truth.
All in all the Quest systems from that era where very nice - this is why I do not want to rip those labels 🤣
This is how the system was sold - this is a pic from the QUEST 286/16 system I have but the only difference outside is the branding on the computer unit - this one just says "386DX" instead of "286/16"

dLut6nE.jpg

I also repaired the battery damage - the mobo is fine and the BIOS setup has a bazillion options in the "advanced" section - it actually scrolls to reveal more.
It seems to me a really speedy system - that speedsys screen is with default bios settings.

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No idea either about the manufacturer - I also searched it. The 286/16 system uses a DFI mobo .

Last edited by keropi on 2020-12-07, 16:00. Edited 2 times in total.

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Reply 12 of 18, by konc

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evasive wrote on 2020-12-07, 14:28:

I think this is the first ever motherboard with this chipset too. Ofcourse those Quest labels might hint at the manufacturer but could be the reseller too.

Quest is (was) a big OEM brand in Greece, it has nothing to do with the motherboard brand unfortunately.

edit: keropi beat me to that

Reply 13 of 18, by Deksor

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I added every details to the UH19 page.

About the manufacturer though, I'm wondering if it couldn't be the same as this one : http://www.win3x.org/uh19/motherboard/show/4249
The sticker on the back of your board has a similar "name" and the "-40" could be related to the CPU's speed

Edit : found this taiwanese manufacturer ... maybe it's them ? ^^
https://www.taiwantrade.com/company/polo-tech … o-ltd-1787.html#

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Reply 14 of 18, by evasive

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@keropi: is Quest still active? Do they have a website?

We might either dig into their website through archive.org or just send them an email. You will be surprised how many companies are keeping old documentation and are willing to share the info.

Reply 15 of 18, by keropi

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evasive wrote on 2020-12-07, 20:29:

@keropi: is Quest still active? Do they have a website?

We might either dig into their website through archive.org or just send them an email. You will be surprised how many companies are keeping old documentation and are willing to share the info.

it is alive and well - I just got my xiaomi phone from them last week
that division is long lost, I doubt anyone can share anything
late 90s~2000s they were also active importing pc components and selling them to retailers , that division is also closed AFAIK
they now have this eshop: https://www.you.gr but it's just like the other retail ones, nothing interesting
I do not know if they had a website, maybe konc does?

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Reply 16 of 18, by keropi

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Deksor wrote on 2020-12-07, 19:59:
I added every details to the UH19 page. […]
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I added every details to the UH19 page.

About the manufacturer though, I'm wondering if it couldn't be the same as this one : http://www.win3x.org/uh19/motherboard/show/4249
The sticker on the back of your board has a similar "name" and the "-40" could be related to the CPU's speed

Edit : found this taiwanese manufacturer ... maybe it's them ? ^^
https://www.taiwantrade.com/company/polo-tech … o-ltd-1787.html#

those MBA numbers do match - and Quest imported TW stuff allright (DFI things for example)

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Reply 17 of 18, by konc

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Judging by the group's evolution I doubt there's anything left in their premises.

In the beginning it was a one man's show, Mr. Pouliadis formed the "Pouliadis and associates" company selling the Quest brand PCs. It was also the first official Microsoft distributor in Greece and developed the "official" Greek add-on for windows 3.x (official in quotes since it wasn't from MS themselves, but was the official solution for Greek characters in windows from the official distributor).

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They had deals with the public sector to equip school labs (schools had just begun to offer computer classes) and civil service buildings. The first website dumb from way back machine is that of 1996, well into the Pentium era: https://web.archive.org/web/19961115033741/ht … t.gr/2index.htm

The Quest PCs were of really good quality, but around that time the market had grown enough for multiple companies to jump in, offering budget/cheap products. The company was healthy enough to adapt so they transformed into a larger group called "InfoQuest", entered the stock market etc. They continued selling their Quest PCs, but also created a cheaper brand (called "Plato"), expanded into the supplier-reseller domain, prepaid mobile telephony (called "Q", who would have thought!) and became the official distributor for more imported and well known brands. At some point they were the biggest supplier in Greece. At the small computer shop where I was working back then we were also getting all of our stuff from them and the owner had a personal relation with Mr. Pouliadis, I've met him once.

But it didn't last, it was a combination of bad decisions and the aggressiveness of the market during the late 90s. They went bankrupt around 2005-6, Mr. Pouliadis retired, assets were liquified (that's why I doubt there's anything left, I had friends working there during that time and I know that the buildings were basically empty when this process finished). After that the group (https://www.infoquest.gr/) continued to do business and it's still active, but apart from the name it has no real ties to the original company. Mr. Pouliadis passed away in 2011.