Help Getting FIC-VIP-IO Working with 5x86 \ VOGONS

Help Getting FIC-VIP-IO Working with 5x86

Topic actions

Post a reply

First post, by WJG6260

Posted on 2021-04-08, 04:54

WJG6260 Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 215
Joined: 2020-07-24, 03:58
Location: Florida, USA

Hello all,

I recently purchased (but have yet to receive) a FIC-VIP-IO motherboard.

I’ve seen mention of members of the forum running Cyrix and AMD 5x86s in this board, and was wondering what the appropriate jumper settings would be. Would an Am5x86 use the P24D settings, and the Cyrix 5x86 use the Cyrix M7 settings? I believe the M7 is 5V, so I’m wondering how to set the voltage properly for the Cx5x86 in such an instance.

It appears that there are a couple of later BIOSes available for this board: (i) 4.26, which seems to have a date of 1/18/95 and (ii) 3.27, which seems to have a date of 06/16/97. Is one of these BIOSes preferable to another for running a 5x86—be it Cyrix or AMD—on this board?

Also, what voltages does this board seem to support with the onboard VRM? Is it just 3.3V/5V? I’ve seen somewhere on here that the FIC-VIP-IO2 can support 3.45V/3.7V/4V, aside from these standard voltages.

To anyone who owns this board and has found success with such a configuration, I’d appreciate your insight!

Thank you again!

-Live Long and Prosper-

Feel free to check out my YouTube and Twitter!

Reply 1 of 4, by majestyk

Posted on 2021-04-08, 05:45

majestyk Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1347
Joined: 2020-12-04, 09:13

Does your VIP-IO come with onboard voltage regulator or with the little add on VRM card?
The onboard ragulator can be set for (at least) 3.3V, 3.6V (Jumper JC8) and autodetects 5V CPUs. The add on card has some additional voltages.
Do you have a picture of your board?

I can confirm the latest BIOS version 3.276 correctly identifies AMD´s 5x86. It comes with an integrated video BIOS for Cirrus Logic chips because it´s also supporting FIC 486 mainboards with onboard graphics.
The 4.26 version probably comes without video since it´s just 50KB packed, but I never tested this version.

Reply 2 of 4, by WJG6260

Posted on 2021-04-08, 13:02

WJG6260 Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 215
Joined: 2020-07-24, 03:58
Location: Florida, USA

Thanks for the reply and for the help!

Mine has the onboard regulator. I don’t actually have a picture as of yet, since I purchased it last night, but I’ve attached a photo from the listing.

Oh that’s awesome news! I’ll use that BIOS then. Is it possible to strip that BIOS into two and remove the Cirrus VGA BIOS, in order to fit the file onto, say, a 27C512 EEPROM?

As far as jumper settings go for the Am5x86, what would be the appropriate configuration? Would DX4 or P24D work? And how would I set the board for 3.3V, or would it auto-detect?

Also, were you able to get WB L1 cache working on the Am5x86?

Apologies for the 8 trillion questions haha.

Attachments

Filename

1E8731E8-12AB-46A3-B4EF-593FA6F71A52.jpeg

File size

499.47 KiB

Views

204 views

File license

CC-BY-4.0

-Live Long and Prosper-

Feel free to check out my YouTube and Twitter!

Reply 3 of 4, by majestyk

Posted on 2021-04-08, 13:10

majestyk Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1347
Joined: 2020-12-04, 09:13

I would let the BIOS untouched and flash it on some 1MB EEPROM - they are the most common anyway.
Yuu can do that with an external programmer or on the board by "hot-swapping".

For the jumpering - I´ll have a look at my VIP-IO later.

Reply 4 of 4, by WJG6260

Posted on 2021-04-08, 13:13

WJG6260 Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 215
Joined: 2020-07-24, 03:58
Location: Florida, USA

Ah okay, that I can do! I’ve got a programmer, so I’ll give it a go!

Thank you for your help! I really appreciate it!

-Live Long and Prosper-

Feel free to check out my YouTube and Twitter!

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to General Old Hardware

Main menu

Common searches