I bought this 386 recently and I'm thinking it's a 5170 clone (based on the appearance of the case and the location of the drive bays). I can't seem to find any manufacturer's name printed on this thing. Does anyone know what this is?
Also, what is that connector at the bottom called? It's like two 8-bit ISA slots spaced far apart. There is a RAM board that plugs into it:
Your board looks like an ECS motherboard to me but I can't identify it. Does it POST ? If so please take a photo of the POST string/dump the bios using this http://cd.textfiles.com/microhaus/mhblackbox3 … MORY/GETROM.ZIP
The two slots at the bottom are one 8 bit ISA slot and one RAM expansion slot.
I don't think they have a specific name, they're probably proprietary.
Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative
I am still waiting to get the PSU back for this thing as it was busted. Should be able to report back in a few days. Thanks!
In the meantime, as I see many tantalum caps I advise you to check if there aren't any shorts in the power line.
Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative
Deksor wrote on 2021-06-07, 17:45:In the meantime, as I see many tantalum caps I advise you to check if there aren't any shorts in the power line.
I don't follow you. I feel like you may be talking about using a multimeter perhaps. I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to that sort of thing.
Also, the PSU came back from the shop today. It does not work. I made another post about that.
It looks like it could be a copy of a Zenith design from around that era, which used that long memory board. Interesting that they socketed the 386SX but did not leave a position for a coprocessor.
The memory board design was also used by DTK in the 1980s.
The BIOS is an AMI copyright which could help to narrow it down. I will have a quick look around but don't expect any miracles.
Were there any markings on the case or any other parts which might help indicate who manufactured it? What expansion cards were in it?
EDIT: I see that the socketed chip is actually a 387SX, my bad. The 386SX is soldered, what a shame. Would have been cool to have a DX in it.
Well, that was easier than I expected.
Looks like it's an Elitegroup Computer Systems 386SX.
Here's the TH99 page: https://th99.infania.net/m/E-H/32842.htm
Every connector looks like it lines up!
Hope this helps.
geiger9 wrote on 2021-06-09, 01:58:Deksor wrote on 2021-06-07, 17:45:In the meantime, as I see many tantalum caps I advise you to check if there aren't any shorts in the power line.
I don't follow you. I feel like you may be talking about using a multimeter perhaps. I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to that sort of thing.
Also, the PSU came back from the shop today. It does not work. I made another post about that.
Tantalum capacitors are the little yellow things sticking up from the board.They like to short internally and cause explosions and fires.
Yes, and you can watch the AT connector pinout and look for shorts between power lines and ground.
@FAMICOMASTER found it in th99, so do we have it here then http://www.win3x.org/uh19/motherboard/show/2097
I was struggling to find it because of wrong infos about the ISA slots (our mistake !).
It definitely looks like an ECS motherboard to me too so that's a match I think. The last thing we need now is a BIOS dump (which can be done with software)
Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative
I only ever look at the old Infania backup of TH99. The black on green of the Uncreative labs page hurts my eyes and many of the other websites have a bad habit of being inaccurate (win3x) or full of adds (stason)
There's a clean copy here too:
https://www.elhvb.com/mobokive/th99/
oh and infania has an integral backup of my entire domain it seems. I cannot remember ever seeing an email for asking to do that.
FAMICOMASTER wrote on 2021-06-09, 08:46:I only ever look at the old Infania backup of TH99. The black on green of the Uncreative labs page hurts my eyes and many of the other websites have a bad habit of being inaccurate (win3x) or full of adds (stason)
UH19 started from th99, so infania (or whatever th99 clone you use) is just as inaccurate, if not even worse 😁
Well to make things clear :
Yes uh19 is based on th99's database. That means initially their content was identical and that we inherited their mistakes. However as time passed we've added many features which we had to add ourself.
Sometimes we tried to use shortcuts which failed completely (form factors are just inaccurate) or added the feature but still needs some human review to be usable (ram slots and some I/o ports).
However the rest is mostly accurate (this problem with expansion slots did happen like 3 times in 9 months).
Meanwhile TH99 is also filled with errors, mistakes, etc. However there's nobody to fix them. For win3x there's a team that can fix them for you if you tell them 😀
(Or we just figure it out ourselves).
Here's an example of a pretty bad mistake from TH99 :
https://th99.infania.net/m/A-B/32719.htm
https://th99.infania.net/m/A-B/33570.htm
https://th99.infania.net/m/A-B/30037.htm
https://th99.infania.net/m/A-B/33414.htm
https://th99.infania.net/m/S-T/35093.htm
https://th99.infania.net/m/S-T/35051.htm
https://th99.infania.net/m/S-T/35078.htm
https://th99.infania.net/m/S-T/35096.htm
8 entries ... With various degrees of accuracy (some even mention a 386SX)
Did abit make this many boards ? No. They made just one : http://www.win3x.org/uh19/motherboard/show/60
Maybe there were some revisions, but th99's revision system isn't accurate either (they're based on manual revision which is different from board revision), and it doesn't justify making this mess.
And examples like this are countless.
Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative
Weird. I've never run into any problems with TH99, but I suppose to each their own. I would rather stick with TH99 where possible.
I got a floppy back in the day with a database of boards on it, not sure if it was an earlier spin of the microhouse data, but it was circa '95-ish I had it. Very useful, though had a lot of gaps. I believe I will eventually come across it, and hopefully data can be ferreted, filleted, fiddled and merged.
Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.
Yes please.
Deksor wrote on 2021-06-07, 15:34:Your board looks like an ECS motherboard to me but I can't identify it. Does it POST ? If so please take a photo of the POST string/dump the bios using this http://cd.textfiles.com/microhaus/mhblackbox3 … MORY/GETROM.ZIP
The two slots at the bottom are one 8 bit ISA slot and one RAM expansion slot.
I don't think they have a specific name, they're probably proprietary.
So I finally got the machine up and running. I used that program, getrom, it produced a file called Atrom which is mostly gibberish.
On the first screen though, it does say the following:
AMI BIOS 1131
ENSX-1131-030389-K8
geiger9 wrote on 2021-06-15, 11:05:So I finally got the machine up and running. I used that program, getrom, it produced a file called Atrom which is mostly gibber […]
Deksor wrote on 2021-06-07, 15:34:Your board looks like an ECS motherboard to me but I can't identify it. Does it POST ? If so please take a photo of the POST string/dump the bios using this http://cd.textfiles.com/microhaus/mhblackbox3 … MORY/GETROM.ZIP
The two slots at the bottom are one 8 bit ISA slot and one RAM expansion slot.
I don't think they have a specific name, they're probably proprietary.
So I finally got the machine up and running. I used that program, getrom, it produced a file called Atrom which is mostly gibberish.
On the first screen though, it does say the following:
AMI BIOS 1131
ENSX-1131-030389-K8
It's normal to see gibberish, it's the code in the bios file.
Can you please send it to us so we can archive it ?
Some people may come across the same board as yours without the BIOS ROMs, which are needed to get the computer up and running. Or they may just fail over time and for those that have a dead bios chip it'd be useful too as having this would let people recreate a new one.
Anyways, 1131 is the manufacturer code for ECS, so ECS is confirmed to be the maker of this board !
Trying to identify old hardware ? Visit The retro web - Project's thread The Retro Web project - a stason.org/TH99 alternative
Deksor wrote on 2021-06-15, 12:01:It's normal to see gibberish, it's the code in the bios file. […]
It's normal to see gibberish, it's the code in the bios file.
Can you please send it to us so we can archive it ?
Some people may come across the same board as yours without the BIOS ROMs, which are needed to get the computer up and running. Or they may just fail over time and for those that have a dead bios chip it'd be useful too as having this would let people recreate a new one.Anyways, 1131 is the manufacturer code for ECS, so ECS is confirmed to be the maker of this board !
Hoping this link works. I tried adding the file as an attachment here in the post reply but it wouldn't let me. Invalid file type.
