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Introducing HWiNFO16 (for 8086/88/186/188/286)

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First post, by Mumak

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Since HWiNFO for DOS (which is again in active development) is limited to 386+ systems, there was no solution for older systems. It would be difficult to include 8086/286 support in this tool, because it's optimized for 386 and later systems (and rather memory-tight). Hence I have build a special stripped-down and speed-optimized version for 8086/8088/80186/80188/80286 systems - HWiNFO16.
HWiNFO16 is (unlike HWiNFO) compiled with the 8086 instruction set and especially optimized for better performance on older systems (also excluding run-time compression and XMS requirement). It doesn't have support for technologies present on 386+ systems like PCI, PnP, DMI, SMBus, etc. so it makes no sense to run it on 386+ systems as it won't recognize such components.
Unfortunately my oldest system is a P5-90 so I couldn't test HWiNFO16 yet.
Any feedback is appreciated !

Actual latest version 2.3:

Filename
HWI16_23.ZIP
File size
116.95 KiB
Downloads
104 downloads
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception
Last edited by Mumak on 2023-12-29, 14:46. Edited 7 times in total.

Reply 1 of 124, by vstrakh

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Running it on a 286 pc.
The mobo is Tomato TD60C (Harris 286 @20MHz, Citygate D90-272).

1. Section System information.
The "Shadow+Special RAM Size" is shown as 'N/A', though the mobo does shadow the roms, and bios has configs for it.
Pressing Enter on "ISA" opens Bus Info window, showing bus type ISA and bus number '-'
Pressing Enter again on that bus starts scanning something, but shortly stops with "Fatal Error" "Cannot continue" dialog. The status bar at the bottom shows "Checking: SMC [port 200]"

2. Section Video Information.
The Video Card Bus is shown as MCA, but that's the ISA board, there is no microchannel stuff around.

3. Section Drive Information
It didn't show the secondary IDE present on the ESS1868 audio card. Right now there is a CDROM connected, but no discs inserted.
The primary IDE with CF card in it is selectable and shows lots of stuff.

4. Section Peripherals Information
The parallel port is shown as 4-bit port. I've googled it's a historically misnamed SPP. The port is on the multi-io card with COM/LPT/IDE ports.
The audio card is found, DSP version and port is reported.
Com ports are reported, and one has a serial mouse plugged with 'cutemouse; driver loaded, but it seems the info checks only modems presence.

5. Sections IRQ/DMA.
The audio card's IRQ/DMA are listed as "FREE <seems to be free>"

Reply 2 of 124, by Mumak

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vstrakh wrote on 2021-11-23, 19:21:
Running it on a 286 pc. The mobo is Tomato TD60C (Harris 286 @20MHz, Citygate D90-272). […]
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Running it on a 286 pc.
The mobo is Tomato TD60C (Harris 286 @20MHz, Citygate D90-272).

1. Section System information.
The "Shadow+Special RAM Size" is shown as 'N/A', though the mobo does shadow the roms, and bios has configs for it.
Pressing Enter on "ISA" opens Bus Info window, showing bus type ISA and bus number '-'
Pressing Enter again on that bus starts scanning something, but shortly stops with "Fatal Error" "Cannot continue" dialog. The status bar at the bottom shows "Checking: SMC [port 200]"

2. Section Video Information.
The Video Card Bus is shown as MCA, but that's the ISA board, there is no microchannel stuff around.

3. Section Drive Information
It didn't show the secondary IDE present on the ESS1868 audio card. Right now there is a CDROM connected, but no discs inserted.
The primary IDE with CF card in it is selectable and shows lots of stuff.

4. Section Peripherals Information
The parallel port is shown as 4-bit port. I've googled it's a historically misnamed SPP. The port is on the multi-io card with COM/LPT/IDE ports.
The audio card is found, DSP version and port is reported.
Com ports are reported, and one has a serial mouse plugged with 'cutemouse; driver loaded, but it seems the info checks only modems presence.

5. Sections IRQ/DMA.
The audio card's IRQ/DMA are listed as "FREE <seems to be free>"

Thanks for the feedback! Can you please attach the HWiNFO16 Report and Debug files, so I can see the exact details?
To create a Debug File run it with the -d parameter. Report can be created either by pressing F2 to save the current screen to disk or with -r parameter automatically walks thru all screens and saves them, but this will probably not finish if it's crashing during ISA cards scan.
Oh, do you maybe know what device is @ I/O 200 on your system?

Reply 3 of 124, by PC@LIVE

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Congratulations on the new version of your program.
Currently I have the 286 broken, the power supply is broken, and I hope there is nothing else, but for the moment I am working on other motherboards of various PCs for Pentium 2 3 4 and AMD462, in the next days I should try a Sempron 2600+ but for this PC I would use the version for 386 or higher in case.
The problem with the 286 is that the PSU is a weird kind and the attack should be like the XT's, so I should try to fix it because adapting another one is not easy.
If I can fix the 286 I will try to load your program, and of course I will put the files here.

AMD 286-16 287-10 4MB HD 45MB VGA 256KB
AMD 386DX-40 Intel 387 8MB HD 81MB VGA 256KB
Cyrix 486DLC-40 IIT387-40 8MB VGA 512KB
AMD 5X86-133 16MB VGA VLB CL5428 2MB and many others
AMD K62+ 550 SOYO 5EMA+ and many others
AST Pentium Pro 200 MHz L2 256KB

Reply 5 of 124, by vstrakh

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Mumak wrote on 2021-11-23, 20:18:

Oh, do you maybe know what device is @ I/O 200 on your system?

As far as I know there are no peripherals at that address. There is a joystick port (addr 0x201) on the ess1868 card, but there should be nothing at 0x200.

The log up to the point where hwinfo16_10 stopped with smc related error:

Filename
SMC_FAIL.ZIP
File size
2.09 KiB
Downloads
102 downloads
File license
Public domain

The logs of manually going through hwinfo16_10 sections:

Filename
HWLOG_10.ZIP
File size
2.65 KiB
Downloads
105 downloads
File license
Public domain

The log of automatic recursive tests from hwinfo16_11:

Filename
HWLOG_11.ZIP
File size
4.62 KiB
Downloads
111 downloads
File license
Public domain

There was a case when hwinfo v.11 caused "Internal stack overflow. System halted" error message, it was almost at the end of all tests, right after probing external devices on LPT port, and before starting DMA/IRQ reports. I have no STACKS settings in config.sys, could be related.
I did rerun same recursive report after reboot, it passed all the way this time.

The photo of rom shadow options from the bios, just to indicate it's there while system info reports N/A:

rom_shadow_options.jpg
Filename
rom_shadow_options.jpg
File size
153.12 KiB
Views
4662 views
File license
Public domain

Reply 6 of 124, by Mumak

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vstrakh wrote on 2021-11-24, 09:18:
As far as I know there are no peripherals at that address. There is a joystick port (addr 0x201) on the ess1868 card, but there […]
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Mumak wrote on 2021-11-23, 20:18:

Oh, do you maybe know what device is @ I/O 200 on your system?

As far as I know there are no peripherals at that address. There is a joystick port (addr 0x201) on the ess1868 card, but there should be nothing at 0x200.

The log up to the point where hwinfo16_10 stopped with smc related error: SMC_FAIL.ZIP
The logs of manually going through hwinfo16_10 sections: HWLOG_10.ZIP

The log of automatic recursive tests from hwinfo16_11: HWLOG_11.ZIP

There was a case when hwinfo v.11 caused "Internal stack overflow. System halted" error message, it was almost at the end of all tests, right after probing external devices on LPT port, and before starting DMA/IRQ reports. I have no STACKS settings in config.sys, could be related.
I did rerun same recursive report after reboot, it passed all the way this time.

The photo of rom shadow options from the bios, just to indicate it's there while system info reports N/A: rom_shadow_options.jpg

Thanks! So it looks like v1.1 did fix the crash @ SMC and ATAPI is now also reported. I will fix the shadow RAM reporting, but currently looking at the VGA. Do you know if it's a CL-GD5402 or CL-GD5420 ?
The 80287 FPU clock reported also looks weird, do you know what the correct clock is?

Reply 7 of 124, by vstrakh

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The VGA chip is CL-GD5420-75QC-C
The video card has some jumper, I assumed it has to be related to zero wait state, but I'm not sure now. No idea if it affects the tests.

The FPU is Intel 287 rated for 10 MHz, motherboard feeds it with 24 MHz, and the jumper on CKM pin selects internal division by 3, so effective clock is 8 MHz.

If it helps in any way, the ISA clock measures 7.1623 MHz, derived from the 14.318MHz quartz, which itself measures 14.324 MHz. Quite off the nominal value, maybe aging badly.

Reply 8 of 124, by Mumak

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Thanks!
Released v1.2:
- Fixed reporting of shadow memory size on 286
- Improved FPU clock measurement
- Added detection of Tomato TD60C mainboard
- Fixed detection of CL-GD5420 bus type (seems it cannot be detected via software)
[version pulled as there's a newer one]

Last edited by Mumak on 2021-11-28, 21:09. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 9 of 124, by vstrakh

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It seems automatic reports did freeze after searching bios extensions and before starting to detect video card.
Rerunning the test after reboot helps. I don't know, maybe playing around with guis before running full automatic scan affects the dos somehow? Leaked mem/files maybe?

Frozen log:

Filename
HWLOGFRZ.ZIP
File size
2.33 KiB
Downloads
102 downloads
File license
Public domain

Full log:

Filename
HWLOG_12.ZIP
File size
4.61 KiB
Downloads
104 downloads
File license
Public domain

Reply 10 of 124, by Susanin79

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Greetings,

Here is my results for canonical original IBM PC XT (5160). Current config details, links are pointed to web pages with additional information:

  • Multi-function board with additional 320KB memory, real time clock, LPT and COM

For sure it works slow but it is OK for me) Here is the major mismatches between the results and current hardware:

  • wrong FPU speed value, it should be 5 MHz
  • videoadapter detects as CGA (BrookTree Bt481 TrueColor ), but this is IBM EGA with 64Kb memory
  • there is no support for MFM controllers
  • some non existed esdi drives was found
  • also non existed MediaVision ProAudio Spectrum 16 was detected )

Please find the debug files attached to this message. Fist run was made with the -d -r -v options. It took around 1,5 hours to get this result. I turned PC off as I was not sure that program still perform any actions.
I'd be appreciated if you add this features to newer releases:

  • If user will run this program with -r -v options, then please add notification that this will take long time while program run on slow CPU
  • it will be a nice if you will putt some progress notification to STDOUT while program is running. Something like: "ISA bus scanning is in progress" It takes time and it will be helpful to trace the progress
  • Is it possible to enable termination hotkeys like Ctrl+C or Ctrl+Z to allow user terminate program. I was unable to stop or brake program. As there is no reset button I have to turn the PC off, it is not so good as I need to park HDD before the shutdown

Newt time I'll test it on more modern 286 system )

Attachments

  • Filename
    ibm-5160.zip
    File size
    8.23 KiB
    Downloads
    101 downloads
    File license
    Public domain

Reply 11 of 124, by pan069

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Ran HWINFO16 on my 286 today, a Siemens 16Mhz CPU with a Headland HT12/A chipset. When I run Drive Information, when it reaches Quaternary I get:

NO ROM BASIC
SYSTEM HALTED

Skipping my CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT fixes issue though. These are the contents in case it's of use:

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
FILES=40
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS
SET SOUND=C:\APP\SB
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T3
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
SET TEMP=C:\DOS
MODE CON RATE=31 DELAY=1

When I run HWINFO16 with the -d -r parameters, it generates the attached log files but hangs on the main screen after it has (presumably) finished.

Attachments

  • Filename
    HWLOG_16.zip
    File size
    3.25 KiB
    Downloads
    101 downloads
    File license
    Public domain

Reply 12 of 124, by Mumak

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Thanks you for the detailed reports !
I found several issues in the code, especially for XT systems and adjusted several things.
Being slower on XTs is expected, but such a huge time certainly isn't. Perhaps this was due to some issues I found and hopefully will work better now. If it still takes a lot of time, can you try to manually walk thu the screens and spot which item takes so long?
Posting v1.3, please make a new run and report back the results:
[version pulled as there's a newer one]

Last edited by Mumak on 2021-11-28, 21:10. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 13 of 124, by Mumak

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pan069 wrote on 2021-11-27, 04:03:
Ran HWINFO16 on my 286 today, a Siemens 16Mhz CPU with a Headland HT12/A chipset. When I run Drive Information, when it reaches […]
Show full quote

Ran HWINFO16 on my 286 today, a Siemens 16Mhz CPU with a Headland HT12/A chipset. When I run Drive Information, when it reaches Quaternary I get:

NO ROM BASIC
SYSTEM HALTED

Skipping my CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT fixes issue though. These are the contents in case it's of use:

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
FILES=40
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS
SET SOUND=C:\APP\SB
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T3
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
SET TEMP=C:\DOS
MODE CON RATE=31 DELAY=1

When I run HWINFO16 with the -d -r parameters, it generates the attached log files but hangs on the main screen after it has (presumably) finished.

Do you know the name of this mainboard?

Reply 14 of 124, by bakemono

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Here's my test system:
6MHz IBM AT motherboard (@7MHz), AMI BIOS, 512KB on board (piggy backed DRAMs), 1024KB on expansion card, ESS 1868, 3C509, WD 90C00 VGA

Some questionable reportings...
2MB RAM?
computer name "NEC" ?
39 instances of AMD PCnet Ethernet Adapter
IRQ list is missing the network card?
DMA list is missing the sound card?

Attachments

  • Filename
    HWILOGAT.ZIP
    File size
    3.21 KiB
    Downloads
    104 downloads
    File license
    Fair use/fair dealing exception

again another retro game on itch: https://90soft90.itch.io/shmup-salad

Reply 15 of 124, by Mumak

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bakemono wrote on 2021-11-27, 13:40:
Here's my test system: 6MHz IBM AT motherboard (@7MHz), AMI BIOS, 512KB on board (piggy backed DRAMs), 1024KB on expansion card, […]
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Here's my test system:
6MHz IBM AT motherboard (@7MHz), AMI BIOS, 512KB on board (piggy backed DRAMs), 1024KB on expansion card, ESS 1868, 3C509, WD 90C00 VGA

Some questionable reportings...
2MB RAM?
computer name "NEC" ?
39 instances of AMD PCnet Ethernet Adapter
IRQ list is missing the network card?
DMA list is missing the sound card?

Thanks!
Posting again v1.3 with fixes for issues you reported except IRQ/DMAs. Should now also find the 3C509 with more info. Please try again and report back:
[version pulled as there's a newer one]

Last edited by Mumak on 2021-11-28, 21:10. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 16 of 124, by zyga64

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Ok, this is my 286 rig:
Unknown VLSI SCAMP (VL82C311L/VL82C113) board (possibly PC CHIPS).
Amibios string: 20-0001-001223-00101111-0505910-KB-8042--0
- CPU: HARRIS 286 20MHz
- RAM: 4x1MB SIMM
- VGA: Cirrus Logic ISA CL-GD5422 1MB
- soundcard: CMI8330 (SB16 and WSS compatible) - A220 I5 D1 H5 T4
- ethernet: UMC - UM9008F - NE2000 compatible at 0x300h, IRQ 10
- generic Multi I/O with 1 IDE port, 1 floppy port, 2 RS232, 1 LPT
- 540MB IDE harddisk (Conner CFS541A) connected to multi I/O IDE port
- PS2 mouse modification (IRQ12) - VLSI SCAMP - native PS2 mouse (driver CuteMouse v2.0 alpha 4)
- MS DOS 6.22

Observations:
- Mainboard Info -> Bus Type: ISA -> - > soundcard is displayed as: "NE2000 or compatible Ethernet Adapter" at port 0220
When ethernet card is plugged in - there are 2 NE2000 displayed..
- VGA card is connected to MCA bus (which is not true)
- interrupts: 10 - NE2000, 11 - WSS and 12 - PS/2 mouse are marked as free (no matter if drivers are loaded/devices initialized or not).
- if UMB driver (UMB_DRVR) is present - Shadow+Special RAM Size is still N/A,
- if Ethernet card is physically present in ISA slot - peripherals info hangs on: „Checking GUS [port210]” - ALT+CTRL+DEL doesn’t have any effect
- both AIDA16 and NSSI are correctly detecting CMI8330 - probably using PnP detection (although this 286 BIOS of course doesn’t support PNP)

I'm attaching debug+report files for both situations (with and without ethernet card).

Attachments

  • Filename
    without_ethernet.zip
    File size
    4.66 KiB
    Downloads
    101 downloads
    File license
    Public domain
  • Filename
    with_ethernet.zip
    File size
    3.73 KiB
    Downloads
    98 downloads
    File license
    Public domain

1) VLSI SCAMP /286@20 /4M /CL-GD5422 /CMI8330
2) i420EX /486DX33 /16M /TGUI9440 /GUS+ALS100+MT32PI
3) i430FX /K6-2@400 /64M /Rage Pro PCI /ES1370+YMF718
4) i440BX /P!!!750 /256M /MX440 /SBLive!
5) iB75 /3470s /4G /HD7750 /HDA

Reply 17 of 124, by pan069

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Mumak wrote on 2021-11-27, 13:09:
pan069 wrote on 2021-11-27, 04:03:
Ran HWINFO16 on my 286 today, a Siemens 16Mhz CPU with a Headland HT12/A chipset. When I run Drive Information, when it reaches […]
Show full quote

Ran HWINFO16 on my 286 today, a Siemens 16Mhz CPU with a Headland HT12/A chipset. When I run Drive Information, when it reaches Quaternary I get:

NO ROM BASIC
SYSTEM HALTED

Skipping my CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT fixes issue though. These are the contents in case it's of use:

DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
FILES=40
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS
SET SOUND=C:\APP\SB
SET BLASTER=A220 I7 D1 T3
SET MIDI=SYNTH:1 MAP:E
SET TEMP=C:\DOS
MODE CON RATE=31 DELAY=1

When I run HWINFO16 with the -d -r parameters, it generates the attached log files but hangs on the main screen after it has (presumably) finished.

Do you know the name of this main board?

Unfortunately, no. It's a clone board. This is a photo of it if that helps.

SAB80286-16-N.jpg
Filename
SAB80286-16-N.jpg
File size
545.03 KiB
Views
4316 views
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 18 of 124, by Mumak

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zyga64 wrote on 2021-11-27, 21:02:
Ok, this is my 286 rig: Unknown VLSI SCAMP (VL82C311L/VL82C113) board (possibly PC CHIPS). Amibios string: 20-0001-001223-001011 […]
Show full quote

Ok, this is my 286 rig:
Unknown VLSI SCAMP (VL82C311L/VL82C113) board (possibly PC CHIPS).
Amibios string: 20-0001-001223-00101111-0505910-KB-8042--0
- CPU: HARRIS 286 20MHz
- RAM: 4x1MB SIMM
- VGA: Cirrus Logic ISA CL-GD5422 1MB
- soundcard: CMI8330 (SB16 and WSS compatible) - A220 I5 D1 H5 T4
- ethernet: UMC - UM9008F - NE2000 compatible at 0x300h, IRQ 10
- generic Multi I/O with 1 IDE port, 1 floppy port, 2 RS232, 1 LPT
- 540MB IDE harddisk (Conner CFS541A) connected to multi I/O IDE port
- PS2 mouse modification (IRQ12) - VLSI SCAMP - native PS2 mouse (driver CuteMouse v2.0 alpha 4)
- MS DOS 6.22

Observations:
- Mainboard Info -> Bus Type: ISA -> - > soundcard is displayed as: "NE2000 or compatible Ethernet Adapter" at port 0220
When ethernet card is plugged in - there are 2 NE2000 displayed..
- VGA card is connected to MCA bus (which is not true)
- interrupts: 10 - NE2000, 11 - WSS and 12 - PS/2 mouse are marked as free (no matter if drivers are loaded/devices initialized or not).
- if UMB driver (UMB_DRVR) is present - Shadow+Special RAM Size is still N/A,
- if Ethernet card is physically present in ISA slot - peripherals info hangs on: „Checking GUS [port210]” - ALT+CTRL+DEL doesn’t have any effect
- both AIDA16 and NSSI are correctly detecting CMI8330 - probably using PnP detection (although this 286 BIOS of course doesn’t support PNP)

I'm attaching debug+report files for both situations (with and without ethernet card).

Thanks! I have fixed a few issues and included PnP support (w/o BIOS support) which I initially didn't think was a topic on 286.
However to fix the NE2000 reporting at base of the sound card I will need to analyze output from the new build.
So here's v1.4, please try again and report back:
[version pulled as there's a newer one]

Last edited by Mumak on 2021-11-28, 21:10. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 19 of 124, by vstrakh

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v1.4 is unstable.
Running it with -r -d -v exits prematurely, just completing the PnP report for the ES1868.
Rerunning with only -r -d results in GUI either freezing at some point (more often it's Plug-and-Play Subdevice Details), or stopping with "not enough memory" dialog from the app.
Trying yet again after the reboot results in attempting to show some dialog that gets slowly and infinitely zooming out with black spaces , no actual dialog symbols are seen.
The last records in reports are about PnP subdevices.

Filename
HWLOG_14.ZIP
File size
1.13 KiB
Downloads
100 downloads
File license
Public domain