Here's a few pics, are you looking to add this board to an info site? I plan to submit it to a few myself.
Thanks ! Yes for Vogons, www.ultimateretro.net and my own little archive 😀
added: found the J-Mark page for the J446B: http://web.archive.org/web/19971012063621/htt … com/M446C4.html
and also the manual for B and A at the Jetway TW site... thanks again
Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun
oh awesome! Ultimateretro is where i was headed with all that, but you beat me to it! Glad I could help though!
animegaud wrote on 2022-01-13, 01:44:oh awesome! Ultimateretro is where i was headed with all that, but you beat me to it! Glad I could help though!
The only 446 board current on UR is 446A. I never added anything yet.
Here is the 446B manual in PDF
Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun
animegaud wrote on 2022-01-12, 03:54:Ah, thank you Jan! I hadn't considered memory so didn't try changing that! I put the memory from the new board on the old board with no other change and .. it fired right up! The ram was the issue! After some investigation, I believe it was because the memory i was using on the old board is EDO and the board didn't quite know what to do with it. The old bios is attached.
Again many thanks! Now for the other issues. This board was rather abused, bent pins, memory latches are broken, broken traces.. but it's a fighter!
Great to hear that the idea about a possible RAM issue paid off! 😀
kikipcs and animegaud, thanks for the BIOS dumps and here is my analysis of these J446B BIOS versions:
1) V.446 S1 10-30-1996 from kikipcs’s board (BIOS ID: 2A4IBJ11C-00)
2) V.446B RS1 12-24-1996 from animegaud’s old board (BIOS ID: 2A4IBJ11C-00)
3) V.446B PS1 12-24-1996 from animegaud’s new board (BIOS ID: 2A4IBJ19C-00)
The first two BIOSes are practically identical. The S1 BIOS contains an V3.06 SCSI ROM, while the RS1 BIOS has an updated V4.0 SCSI ROM. The S1 BIOS had a (non-functional) I/O CONFIGURATION SETUP menu, that is disabled in the RS1 BIOS and for the rest these BIOSes are byte-for-byte identical.
In addition, they are both Award v4.51G BIOSes, so without PnP functionality and can be run from an UV-EPROM.
@kikipcs: Unless if you run a ROM-less SCSI card, there is no need to update your S1 BIOS to the RS1 version.
The third BIOS, version PS1, is different because it is an Award v4.51PG BIOS and supports Plug and Play. These PnP BIOSes use a dedicated 4KB block in the BIOS flashchip to store the PnP Device configuration, so they can’t run from an UV-EPROM. They need an EEPROM flashchip with block programming capability like the Winbond W29EE011.
@animegaud: I see no revision markings on the pictures of both your J446B boards and they look identical. Only the chipset production week markings from the new board look more recent, so the “new” J446B is a later production model and Jetway probably decided to update the BIOS to PnP and use a BIOS flashchip i.s.o. an EPROM on these later boards.
Strange though, that they kept the same 12-24-96 date for the PnP BIOS. 😉
Jan
Just kinda subscribing to thread as this board seems a bit familiar. I think I've had one in the dim and distant past, but not sure what became of it. I think I had trouble with the configuration as at the time, manuals etc were harder to find. I'm fairly sure I didn't have it up and running, so that means it might turn up wayyyy at the back of everything in a box of boards deemed junkers.
Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.
Chkcpu, thank you for your insight. I was wondering if the board had any PnP support; on another note, kudos to you for deciphering the BIOSes, to me it's magic.
Glad to see the board getting some love and some more information about it.
Thank you Chkcpu, yes from my checking both boards, aside from the BIOS (E)EPROM chips, they seem identical, and the 'older' of the boards i have has a UV-EPROM on board while the other has a Winbond EEPROM. I may put the plug and play bios on the 'older' board too since I have the bios saved and a few (hopefully) compatible EEPROM chips now. I will let this thread know how that goes!
it worked! Flashed the PnP bios to an Atmel AT29C010A EEPROM, and the 'older' board booted with it just fine but has some other issues but that is expected with its broken traces and the like
Okay! 😀
Glad I could help.
Jan
