VOGONS


First post, by NTICompass

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I recently acquired a Faraday A-Tease 286 motherboard. It seems to have onboard RAM and uses an Intel C80286-6.
I am having trouble finding a manual or any info on this board.

Specifically, what PSU (or adapter) do I need to power this board up? I have an AT/XT PSU with P8/P9 connectors, but that doesn't seem to be correct. I suppose I should also figure out what each of the jumpers do, too.
Also, are the ROMs for this board available somewhere, or should I dump the ROMs and upload them?

Here are some pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/aaGMYBJk7EqqXQNh6

I posted this on Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/retrobattlestations/ … day_atease_286/) and while waiting for a reply, I did some research.

I've found reference to this board (its POST codes) here: http://minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/Ultra-X/U … ers%20Guide.pdf (page 8-21).
Another POST code page says "Faraday A-Tease: Owned by Western Digital": https://mrbios.com/techsupport/award/postcodes.htm

I found the jumper settings! Apparently, this board is by Western Digital. http://vtda.org/books/Computing/The%20A+%20Re … %20-%202000.pdf (Page 579).
You know, I didn't take a picture of it, but this board did come in a Western Digital box. I figured that was just a random box, and not its original box.

A reddit user helpfully posted a catalogue mentioning this board: http://www.bitsavers.org/components/faraday/1 … OEM_Catalog.pdf (page 61).
It mentions the PSU connector and MOLEX part numbers:
https://www.molex.com/molex/products/part-det … ings/0009507081
https://www.molex.com/molex/products/part-det … ings/0009507041
https://www.molex.com/molex/products/part-det … nals/0008500106

Seems like those are just the housings/pins for the cable. So, I could make the connector, and put some wires in it... but I'll still need to determine the pinout.

So, yeah, has anyone seen this board or a similar one? How can I determine the PSU pinout and power this board up?

Reply 1 of 6, by weedeewee

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The standard voltages +12v, +5v, -5v, -12v, you could measure continuity between the psu connector and the correct pins on the ISA bus.
Though there might be one signal which might cause a headache, being the power good signal, some boards use it, some don't.

edit: you might want to add a photo of the underside of the board where the psu pins are located, just to , maybe, get an idea of the traces.

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Reply 2 of 6, by NTICompass

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One of the PDFs linked (http://www.bitsavers.org/components/faraday/1 … OEM_Catalog.pdf) mentions this board does have a "power good" signal. It also mentions that the -5V rail connects directly to the ISA slots.
So, your suggestion of checking the ISA slots to see which pins match is a great idea 😀

I can take a picture of the bottom of the board soon.

Reply 4 of 6, by NTICompass

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weedeewee wrote on 2022-05-05, 20:31:

NTICompass, expect multiple psu pins to be tied to the same voltage rail.

Isn't that normal for a PSU anyway?

This board has 12 pins (8+4) and an AT PSU also has 12 pins (6+6), so I wonder if the pins will map directly.

Reply 6 of 6, by NTICompass

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Here is the bottom of the board: https://photos.app.goo.gl/VFoEAezu19fNXhVz5

I'll have to get out my multimeter and try to trace out where the power pins go. I'm sure I can make some kind of adapter.

Hopefully the capacitors don't blow up.