VOGONS


First post, by Nahkri

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I,m trying to get the amd 486 dx4-120 mhz to work on the FIC 486-vip-io motherboard.

I looked here http://motherboards.mbarron.net/models/486pci/486vipio.html , to see how to set the jumpers,i did set them,not sure i did it corectly,since this is my first 486 mb and i'm a complete noob when it comes to working with them and tbh i'm overwhelmed about the number of jumpers u need.

But i don't get any results,the keyboard lights come on,the cpu gets a bit warm and that's all.

Rest of components are:-2x4mb simms edo ram
-pci videocard with s3 trio 64v+ chip.

The cpu and the mb come from different sellers,but they both been tested and working,no sign of dmg or anything wrong with either of them,except this thing on the mb:
IMG_2366_zpso807nuhh.jpg

Is this thing normal?

Does this motherboard support this cpu and edo memory?

Reply 1 of 32, by BastlerMike

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Three things immediately come to mind:

1. Use FPM RAM, not EDO
2. A bios update maybe needed to support the AMD SV8B chip
3. The AMD chip needs "P24D" jumper setup

I wouldnt bother about that little wire, looks like a factory fix

Last edited by BastlerMike on 2015-12-06, 14:47. Edited 2 times in total.

Reply 2 of 32, by PCBONEZ

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It doesn't use EDO, it uses FPM.
ftp://ftp.fic.com.tw/motherboard/manual/486/486-vip-io/
ftp://ftp.fic.com.tw/motherboard/bios/486/486-vip-io/

Last edited by PCBONEZ on 2015-12-06, 20:59. Edited 1 time in total.

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Reply 3 of 32, by Tetrium

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Do you have another known working chip to test your board with? (like a DX-33 5v part).
If you don't like to keep switching around lots of jumpers, you could try an older chip that required mostly the same jumpersettings, but right now I'd first make sure you're not trying to get parts working that are dead.

edit:
nvm, just read he was using EDO. Try using FPM like the posters above me already suggested 😀

edit2:
Just reading the manual, it states the board needs some kind of extra part (a 3.3v regulator) in order to support the lower-voltage chips (it's mentioned in 486-vip-io03). Is your board lacking this part?

edit3:
The manual also states it will work with 1MB, 4MB and 16MB SIMM memory modules, I'm not sure what the deal is with the 8MB and 32MB sized ones.
The 486-vip-io11 page also mentions something about double RAS SIMM's and that they need to be installed in some particular order, another thing that might be worth checking out.

edit4: I can't find anything in the manual about it needing parity modules or it not working with parity modules (but it also does not mention EDO, so I'd guess the board probably doesn't support it, like suggested by the previous posters in this thread).

And I will stop editing my post now 🤣

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Reply 4 of 32, by Nahkri

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Nope i don't have another cpu or fpm memory,tbh i looked it up on the internet how fpm memory looks like and i can't see any visual difference between edo and fpm.Now i'm not even sure my memory is edo.
Here is a picture with the memory:

IMG_2363_zpsnas5wywt.jpg

I have 2 simms of 4 mb each and 2 simms of 16 mb each.
I set the pins according to intel dx4,will try resetting them according to the P24D.

I checked the manual again and my motherboard lacks the pins on which to install the voltage regulator.

Reply 5 of 32, by Tetrium

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Nahkri wrote:
Nope i don't have another cpu or fpm memory,tbh i looked it up on the internet how fpm memory looks like and i can't see any vis […]
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Nope i don't have another cpu or fpm memory,tbh i looked it up on the internet how fpm memory looks like and i can't see any visual difference between edo and fpm.Now i'm not even sure my memory is edo.
Here is a picture with the memory:

IMG_2363_zpsnas5wywt.jpg

I have 2 simms of 4 mb each and 2 simms of 16 mb each.
I set the pins according to intel dx4,will try resetting them according to the P24D.

I checked the manual again and my motherboard lacks the pins on which to install the voltage regulator.

I can't read the font on the chips, but theres 2 ways to check if your memory is EDO or not
1) Install it in a mobo that does support EDO and then see if it detects EDO or not
2) This site http://www.chipmunk.nl/DRAM/ (thankfully it still seems to exist, haven't used it in years).

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Reply 6 of 32, by BastlerMike

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Your 4 MB modules are FPM, the 16 MB ones EDO. Install the 4 MB modules alone.
The 486-VIP-IO had the voltage regulator usually installed onboard. Are there two big transistors and a coil in the upper right corner of your board?

The board supports double sided memory modules (8 MB / 32 MB SIMMS), but only TWO of them.

Reply 7 of 32, by tayyare

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Nahkri wrote:

I,m trying to get the amd 486 dx4-120 mhz to work on the FIC 486-vip-io motherboard.....

The same mod with the small wire is in my FIC IO motherboard, too, so no worries. It's a good board (72 pin SIMM, coin battery, PCI+VLB, PS/2 mouse support, on board regulator, etc.) but mine stopped working a while ago, ubfırtunatelly. The site (FIC) still has the support documents and BIOS update for this board, but my copy does not have an EEPROM, so updating is BIOS requires an EPROM programmer.

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Reply 9 of 32, by alexanrs

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Whenever I need to do that, I just use the "part number ends with a 0 = FPM" trick I learned here. You can search the datasheets of the chip if you are still in doubt.

Reply 10 of 32, by PCBONEZ

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alexanrs wrote:

Whenever I need to do that, I just use the "part number ends with a 0 = FPM" trick I learned here. You can search the datasheets of the chip if you are still in doubt.

Does that work for all brands of RAM chips?

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Reply 11 of 32, by PCBONEZ

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BastlerMike wrote:

The 486-VIP-IO had the voltage regulator usually installed onboard.

Yes - The VR daughter board is only needed if you don't have the onboard version.

BastlerMike wrote:

The board supports double sided memory modules (8 MB / 32 MB SIMMS), but only TWO of them.

Yes - And the Bank (slot) after a 2-rank module must be empty.
Specifically 2-rank modules work in banks (slots) 0 and 2.

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Reply 12 of 32, by PCBONEZ

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There is a 486 FAQ on FIC's site that says none of their 486 boards use EDO or Parity. (I edited earlier comment.)
According to that all their 486 boards use only non-Parity FPM.
.
FIC's site is not playing right now but there is a copy of that FAQ here:
http://www.elhvb.com/supportbios.info/Archive … FIC/faqs486.htm

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Reply 13 of 32, by PCBONEZ

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tayyare wrote:

The same mod with the small wire is in my FIC IO motherboard, too, so no worries.

Yes - I saw that jumper wire in several pictures of this board. Appears to be factory original.

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Reply 14 of 32, by kanecvr

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I have two such boards, different years and revisions, and NONE support EDO dram. It will not even beep with EDO installed - you really need FPM ram. The 486-VIP-IO will work with Am5x86-p75 and Cyrix 586 cpus w/o a bios update but they will not report cpu speed correctly. Any utility you run on it will.

It's a tricky board to set up correctly so be wary of that. Cache, PCI and ISA IRQs and wait states are tricky. It's a good overclocker - I had a 160MHz 586 installed on one an it worked like a charm.

Oh and updating bios will not be easy since it has the non-flashable UV erasable EPROM type. You could flash the latest bios using a 12v flashable eeprom chip from a newer motherboard - that's what I did on both my remaining boards. A custom bios was sent to me by HighTreason here on the forums (thanks loads man) and I used that to program two EEPROM chips for my other boards.

Just from the pictures I can see your board is missing A LOT of jumpers. The VLB WS jumpers and PCI IRQ pull-down jumpers are not installed at all. The board will not run w/o them. There's also jumpers on the top oth the board you have not bridged - those are responsible for the function of the integrated IDE controller. They need to be set up as well. Here is a more complete manual for the board - it will contain ALL jumpers that need to be set:

Filename
FIC 486-vip-io manual.pdf
File size
830.8 KiB
Downloads
223 downloads
File license
Fair use/fair dealing exception

Reply 16 of 32, by kanecvr

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Send me a PM with your email address. I might have some shots of the board. If I don't I can only maybe send you board shots this weekend (maybe) since I don't have them at my place (I store most of my stuff at my parent's house in another town due to lack of space).

Here are a couple a video I posted on youtube for a friend I sold one of my boards to - the are 1080p and have plenty of board shots - you can make out some jumper placements if you pause at the right moment:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ_9PT4a76k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zZ-s4LR3FM

The manual I sent you contains everything you need to correctly place all missing jumpers. Two of the boards I have came with no jumpers, and one of them had no BIOS chip either. I used the manual I sent you to configure them.

Here are some more shots I have on my IMGur - click for larger pictures. Kind of blurry but maybe you can make out something:

GOCpcfGm.jpg xpgmccum.jpg I8OQW2Pm.jpg CEUUYCbm.jpg k2oCPaFm.jpg

The board in the pictures is set up with an AMD 486 DX4 @ 100MHz and uses 128kb of l2 cache. You can copy these settings then set your FSB to 40mhz for 120mhz. The one in the videos uses a 586 133MHz cpu and 256kb of double banked cache.

Notice the two sets of jumpers near the ISA slots at the bottom left of the board (second picture) J1 and J2 - those are the IRQ pull-down jumpers. You can set both to 1-2 - I think I had one set to 1-2 and one set to 2-3. In the 4th pic you can clearly see how to correctly set up the jumpers on top of the board for the IDE controller functions.

Reply 17 of 32, by Nahkri

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Holly crap that's a lot of jumpers,i canibalized 2 dead mb for jumpers and i still don't have enough of them.

Btw can u tell from this picture how much cache do i have?
IMG_2358_zpsvruztqvo.jpg

Reply 18 of 32, by kanecvr

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Looks like 256kb of double banked cache -> 32x8 + tag. Also set JV1 and JV2 to 1-2 and 1-2 witch means 1WS and >33MHz.

I think your board is set up for 128kb of cache right now (32x4 + tag) - take a look at the videos I put up - you might be able to see correct jumper settings for 32x8=256kb

There's also two jumper blocks right under the CPU socket - those are for cache setting as well (JS6 and U32) - make sure you have those set up too - in your pictures there are no jumpers there. One of them is cache wait states I think. Try 1-2 for JS6 and 2-3 for U32 for now. If it says you have no cache in the POST table play around with them until it reports cache correctly (and does not hang) - but you still need to make sure you have FPM ram for that. I might have a 16mb stick I can spare and some extra jumpers...

As for the rest, the manual mentiones DEFAULT positions for jumpers for IDE controller, wait states, irq pull downs, base I/o adresses and other stuff. Use those to set up the board if you can't see the jumpers in the pics I posted. For cache you need to set:

JS1: 2-3
JS2: 2-3
JS3: 1-2
JS4: 1-2
JS5: 1-2
JS6 (under the CPU socket): 1-2

Other jumper settings:

JX3: 2-3 and JX4: 2-3 -> selects Intrernal KB controller and PS/2 mouse. If kb doesn't work after post, set them both to 1-2.
J1 and J2 set to 1-2, J35 J35 and J36 set to 1-2 as well
J33 needs to be closed (color display)
JP1 and JP2 set to 1-2
JF: 1-2, JG: 2-3 and JH: 2-3 (these set up base address)
JG: 1-2 and JH: 2-3 --> these set up the LPT controler
JX, J20 and J23 need to be set to 1-2
JX2 and JX5 need to be set to 2-3
JT3 set to 2-3
JT4 and JT9 set to 2-3 if you use 40MHz fsb - this will set the PCI clock to 20MHz or you can set them 1-2 if you want to OC the PCI bus to 40MHz (most PCI cards work fine like this) or if you use 33MHz fsb. I'd use 2-3 (fsb/2) for sterters just to make sure everything works.

Reply 19 of 32, by Nahkri

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My two 4mb simms are fpm,i'll use them,all i need now is to get enough jumpers for the board.
I'll use the pictures and the video you provided,to set the jumpers.