Jed118 wrote on 2020-04-16, 19:09:

How do I get into the BIOS of one of these? […]
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How do I get into the BIOS of one of these?

It's very similar to the other Everex 286 I got (it's this one) https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/E/E … -8-EV-1800.html

but this one doesn't seem to have a BIOS I can get into.

Any ideas, or do I need a setup disk? The computer will boot to DOS on the floppy I provide it, and I did change the CMOS battery, but I want to install a hard disk.

Nice board with an early Award BIOS. Can you please provide a picture of the full board and dump the BIOS..?

Indeed, you most likely need a Setup-Software. There are plenty around to choose from (e.g. ATSetup.exe (?)), let us know if you need help finding one...

Jed118 wrote on 2020-04-16, 20:05:

I will check that thread, thank you. Over lunch just now I stuck some other AWARD ROMS into the same slots (grade 8 me rules for […]
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Cyrix200+ wrote on 2020-04-16, 19:44:

I think you need a setup disk. Check out this topic: Suntac 80286 Mainboards and/or this one: SUNTAC 80286 Mainboard help

I will check that thread, thank you. Over lunch just now I stuck some other AWARD ROMS into the same slots (grade 8 me rules for saving those over 25 years ago!) and still nothing except the boot tag is a bit different. I have an idea though...

Please dump those ROMs, too 😉

Most likely your battery is empty, too. Let us see a picture of the whole thing...

imi wrote on 2020-04-16, 19:41:

I guess you already tried all the usual key combinations, so it might need a floppy. […]
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Jed118 wrote on 2020-04-16, 19:09:

Any ideas, or do I need a setup disk? The computer will boot to DOS on the floppy I provide it, and I did change the CMOS battery, but I want to install a hard disk.

I guess you already tried all the usual key combinations, so it might need a floppy.

I had a very nice package arrive today... I wasn't patient enough to let this one sit in quarantine for a few days so I unpacked it in the evening with gloves and washed my hands thoroughly after ^^
very excited to have scored this one :3

hardware38_10.jpg

hardware38_11.jpg

Ohhhh...... That is a sweet thing. 😜

Some of my parcels already arrived...the MAC cards are looking good:

The A2000 Turbo-card not so good. It was on the bottom of the box with 10 kg of junk on it 🙁 It seems the card has more than 2 Layers? Some of the pins of the ZIP-RAM on the top are neither connected on the bottom nor on the top side of the pcb?
I will check the connections, but for me it does not seem to be very repairable. And I would have to invest around 75€ for the missing ICs to make a test....

C3 is missing on the Mac video card.

Predator99 wrote on 2020-04-16, 20:34:

Some of my parcels already arrived...the MAC cards are looking good: IMG_8840r.jpg The A2000 Turbo-card not so good. It was on t […]
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Some of my parcels already arrived...the MAC cards are looking good:
IMG_8840r.jpg
The A2000 Turbo-card not so good. It was on the bottom of the box with 10 kg of junk on it 🙁 It seems the card has more than 2 Layers? Some of the pins of the ZIP-RAM on the top are neither connected on the bottom nor on the top side of the pcb?
I will check the connections, but for me it does not seem to be very repairable. And I would have to invest around 75€ for the missing ICs to make a test....
IMG_8844r.jpg
IMG_8847r.jpg
IMG_8848r.jpg
IMG_8853r.jpg

Oh... That is a shame with the Amiga 2000 card.... On the mac card's. Right above the Toshiba chip on the video card..... Are C3 not missing?

Good eyes..! Yes, seems to be missing. Will check if I find it in the box. Otherwise this is an easy replacement...

Predator99 wrote on 2020-04-16, 20:09:

Please dump those ROMs, too 😉

Most likely your battery is empty, too. Let us see a picture of the whole thing...

Battery replaced 😉

I will dump the ROM, no problem, but first I have to get into the setup 😀

More pics

Looks like it has a coprocessor too!

Original ROMS

Some random 286 Award ROMS I had lying about

So I still can't get into the BIOS. even after changing to 27256 BIOS type and I am still not getting anything.

When I get these boards running (I have another one) I'll add the dumps to the Suntac 286 thread.

Anyone got a setup disk image for this? 😀

brostenen wrote on 2020-04-16, 20:28:

Ohhhh...... That is a sweet thing. 😜

oh yes it is :3
I just read that it is running a TX486DLC/E-40GA inside ^^

Predator99 wrote on 2020-04-16, 20:34:

Some of my parcels already arrived...the MAC cards are looking good: IMG_8840r.jpg The A2000 Turbo-card not so good. It was on t […]
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Some of my parcels already arrived...the MAC cards are looking good:
IMG_8840r.jpg
The A2000 Turbo-card not so good. It was on the bottom of the box with 10 kg of junk on it 🙁 It seems the card has more than 2 Layers? Some of the pins of the ZIP-RAM on the top are neither connected on the bottom nor on the top side of the pcb?
I will check the connections, but for me it does not seem to be very repairable. And I would have to invest around 75€ for the missing ICs to make a test....

🙁

I don't think it is a multilayer PCB as such, but there might be a ground plane in the middle (dark area?)
all pins but four are connected on the topside from what I can see, I couldn't find a pinout for the zipram quickly.

if it is indeed just a groundplane in the middle and none of the pins are shorted out at the break area it could be repaired I guess.

Jed118 wrote on 2020-04-16, 20:50:

Battery replaced ;) […]
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Predator99 wrote on 2020-04-16, 20:09:

Please dump those ROMs, too 😉

Most likely your battery is empty, too. Let us see a picture of the whole thing...

Battery replaced 😉

I will dump the ROM, no problem, but first I have to get into the setup 😀

More pics

Looks like it has a coprocessor too!

Original ROMS

Some random 286 Award ROMS I had lying about

So I still can't get into the BIOS. even after changing to 27256 BIOS type and I am still not getting anything.

When I get these boards running (I have another one) I'll add the dumps to the Suntac 286 thread.

Anyone got a setup disk image for this? 😀

Not in the Suntac Thread (This is no Suntac board...). Here please:
80286 BIOS image collection

Try these programs:
http://ibm-pc.org/utilities/system/system.htm

I've had two Commodore 1520 plotters for decades.
IIRC they have problem involving the pen holder holding the pens against the paper properly.

But, for those decades, I've wanted to be able to connect them to my various PCs.
Time and again I considered trying to adapt them to PC parallel ports.
Then I discovered that the Tandy CGP-115 was essentially the same printer, and had a standard PC parallel port!

Well, I finally broke down and bought myself one on Ebay. It came with a dust cover; had to buy the power supply separately, though.

Haven't hooked it up and tried it yet, cause I need to dig some plotter pens out of my closet.
Hopefully they haven't dried out.
I did spray everything with isopropyl alcohol; interestingly, when I tried wiping it off, it seemed to take the paint off the silvered sections, leaving them a lighter shade of silver. I'm hoping this was just oxidation.

Predator99 wrote on 2020-04-16, 21:12:

Not in the Suntac Thread (This is no Suntac board...). Here please: 80286 BIOS image collection […]
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Not in the Suntac Thread (This is no Suntac board...). Here please:
80286 BIOS image collection

Try these programs:
http://ibm-pc.org/utilities/system/system.htm

Yes, it is an EVEREX board. (although here it says it has a Suntac chipset - https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/E/E … -8-EV-1800.html )

Gsetup did the trick, now I'll get those systems running and dump the BIOSes.

Purchased a few things on eBay:

1) AMD AM486 DX4-120
2) 486 cooling fan + heatsink
3) Nexus 7 2013 power and volume button for the case
4) Vertos MPEG Plus A/V ISA card
5) I/O Magic PSCD-740 PCMCIA CD-ROM drive

Also bought a Diamond Stealth 32 VLB with 2MB RAM on computerpartsgalore.com for my 486.

Doing a search with not my normal terms brought this up and so I bought it:

It is a Cardinal Sound Studio. Should be Adlib Gold compatible.

See this thread for a bit more info:
Dune recordings by alex.schroedsen

I'll take some proper pics of it when I get it and maybe do a mod to add RCA plugs like in that other thread.

Anybody have the manual or official drivers for this thing?

Interesting card.

Woohoo! My first K7. I always had the impression that they were almost impossible to come by in Belgium.

I finally got one, a 750, and on the right mo/bo as well, the Asus K7M. Seller threw in an Asus TNT2 Ultra for my offer of 25 euros.
Back in the day I had to settle for a TNT2 M64, and that already costed me 5990 BFR (taking inflation into account, about € 225).

flupke11 wrote on 2020-04-17, 07:55:

Woohoo! My first K7. I always had the impression that they were almost impossible to come by in Belgium. […]
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Woohoo! My first K7. I always had the impression that they were almost impossible to come by in Belgium.

I finally got one, a 750, and on the right mo/bo as well, the Asus K7M. Seller threw in an Asus TNT2 Ultra for my offer of 25 euros.
Back in the day I had to settle for a TNT2 M64, and that already costed me 5990 BFR (taking inflation into account, about € 225).
20200417_094644.jpg

Awesome combo, you won't be disappointed with the ASUS V3800 Ultras performance

Some 72-pin RAM SIMMs arrived today, bought and shipped two days ago. Postal service tends to be a day late because of the increased demand, but that's alright.

€15 for the lot, which is more than fair, I think. Untested, and the seller couldn't ID all of it, so my sleuthing comes down to this:
- Top left OKI MSC23232C-70DS16 double-sided pair is 8MB each, 16MB total. Not 100% sure if it's FPM or EDO.
- Bottom left LG Semicon GMM7322110CMS single-sided pair is 8MB each, 16MB total, EDO.
- Bottom middle Motorola MCM32T216SH70 single-sided pair is 8MB each, 16MB total, FPM.
- The four remaining sticks are Hyundai GM71C17403CJ6 double-sided, 32MB each, 128MB in total, EDO.

My hope is that I can succesfully revive my LS-486E board, and use the 32MB sticks to max it out at 128MB (according to online sources). The only confusing part is whether the board will support EDO or not. Online results are conflicting for the C revisions, some claim it does, some claim it does not. The manual I found for what seems to be this revision claims it does. The board came out of a beat up Photoplay 2000 cabinet, and currently doesn't work, but the RAM it was fitted with seemingly from the Photoplay factory was EDO too, so maybe it'll work? Maybe it's to do with memory density? We'll see, I'll first need to revive that board before I can test that. Either way, it's good to have this RAM on hand, I'm rather low on 30-pin and 72-pin SIMMs anyways.

Picked up a Nice ATX Socket 7 TX motherboard. Gigabyte 686ATX4 - I believe this is a very late socket 7 board. Does anyone know if there is a modded BIOS for K6-2 support, not seeing much info on this board.

Try here for K6-2/400 support on your board

https://www.gigabyte.com/uk/Motherboard/GA-58 … support-dl-bios