RiP wrote:

RiP wrote:

I'm confused, what kind of external battery should I use for it?
3.6v Ni-MH rechargable or 3x1.5v AA non-rechargable?

Also any BIOS update for it?

😕

I used 4x rechargeable AAs on mine, only because that's what the board came with (the battery output sends 6v to the batteries). Have no idea about a BIOS update, I'm wondering that myself.

Do you know if the FX-3000 supports the Ti486SXL PGA168 ? (the doc does not mention its support, but that CPU is only supported by a few models, and mostly hybrids)

CuPid wrote:

Do you know if the FX-3000 supports the Ti486SXL PGA168 ? (the doc does not mention its support, but that CPU is only supported by a few models, and mostly hybrids)

Unfortunately, it does not (or my CPU is not working, that is also possible).
😢

Is it possible to use a second I/O card to have over 2 IDE devices? 😕

This is not really specific to this board. It could apply to any 286+ board with ISA slots, but basically yes. Without a device driver or BIOS support you may only be able to use ATAPI drives on it though. The easiest way is to probably just use XTIDE (AT version) BIOS extension.

Anonymous Coward wrote:

This is not really specific to this board. It could apply to any 286+ board with ISA slots, but basically yes. Without a device driver or BIOS support you may only be able to use ATAPI drives on it though. The easiest way is to probably just use XTIDE (AT version) BIOS extension.

But the BIOS of FX-3000 supports only two IDE devices.
My goal is to have two HDDs and two ATAPI drives by using two I/O controller ISA cards.

ATAPI is a software interface, so all you need to do is hookup the device and load the driver. The theory is that you could put your two hard drives on the primary controller so the BIOS can see them, and stick your two ATAPI devices on the secondary controller and load the driver. Ideally everything should be detected, but the reality is that some drives don't respond well in slave mode.

I seem to have different version of that motherboard that only seems to have socket for 386 cpus.

Might make a decent 386 build if I could find a battery holder with a correct connector for it.

I have the 486 version, making it 386 is just a socket soldering away but I can't say I am particularly interested in using this mobo...

keropi wrote:

I have the 486 version, making it 386 is just a socket soldering away but I can't say I am particularly interested in using this […]
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I have the 486 version, making it 386 is just a socket soldering away but I can't say I am particularly interested in using this mobo...

I probably wouldn't use one for 486 either because isa video cards are so slow, but for a 386 a ET4000AX card might just be fast enough.

My version doesn't even have any electrolytic capacitors, so that makes it feel like a motherboard that would last a long time.

I have the same board, except the socket for the 387 looks like a socket for a 387 (only two rows of pins, instead of four). I have some cache chips missing, but before I insert some additional ones, I wonder if there is a DOS application that can test the external cache? I've never seen something like that.

Another question: could someone please tell me the exact polarity of the battery at the motherboard?

It's hard to miss the first photo in the thread.

The Serpent Rider wrote:

It's hard to miss the first photo in the thread.

But I am not sure abut the polarity of the leads on that photo. It is low-res enough that I am not 100% sure which lead is connected where, and I am definitely not sure what the colours necessarily mean for the poster. I use red for positive an black for ground or negative, myself.

But thanks for the helpful, informative and technically sound reply.

Use a multimeter...

keropi wrote on 2019-09-15, 10:58:

I have the 486 version, making it 386 is just a socket soldering away but I can't say I am particularly interested in using this mobo...

Do you please know if the 486 version of that board boots with a Ti486SXL ?

CuPid wrote on 2020-05-02, 12:54:

Do you please know if the 486 version of that board boots with a Ti486SXL ?

no idea, I do not have such a cpu...

So does 256k cache mean that this board supports 64 megabytes of RAM?

Technically yes, but you'll have to find 16 Mb modules.

The size of the cache gives absolutely no indication how much memory the board supports. That totally depends on what the chipset and BIOS can handle. The majority of 486 boards with 30-pin SIMM slots can accept up to 32MB using eight 4MB SIMMs. The ones that can take 16MB SIMMs are in the minority. If you want to know for sure check your motherboard manual. If you already have 16MB 30 pin SIMMs it won't hurt to try, but don't buy any expecting them to just work.