Probably not. My 286 boards have a similar header but it's listed as an alternate keyboard connector, e.g. for cases where you can plug an AT keyboard into the front panel.

The soldered "writeback"(!) cache chips look like very much to PCChips fake cache chips. The board might be a PCChips?

http://redhill.net.au/b/b-bad.html#fakecache

tayyare wrote:

The soldered "writeback"(!) cache chips look like very much to PCChips fake cache chips. The board might ve PCChips?

http://redhill.net.au/b/b-bad.html#fakecache

Well spotted.
The cache chips seem to be soldered too. A shame really, the board would seem to be very nice otherwise

Thanks to some hints here, I think I've tracked the board down to be: SYL8884PCI

http://motherboards.mbarron.net/models/486pci/syl8884.htm

Still don't know who made it... Soyo?

j^aws wrote:

Thanks to some hints here, I think I've tracked the board down to be: SYL8884PCI […]
Show full quote

Thanks to some hints here, I think I've tracked the board down to be: SYL8884PCI

http://motherboards.mbarron.net/models/486pci/syl8884.htm

page1.jpg

page2.jpg

Still don't know who made it... Soyo?

I should actually have this board, but iirc mine did come with real cache chips which were socketed I think.
Might have an old pic of this board too. Iirc mine would only work with 3.3v chips but I'm not sure as the last time I had a look at that board was years ago

edit:
Found the pic. I cut out the other boards from the pic and atm I can't take any better quality pics since my camera doesn't want to cooperate anymore 🤣

edit2:
I most likely downloaded a lot of info about this board and I think there was much more available about this board at the time. Problem is that I kept all my data on my backup rig which has been dismantled for some time now so I can't access this data right now. I think I've had this board for maybe 10 years or so, it was one of the first 486 PCI boards I ever got. Otoh, this might be a good reason for me to start rebuilding it, though I had preferred to wait till my new lil computer corner was done

edit3:
I will go and see if I can find this board, perhaps it will help you on your quest to get yours working 😁
Hold on...

^^ Good stuff...

I managed to get the board to POST, and the BIOS string actually reveals it to be: PC Chips M921

http://motherboards.mbarron.net/models/486pci/m921.htm

These boards look so similar. And the board does indeed have fake L2 cache!

j^aws wrote:

^^ Good stuff... […]
Show full quote

^^ Good stuff...

I managed to get the board to POST, and the BIOS string actually reveals it to be: PC Chips M921

http://motherboards.mbarron.net/models/486pci/m921.htm

m921p.jpg

These boards look so similar. And the board does indeed have fake L2 cache!

Sorry to have kept you waiting, as I was going through my boxes of boards I came across another 486 board which in fact has the fake soldered Write Back 'chips' and decided to see if I had any more...and yes I did 🤣!
Another board, also with soldered 'cache' chips, except these ones actually have a 'real' part number instead of the "Write Back" lies 😜

But otoh, I read the mbarron pages and if our boards are indeed other boards as far as jumpers are concerned, I'm not sure my board would actually be of any help to you. Btw, the mbarron page mentioned your PCChips board has socketed cache chips, but yours doesn't.
Can you verify your board has the (exact) same layout as the one on mbarron?

Tetrium wrote:

Can you verify your board has the (exact) same layout as the one on mbarron?

Yeah, the mbarron link has a pic I posted just above, and my board looks to have the exact same layout:

1) They both have the v1.1a by the keyboard connector
2) They both have the 4-pin header by the keyboard connector
3) Below the 4 ISA slots, they have a large IC, and next to this, they have a 2x3 header block

Your board differs from the above points.

Here is my MG branded PC Chips M921, I got it from another forum member. This motherboard has real cache so it should be possible to add real cache to the ones with fake chips.

My board looks like j^aws motherboard down to every silk screen detail except for the MG logo and non fake cache.

Here is the full manual for the M921.

^^ The date code is a few months earlier; seems like these boards had legit cache, then they flooded the market with cost-cutting fake ones... Still, good to know that I could try soldering some real ones.

BTW, does your BIOS have any indication of a PS/2 mouse option? Tetriums board seems to have the headers for it.

j^aws wrote:

^^ The date code is a few months earlier; seems like these boards had legit cache, then they flooded the market with cost-cutting fake ones... Still, good to know that I could try soldering some real ones.

BTW, does your BIOS have any indication of a PS/2 mouse option? Tetriums board seems to have the headers for it.

I do not think there is a PS/2 option in my BIOS, I seem to have an empty spot for a PS/2 header though.