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Yet Another Motherboard Identificaton Help Thread! Two 486 Motherboards, with pics.

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First post, by Spirantho

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Hi everybody,

I have four motherboards - three are the same, and use the Saturn-II chipset, supporting ISA and PCI. Apparently by "Vector", whoever they are. I've sort of identified this board but I have no idea what the jumpers are for, as I can't find any information on this board anywhere. Can anyone help with this? It has ST1420C VER 2.0A written on the front. All three of these identical boards are faulty and I would like to hopefully get one working (I know how to repair these things, but I need the docs for the jumpers, practically speaking).

The other motherboard I know nothing about. The BIOS chip in it is - surprise, surprise! - for a Saturn-II boardby Vector. I need to go back to my storage unit and try the other BIOSes in the Saturn boards in case they got swapped (it would explain why this board also doesn't work). In the meantime, though, does anyone have any idea about what board it is? Again, I need the jumpers if I'm going to try and repair this board. This one has ST0895 REV 2.0 written on it on the front, and PROCOM 94V-0 E107540 written on the back. It has the OPTi82C895 chipset.

Can anyone provide any pointers for jumpers etc. on these boards?

Thanks!

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  • ST0895_Front.jpg
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  • ST1420_Rear.jpg
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Ian Gledhill
http://www.mutant-caterpillar.co.uk/shop/ for all your 8-bit and 16-bit needs!

Reply 1 of 5, by retardware

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In lack of any labels with meaningful information you might just extract the relevant information from the BIOS roms (id string).

But in your place I would just ditch the boards, as the slots are damaged beyond of reliable usability.

Reply 2 of 5, by Spirantho

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The BIOS string is how I worked out the PCI one was a Vector board, but I can't find anything about them at all.
I don't want to ditch them, though - I want to repair them! But I need the jumper settings....

--
Ian Gledhill
http://www.mutant-caterpillar.co.uk/shop/ for all your 8-bit and 16-bit needs!

Reply 3 of 5, by evasive

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Based on the name ST O for Opti and ST I for Intel, the red jumpers: See-Thru Data Systems.

Whatever is left of their website in archive.org isn't very helpful:
https://web.archive.org/web/19970109141847fw_ … .com/vx/vx.html
https://web.archive.org/web/19970109141854fw_ … .com/maxi2.html
Those are later boards and there is NO support section whatsoever.

One other board is known in UH19, the STO98C, which has a different chipset/layout from your Opti board alas. I'll keep my eyes open for any info that may show up.

Reply 4 of 5, by evasive

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They have been added to Ultimate Retro in the hopes someone has info
https://www.ultimateretro.net/motherboards/6740
https://www.ultimateretro.net/motherboards/6741

Last edited by evasive on 2021-10-26, 07:41. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 5 of 5, by Spirantho

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Thanks for the replies!
I haven't looked at the later boards for ages, but the earlier board (the STI0895) I now have working. I tried to find BIOS dumps for any motherboards that looked very similar, and burned them all to EPROMs. One of them works almost perfectly, so although it may not be actually designed for this board, it's now a fully working ISA/VLB PC, has some nice VLB cards in (all the slots seem to work, despite the markings) and is just about right for playing Ultima VII, which is what matters. 😀

--
Ian Gledhill
http://www.mutant-caterpillar.co.uk/shop/ for all your 8-bit and 16-bit needs!

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