Trying to identify old motherboard

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Oceanwatcher

Oceanwatcher

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Apr 21, 2004
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I have an old computer next to me here that I have promised to upgrade a little. Before anyone say anything about buying new stuff, I really have the time to do this and I have some spare parts around to upgrade the computer (basically a bigger harddrive and install Xubuntu).

I am a Norwegian that has moved to Brazil and a lot of people here still has old computers that work ok. This one has Windows 98 on a 3 GB harddrive. It has had some problems with the powersupply and when I attached it to the power in our house, I forgot to set it to 220V instead of 110... Powersupply do not work any more :-( So if I can not fix it, I need to get a new/old/used powersupply.

Well, I might be able to use a standard ATX if it fits the board. The problem is that I do not know what board it is. I have been searching all over it to find the name, but all I can find is a version number saying V1.1A and that does not help me a lot... Here are the things I can see on the motherboard:

It is has a Celeron processor type P2 or P3 where the processor is on a riser card.
It has the old type keyboard connector (not PS2)
It has no other connectors on the board, only headers that are connected to plugs.
It has 3 PCI and 2 ISA (one might be shared - I do not know)
It has two different powerconnectors. The one that was connected to the powersupply was one I had never seen before. My hope is that the other one is able to connect to a standard ATX powersupply.
It has an AMI BIOS
There is an Intel chip onboard, maybe the PCI controller?
There is an SIS chip onboard, probably the graphics controller
Another chip marked i440 EX/LX is on the board
There a four RAM slots, two for an old type of RAM and two for a newer type. I am not sure if all can be used at the same time, but I have a few of the older type around, so I am going to try as soon as I have power back.

It would of course be easier to use software to detect all this info, but as the powersupply is not working, this option is not available...

If anyone know this board and can provide a link to a manual in PDF form, I would be very happy. The people that will use this computer are only going to use it to check e-mail once per week and maybe check a website or two. So if I can get it to work, it will server them well for another couple of years!

Pictures, you say? Of course! You can find them on Flickr at these links :)

General view of the motheboard:
2680869038_28748c80df.jpg


PCI and ISA slots:
2680868092_21b2d05f28.jpg


Power connectors and version info:
2680046833_a79fe61315.jpg


Onboard Intel chip:
2680046101_d653847980.jpg


BIOS:
2680863478_f1cec98c06.jpg


RAM:
2680042319_de150d924f.jpg


Another chip:
2680040779_af29ecdf23.jpg


Graphics?
2680731178_ab64127604.jpg
 
Oceanwatcher

Oceanwatcher

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I am sorry, no. That is why I am posting here. I can not find any info besides the version number close to the power connector.

My hope is that the very knowledgeable people in this forum will be able to recognize the board and provide me with some info.

Thank you for asking. I should have made that clearer in my post.
 
Oceanwatcher

Oceanwatcher

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Sounds very likely. I have seen several PCCHIPS based computers here in Brazil. Would the board accept an ATX powersupply?

The Celeron processor here is a P3 kind of processor? I do not remember the name of this kind of socket.. (it is a Celeron processor, not a P3, but I had a PC long time ago with the same type of socket using a P3 prosessor if I am not totally mistaken).

BTW - I am amazed at the speed of the replies here!
 
panicatak

panicatak

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Yes the Celeron came in Slot1, they started iirc at 233mhz, 266Mhz and 300Mhz but had NO L2 cache. Then came the wonderous Celeron 300a which was the first Intel chip (excluding the P6) to have on die cache, most 300a's clocked to 450 (66 FSB to 100FSB) but the LX chipset would only officially do 66mhz. @ 450Mhz the 300a was faster than the P2 450!

iirc you cannot use dimms and simms as the voltage is different.

It would appear that the board may be able to use an atx psu.

Somewhere on the board should be a Mxxx number, if not you are just going to have to fire it up and it will be shown on the first bios page.
 
Oceanwatcher

Oceanwatcher

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Ok.. So I am going to take a chance and connect an ATX powersupply and see what happens. If I can get it fired up and get the BIOS going, maybe I can give some more info.

I will remove the older RAM chips. They would not have made any big difference anyway - just had them around so I was thinking of trying it. Thanks for the warning.

I have been looking for any kind of number or ID on the board (I am very familiar with this after some years of hacking computers of different types :) ), but on this board I have been unable to find anything besides the version info.
 
R

rx78gp01zfb

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you have brought back some old memories! I remember me and my dad building and selling sooooo many computers with those motherboards! It is an sis 6326 video with 8 meg or 4 meg of onboard mem, the sound is a cmedia sound pro sound cm8330 chip. It was a p2 mb i don't think it could do 100 mhz fsb but i could be wrong. And you can use both the sim and the sdram 66mhz ram at the sametime with out hurting it did it all the time. And you can use either and At or atx powersupply. i have the old driver disc for it but it is super scratched and barely reads. I hope that was some help
 
Oceanwatcher

Oceanwatcher

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Well, I got it to start after connecting an old ATX powersupply and clearing the BIOS. However, it did not give any message about what brand or type of motherboard it is. So I am going to try with a Linux disc to see if I can get it to boot and check some things.

Thank you so much! So far, so good :) I will check with a local electrician here if he has the component in the powersupply that seem to be damaged. Would be nice if I could get it to work as the powerswitch of this PC is a little special. Not connecting to the motherboard, but directly to the powersupply.
 
ZootyGray

ZootyGray

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wow old memories - my hardcore learning days

My first pc was a pcchips mobo m570 - with a cyrix 686-200cpu - i had to learn a lot to make it run properly Took me a year! With a big heatsink it ran at 83x2=166 (stock clox was 150). The 83bus made it scream. This was in 1997 - the early days of the original genuine TOM'S HARDWARE GUIDE before it became a lame hosers club. It was because of Tom, and his tests with bus oclox, that I tried the 83 bus on the cyrix 686. Cyrix became IBM soon after.

I ditched it when it would not support a PCI-Sound Blaster that required NMI - non-maskable interrupt - an intel standard. Seems I learned to hate intel at an early age :)

When last scene, pcchips websites were being dismantled, torn down - they had a horrible reputation esp. with newbies - but they actually worked - well sometimes - customer support was minimal but drivers and manuals were available.

a MOBO MANUAL would be helpful for jumpers etc - too rare, good luck.
 
panicatak

panicatak

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yeah, took a fair amount of search attempts, used Pcchips "discontinued manual" into google :D

PCCHIPs are still about, but there doesn't seem to be a direct link to old products on their web sites.
 
Oceanwatcher

Oceanwatcher

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Cpu-z was definitely on my mind - but then the PSU fried. So now I working on getting it to boot up from the harddrive again. The manual will definitely help :)
 
Oceanwatcher

Oceanwatcher

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I have a USB tool to connect harddrives to my computer so I can check them etc. Does anyone know of a tool that can identify a harddrive and give info on BIOS settings for it?
 
ZootyGray

ZootyGray

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I can only suggest the hdd manufacturers website and look up model and specs, then goto bios and enter settings - if available.

You probably mean like autodetect for all those weird numbers.
I used to throw the drive in a mobo that has autodetect and then see the numbers and enter them manually in the mobo that lacks autodetect.

And there's busmaster drivers - w98 would look after that stuff.

What kind of strange and interesting hdd do you have?
 
Oceanwatcher

Oceanwatcher

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Yeah, Cylinder, heads, Sectors and a few more... I use my laptop and the USB adapter to check things, so if Everest will work on WinXP with HD attached to USB, then I am ok.

Re busmaster drivers: I am going to try to install Linux (going to try Xubuntu first) on this PC, so it will not help too much. But thank you anyway :)
 
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