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ISA Card Compatibility question

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bettablue

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I was just given an older 486 computer that someone has stripped out all of the memory, drives and processor. What was left were just a bunch of ISA expansion cards, mother board and case. The cards were just thrown in the case in a jumbled mess.

I was wondering if any of these might be compatible with my 5150.

I know some will not work, like the video adapter and hard disk controller. I'm more interested in possibly using the serial, and Ethernet cards if they're compatible.

If anyone is interested an any of these, let me know. I'll take whatever I can get for the most part, just pay for shipping. Can we trade? I'll even take a serial card in exchange for the entire lot.

Here is the complete list of cards:

Serial/Parallel card - Part No. 4990/2593 PCA-1-0
3Com Etherlink lll 1995 3C5098-C ASSY 03-0021-02 Rev A
Adaptec AHA-1542CF/1540CFAIC-797OQ (I honestly don't even know what this card is)
Cyrus Logic ISA 1 Meg Video adapter JAZ-8228
Hard Disk/IDE Controller - KW1400795
 
The Adaptec 1542CF is the third version of the venerable 1542 SCSI adapter series. It's only good for 16-bit (286+) buses, unfortunately. The '42 has a floppy controller on board as well as the SCSI controller. A nice, reliable board.

You should be okay with the Cirrus Logic ISA VGA adapter on a 5150. What's the number on the largest chip on the board?

Serial/Parallel card should be fine.

I'm going to guess that since it came out of a 486, the IDE controller will not operate on your 5150.
 
That makes sense. The card plugs into a standard ISA slot, then there two IEDE connectors on the card. It appears to be a hard disk/CD drive controller.

GottaLottaStuff said:
Adaptec AHA-1542CF High-Performance Bus Master, ISA- to- SCSI Host Adapter with SCSISelect. Whatever that means. :)
Click to expand...
 
I've been searching for a driver compatible with DOS 3.3 but so far I haven't come across one. I'm still looking though. If I do find a driver, do I need to add something to the config.sys file?

DOS lives on!! said:
The #com Etherlink III should be compatible. Finding the drivers isn't to hard (for once).
Click to expand...
 
I'm not sure if there is something in the air or not, but this is getting irritating.

The Adaptec 1542 series is one of the most popular SCSI cards for 16 bit ISA buses. Google readily shows a lot of information about it. There should not be any mystery about what it is.

SCSI is not IDE. Asking about the differences between IDE and SCSI would be perfectly reasonable, and would invite several dissertations. But just calling the connectors on the card IDE connectors because they have pins sticking up is just lazy.

Please, do some background reading. Older versions of "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" by Scott M. would be a great start.
 
I wouldn't call it lazy and Throwing accusations doesn't do anybody any good.

For your information, and why I said IEDE, is that I connected a standard EDE ribon cable to it to make sure of what I was seeing. There were no missing pins, and everythin else lined up perfectly. I also have an SCSI cable, and that would not fit. So much for that idea. The simple fact is, I already knew I wouldn't be using it in my 5150 anyway, but posted it so if someone wanted it.

What I find irritating is an administrator coming off with an atitude, accusing somebody of something without bothering to question it in the first place. Administrator or not, you have no place coming off like that. These forums are here for people to learn. One way we learn is by making a mistake or two along the way and asking questions. Even the way you "advised" me to read the boook, was uncalled for. You suggestion of reading material is a good one, but you certainly could have done it without being rude and insulting.

Now if that get's me kicjked out of these forums, so be it, but I don't like being attacked in an open forum. Nobody would. If you have some derogatory to say, do it in private.

mbbrutman said:
I'm not sure if there is something in the air or not, but this is getting irritating.

The Adaptec 1542 series is one of the most popular SCSI cards for 16 bit ISA buses. Google readily shows a lot of information about it. There should not be any mystery about what it is.

SCSI is not IDE. Asking about the differences between IDE and SCSI would be perfectly reasonable, and would invite several dissertations. But just calling the connectors on the card IDE connectors because they have pins sticking up is just lazy.

Please, do some background reading. Older versions of "Upgrading and Repairing PCs" by Scott M. would be a great start.
Click to expand...
 
bettablue said:
I wouldn't call it lazy and Throwing accusations doesn't do anybody any good.
Click to expand...
Accusations? Attacks? Attitude? Rude? Insulting? Wow...

I'm usually on the receiving end of Mike's 'helpful suggestions' but I also have to ask why you couldn't take a few seconds with Google to look up what that Adaptec card is, instead of "I don't know"...?

For your information, and why I said IEDE, is that I connected a standard EDE ribon cable to it to make sure of what I was seeing. There were no missing pins, and everythin else lined up perfectly. I also have an SCSI cable, and that would not fit.
Click to expand...
A little proofreading would also avoid unnecessary confusion; what do IEDE and EDE mean?

Are you even talking about the Adaptec card like everyone else, or are you looking at the IDE adapter?

Some of us do occasionally get a little impatient with this sort of thing; something to keep in mind if you expect folks to keep helping you... ;-)
 
Betta,

The rules are pretty simple:

  • Do some basic research using Google of previous VC Forum threads. Take time to learn, not just do a keyword lookup.
  • If you are going to start a new thread pick a meaningful subject line.
  • Your posts should have some meaningful content. This is not a chat room in web forum format.

I don't know why the "sticky" thread that has these rules has gone missing, but we'll find it.

I've been giving you gentle reminders about the thread titles and doing background reading and you don't seem to be getting the message. You are getting a lot of help here - you need to do some of the lifting too. I don't particularly care if you find the public rebuke irritating; other people are getting very irritated too, and not with the way we are moderating.


Mike
 
OK,, yes I probably could have written that better. The reason I was asking about it like that thout was because it did say SCSI in the discription, but I don't have and SCSI cables. The only ribbons I have are all IDE, and the connect to the card; both sets of pins too.

Are you even talking about the Adaptec card like everyone else, or are you looking at the IDE adapter? Again, I don't know. Too me it looks like an ISA card with IDE connectors. I'm not a novice when it comes to the inards of computers. I actually build and repair systems. Most of the computers I get in for me to work on are all somewhat older, and use IDE cables and interfaces. I have never run into a card like this. The thing is, it's confusing. I did google this thing before posting the question. The description says one thing, but the connections don't match the description.

Trust me. I appreciate where you are coming from. Most of all I appreciate all of the help I have gotten from all of you. If it werren't for this group, my old IBM would probably be sitting in a corner still not working, or worse.

I would like to appologize to all of you foor my rant last night, and I do mean all of you.

MikeS said:
Accusations? Attacks? Attitude? Rude? Insulting? Wow...

I'm usually on the receiving end of Mike's 'helpful suggestions' but I also have to ask why you couldn't take a few seconds with Google to look up what that Adaptec card is, instead of "I don't know"...?

A little proofreading would also avoid unnecessary confusion; what do IEDE and EDE mean?

Are you even talking about the Adaptec card like everyone else, or are you looking at the IDE adapter?

Some of us do occasionally get a little impatient with this sort of thing; something to keep in mind if you expect folks to keep helping you... ;-)
Click to expand...
 
SCSI != IDE. They have different pin counts. If you are putting an IDE cable on a SCSI card it should be pretty obvious that you have 10 pins that are not connected to the IDE cable.

Also, those cards often have floppy controllers on them too - the model number will tell you for sure. Floppy controller headers are around 34 pins, so your IDE cable will be bigger than the header.

Did your IDE cable really fit both headers? I'm finding that hard to visualize. 40 != 50 != 34.
 
That's what I thought too. This card is really an enigma. Yes, it has 2 pinouts for IDE support. When the IDE cable is connected, there are no pins left over. and yes, it has 2 sets if IDE pinouts. Another really wierd thing is that the 486 these came out of actually had a seperate floppy controller from an XT or clone. I've seen a few motherboards with 2 IDE conenections. I wonder if this was some sort of attempt at creating that setup. The card itself has no identifyers, and only the main ship had anything readable on it. That's where I got the numbers from.

Any way, my friend is going to take the card and try it in one his old 486 machines to see if it works. If he comes up with anything I'll let you know.

As far as the rest of the cards are concerned, I'll try installing the parallel-serial card, and the Ethernet card this weekend. I would love to be able to use laplink or something to get it to read my software library on my primary PC.




mbbrutman said:
SCSI != IDE. They have different pin counts. If you are putting an IDE cable on a SCSI card it should be pretty obvious that you have 10 pins that are not connected to the IDE cable.

Also, those cards often have floppy controllers on them too - the model number will tell you for sure. Floppy controller headers are around 34 pins, so your IDE cable will be bigger than the header.

Did your IDE cable really fit both headers? I'm finding that hard to visualize. 40 != 50 != 34.
Click to expand...
 
bettablue said:
That's what I thought too. This card is really an enigma. Yes, it has 2 pinouts for IDE support.
Click to expand...
Let me try to get this straight: are you saying that the
Adaptec AHA-1542CF/1540CFAIC-797OQ (I honestly don't even know what this card is)
Click to expand...
has the same IEDE/EDE/whatever connectors on it as the
Hard Disk/IDE Controller - KW1400795
Click to expand...
?
 
pADpi.jpg


And yes, I did just make that picture myself.
 
Heh :)

It is of course possible that the OP meant IDC ribbon cable...since that is correct and a confusingly similar term meaning something quite different.
 
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