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Assistance with Motherboard ID

R

rheffera

Member
Joined
Jan 5, 2014
Messages
27
Location
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
I recently acquired a 286 motherboard and am having issues finding it in TH99 and google search reveals either zero or irrelevant results.

Here are names, numbers and observations:

Markings on board:

"MB286VE_12 rev 2.0
Essex Electric
Made in singapore"
Sticker on CPU & 1 sticker on the board reads EE 8192

AS the board suggests, it is a 12mhz 286.
4 x 16-bit isa slots
1 x 8 -bit slot
Pin headers for two serial connectors
AT Keyboard & standard AT power conenctor adjacent to a onboard NiCd (which i ditched as it was leaking)
VLSI Chipset(82C102A..)
4 x 30-pin simms soldered on! (3x 4256 on each)
Standard intel KB controller
pheonix Bios(?) (only phoenix chip is labelled " Compatibility Software, pheonix 1985 - 1989)
another socketed chip adjacent to the above has a label on it " EE 9002"

jp17 4-pin near battery - guessing this is ext battery.
jp21, jp 16 are only in top corner near pheonix chip. Front panel connectors?

Not alot of discrete logic. Definetley a late 286 era board.
It had some mild corrosion (but all pins appear to be intact) due to battery leakage. It had a vinegar bath and a scrub and is now air drying for a good 5 days.
Hopefully it will POST and i can get an idea of the bios

Attached below are some photos
IMG_20150127_225041.jpgIMG_20150127_225130.jpg
 
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Those look like SIPP (single inline pin package) memory modules, a pin-based SIMM. They appear to be socketed (one long, single row 30 pin socket), though finding larger SIPPs may be fun, they weren't nearly as popular as SIMMs.

Are the chips two 44256 (256kx4 bit) and one 41256 (256kx1bit, for parity)? That would make those 256k modules, for 1 megabyte total, which would be typical for a '286 system.
 
kb2syd said:
SIMMs can usually be made into SIPPS with a little soldering.
Click to expand...

True... it's even possible to make a SIMM to SIPP adapter using a SIMM socket (there were commercial ones made as well.) The pinouts are the same for 30 pin SIPPs and 30 pin SIMMs.
 
True... it's even possible to make a SIMM to SIPP adapter using a SIMM socket
Click to expand...

That makes it sound way more complicated than it actually is. Buy some SIMM slots, plug them into the SIPP sockets, and... you're done. Just make sure you put 'em in the right way around.
 
HoJoPo said:
Are the chips two 44256 (256kx4 bit) and one 41256 (256kx1bit, for parity)? That would make those 256k modules, for 1 megabyte total, which would be typical for a '286 system.
Click to expand...

There are some mixed brand chips, but its probably 1M total.

First SIPP : OKI x2 M514256-10 , x1 M41256A
Date codes on the chips place the board about mid 1992- early 1993

Just noticed the battery acid made it into the isa slots.(it avoids the motherboard but lands in the slots..) pins still intact but thats gonna be a pain to scrape out..

There appear to be some related boards on french ebay. Just google MB286V. Seem to be a very similar board, just the board layout it a bit different and no SIPP.

Old Thrashbarg said:
That makes it sound way more complicated than it actually is. Buy some SIMM slots, plug them into the SIPP sockets, and... you're done. Just make sure you put 'em in the right way around.
Click to expand...

How much force should pne be using to get these out. I gave one a good tug and it woudnt budge so i dared not use more force
 
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Old Thrashbarg said:
That makes it sound way more complicated than it actually is. Buy some SIMM slots, plug them into the SIPP sockets, and... you're done. Just make sure you put 'em in the right way around.
Click to expand...

LOL... of course they're pins for through the PCB, and would be on the same pitch as the SIPPs... thanks for straightening me out.

Ryan Hefferan said:
There are some mixed brand chips, but its probably 1M total.

First SIPP : OKI x2 M514256-10 , x1 M41256A

Just noticed the battery acid made it into the isa slots.(it avoids the motherboard but lands in the slots..) pins still intact but thats gonna be a pain to scrape out..

There appear to be some related boards on french ebay. Just google MB286V. Seem to be a very similar board, just the board layout it a bit different and no SIPP.
Click to expand...


The 514256 chips are 256kx4, so those are definitely 256k parity SIPPs, -10 makes them 100ns speed. So you may be able to upgrade to 4 meg using 1 meg SIMMs, 100ns or faster, using SIMM sockets to adapt them, if you can't find SIPPs. Of course, that assumes the motherboard can handle 4 meg... most '286s made that late should. It might even take 4M memory modules for 16M total, though that's the limit of the '286.
 
Ryan Hefferan said:
it avoids the motherboard but lands in the slotse
Click to expand...

Oh it'll be there too. It doesn't really "land", it spreads out like an invisible fungus (gently encouraged by gravity)
What you're seeing isn't actually the battery goo - but rather the result of exposure which shows up on metal surfaces first.
 
Stone said:
FWIW, these batteries don't leak acid -- they leak base. That's why you can use a weak acid like vinegar to clean up their mess.
Click to expand...

Yeah i knew this. not sure why i said battery acid but you get that.

SpidersWeb said:
Oh it'll be there too. It doesn't really "land", it spreads out like an invisible fungus (gently encouraged by gravity)
What you're seeing isn't actually the battery goo - but rather the result of exposure which shows up on metal surfaces first.
Click to expand...

Indeed. Now that the board is drying out one can see the effect it has had on a nearby *74 logic chip. Looks...crusty. going to have to scrape it a bit
 
Aha! i just found a 16-bit isa-ide bridge by the same company! (guessing this one came from this machine)
"Essex electric
P/N : (I/L or 1?) FATADAPT

Again, not much discrete logic. 5 *74 series. 1x ide and 1 x floppy header. board looks pretty barren without all that old discrete logic. WDC floppy chip.

On the back there is a sticker: EE 9002. Our mystery chip on the board had a EE 9002 sticker. Given this is a ISA-IDE bridge it would be safe to assume that is a IDE BIOS.

Also so many patch jobs on the back of this card. 6, yes 6 wire jobbies and a resistor jobbie
 
Ryan Hefferan said:
Indeed. Now that the board is drying out one can see the effect it has had on a nearby *74 logic chip. Looks...crusty. going to have to scrape it a bit
Click to expand...
What's visible is the least of the problems battery leakage can cause. The really bad stuff is what is done to the inner layers that can't be cleaned or even seen.
 
SpidersWeb said:
"9002" is quite likely the assembly date - second week of 1990.
Click to expand...

I agree, however the SIPP date codes read 92 at the oldest.
THis board would have been put into service around mid 92 i think.


If nobody can ID the jumper config, i will endeavor to do so and log it all for the community at large, in the event that someone else comes across this board. (assuming the board even posts)

I would do a diagram of the board showing chips and jumpers.
 
UPDATE: This board posts just fine with an AT keyboard.

Pheonix bios 3.10

The OEM message reads: "THE INTELLIGENT COMPUTER"

Memory configuration: 640kb base, 384kb extended

I am currently in the process of moving and will test further when i have done so.
 
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