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looking for a working 486 motherboard

Casey

Veteran Member
Joined
May 31, 2016
Messages
621
Location
Fairfield, Ohio
As the title says, I'm looking for a working 486 motherboard. Preference for a 486dx2-66 as that's what I had a long time ago. ISA only is fine. To be specific, I'm looking for a system with a cpu & ram. I have both here, but they're plugged into a non-working motherboard and I don't know if they're usable. (cpu is an AMD 486dx2-66, 3.3v if memory serves)

Strong preference for a coin battery, socketed Dallas chip, or removed rechargeable battery wherein I can add a AA battery pack.

If ISA only, an available IDE controller would be good, as well as a VGA card. I can always find them on eBay, but it's nice to get them at the same time.

Would like to stay at or under $100 with shipping, if possible. Zip is 45014.

It's been a couple of decades; how big a power supply would such a motherboard require? IIRC my AT spare is 250 watts.
 
250 watts should be fine.

I may have something along the line. I ordered 2 486 motherboards and both have some mild corrosion from the Varta battery. I would need to test and verify them.


If I do sell one it would be a 486DX-33 with 20 MB RAM. Sorry no I/O board though. Main Boards should be here by Friday the 8th plus testing so maybe the 1 will be available After Tuesday the 12th
So let me know what you think. Can always buy a 486DX-2 66 on eBay as well as a VESA Bus I/O controller or a standard ISA I/O controller. Might have a Trident 512k ISA video bus as well. Need to check.
 
Sounds do-able. Are we talking about the battery being removed? Lost my soldering iron a few years back.
 
Yes I am going to pull the battery and clean up any corrosion that might be on the board and test it. If all good I will let you know. Then if you get it from me you can use an external battery back.
I will be reasonable on the price no worries there. As far as battery packs go there is a surplus electronic parts store about a 40 minute drive from me. They sell 4 cell AAA battery packs for $2.00 and even has a power switch for it. I have a spare available i can include free.
 
Ok the board came and it has an issue. It will not boot from a floppy disk. I tried 3 different floppy controllers and 4 different floppy drives with a known good disks. Nothing. Does not boot.
So sorry about that. So keep looking. Might want to check eBay. Or Amibay.
 
Pickings are somewhat slim right now. A lot of $300 motherboards for sale.

There's a couple nice looking boards offered, but no cpu or ram. Tempted to buy one of those and see if the cpu & ram I have now work. Pretty sure it's the motherboard that's dead.
 
Here is one at decent price: https://www.ebay.com/itm/PC-Chips-M...817561?hash=item5b7f1096d9:g:Zj4AAOSwVJ9fgB9T
Has 256K Cache memory 3 VESA slots and 8 30 Pin memory slots. And battery has been removed so you can use an external battery pack. Just need a CPU and RAM. I may be able to still help you out. I will sell the 486dx/33 motherboard with 20 MB RAM I have for $20.00 + $5.00 shipping to you and you can pull CPU and RAM out of it. Let me know what you think.

Here are the jumper settings for it: https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/U/UNIDENTIFIED-486-M601-VERSION-1-3.html
 
I may be able to still help you out. I will sell the 486dx/33 motherboard with 20 MB RAM I have for $20.00 + $5.00 shipping to you and you can pull CPU and RAM out of it. Let me know what you think.

Here are the jumper settings for it: https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/U/UNIDENTIFIED-486-M601-VERSION-1-3.html

Does your m/b support 3.3v AMD 486dx2-66 cpus? If memory serves, that's the chip I have. It's buried under a bunch of other junk right now. Lord this place needs a good cleaning.
 
The motherboard is right now not liking floppy drives anyway so basically no good. The motherboard I gave a link to is not mine. You may want to contact the seller about 3.3V support.
Just seemed the best deal even without CPU and RAM.

As I said I could just send my bad board and you can pull CPU off of it and the RAM chips. Then toss the board. Or I can just send CPU and RAM to you if you get that board. your choice.
 
As the title says, I'm looking for a working 486 motherboard. Preference for a 486dx2-66 as that's what I had a long time ago. ISA only is fine. To be specific, I'm looking for a system with a cpu & ram. I have both here, but they're plugged into a non-working motherboard and I don't know if they're usable. (cpu is an AMD 486dx2-66, 3.3v if memory serves)

Strong preference for a coin battery, socketed Dallas chip, or removed rechargeable battery wherein I can add a AA battery pack.

If ISA only, an available IDE controller would be good, as well as a VGA card. I can always find them on eBay, but it's nice to get them at the same time.

Would like to stay at or under $100 with shipping, if possible. Zip is 45014.

It's been a couple of decades; how big a power supply would such a motherboard require? IIRC my AT spare is 250 watts.

What is the model number of the board you have? Is it a retail system or a OEM?

I am in Youngstown and have spare 486 boards but not CPUs (keeping them for my gear).
 
What is the model number of the board you have? Is it a retail system or a OEM?

I am in Youngstown and have spare 486 boards but not CPUs (keeping them for my gear).

If memory serves (as I said earlier it's buried right now) it's an Asus PVI-486SP3. What I can remember for sure is that it's an Asus, has ISA & VL bus slots, has a coin battery, and can support 3.3v cpus, which is why I bought the AMD 486dx2-66 3.3v. I plugged the cpu into that motherboard, but no joy.
 
I have a couple of boards I can send with some RAM if you want for $100, I'll see which ones I have that have 3.3V support. I have one on eBay here that might work for you (again, I'll add RAM for you if you want it): https://www.ebay.com/itm/284085489570

edit: ok I just checked and that one doesn't have 3.3V support, so I'll see if I have one that does if you need one, otherwise this one should work fine :)
 
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