Can anyone identify this 640k expansion card? I need to test the memory in each bank, but don't know it's make and model, and therefore can't learn what the dipswitches do! This card is apparently the troublemaker in my recent IBM 5150 boot problem. It appears to have some replacement chips in it, so who knows "where it's been". https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/65762317/forums/ram_card_for_IBM_5150.jp g If there's no way to identify it, is there a generic expectation of what the six dipswitches do on these cards? Best, Steve
On 11/07/2016 10:35 AM, Steven Michelsen via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
If there's no way to identify it, is there a generic expectation of what the six dipswitches do on these cards?
It's an inexpensive 384K AST clone card. I don't recall what the switches do other than set the size of the memory. (ie 64K, 128K, 384k, etc). -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
Hmmmm..... six switches.... could that equal 6 banks of 64k? I hate to guess at this. I see that minuszerodegrees has a page on AST cards with plenty of options for switches, but which one might represent mine? http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/AST/Cards/Many%20AST%20cards.txt -----Original Message----- From: Neil Cherry [mailto:ncherry@linuxha.com] Sent: Monday, November 07, 2016 11:50 AM To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Cc: Steven Michelsen <stevenm@optonline.net> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] ram card identification? On 11/07/2016 10:35 AM, Steven Michelsen via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
If there's no way to identify it, is there a generic expectation of what the six dipswitches do on these cards?
It's an inexpensive 384K AST clone card. I don't recall what the switches do other than set the size of the memory. (ie 64K, 128K, 384k, etc). -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
On 11/07/2016 12:07 PM, Steven Michelsen via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Hmmmm..... six switches.... could that equal 6 banks of 64k? I hate to guess at this.
Highly unlikely, the AST reference page seems to ring a bell.
I see that minuszerodegrees has a page on AST cards with plenty of options for switches, but which one might represent mine? http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/AST/Cards/Many%20AST%20cards.txt
Rough guess: MEMORY INSTALLED ON 6-PAK 6 dips sw. (note that sw7 is NA and that SW8 is parity which your board doesn't have). See how your current switches match up with the existing board. Assume that it was working but that the memory board may not have the correct initial addressing. I do recall you said it worked when the case was open. This gives us starting point to intelligently guess. Oddly enough I only owned 1 PC clone that ran DOS. My work machines were Windows (or OS9 & Flex). None were the type of PC clone that would need this board. Although I built dozens of the clones. Those usually the memory on board (3x256KB or 4x256KB). The one DOS machine I had was a Packard Bell and was a bad clone. -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 1:20 PM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
On 11/07/2016 12:07 PM, Steven Michelsen via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Hmmmm..... six switches.... could that equal 6 banks of 64k? I hate to guess at this.
Highly unlikely, the AST reference page seems to ring a bell.
I see that minuszerodegrees has a page on AST cards with plenty of options
for switches, but which one might represent mine? http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/AST/Cards/Many%20AST%20cards.txt
Rough guess:
MEMORY INSTALLED ON 6-PAK
6 dips sw. (note that sw7 is NA and that SW8 is parity which your board doesn't have).
See how your current switches match up with the existing board. Assume that it was working but that the memory board may not have the correct initial addressing. I do recall you said it worked when the case was open. This gives us starting point to intelligently guess.
Oddly enough I only owned 1 PC clone that ran DOS. My work machines were Windows (or OS9 & Flex). None were the type of PC clone that would need this board. Although I built dozens of the clones. Those usually the memory on board (3x256KB or 4x256KB). The one DOS machine I had was a Packard Bell and was a bad clone.
Which model is this? A six pak? b
on this particular AST SixPakPlus rev k board I have here on my desk, RS232: 2,4,6 closed and irq 3&7 closed. Tp1 and TP2 open, TP3 open. S1 - 23458 on (up). came from a working system, fully populated. 6 rows of 4264's. On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 1:30 PM, william degnan <billdegnan@gmail.com> wrote:
On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 1:20 PM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
On 11/07/2016 12:07 PM, Steven Michelsen via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Hmmmm..... six switches.... could that equal 6 banks of 64k? I hate to guess at this.
Highly unlikely, the AST reference page seems to ring a bell.
I see that minuszerodegrees has a page on AST cards with plenty of options
for switches, but which one might represent mine? http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/AST/Cards/Many%20AST%20cards.txt
Rough guess:
MEMORY INSTALLED ON 6-PAK
6 dips sw. (note that sw7 is NA and that SW8 is parity which your board doesn't have).
See how your current switches match up with the existing board. Assume that it was working but that the memory board may not have the correct initial addressing. I do recall you said it worked when the case was open. This gives us starting point to intelligently guess.
Oddly enough I only owned 1 PC clone that ran DOS. My work machines were Windows (or OS9 & Flex). None were the type of PC clone that would need this board. Although I built dozens of the clones. Those usually the memory on board (3x256KB or 4x256KB). The one DOS machine I had was a Packard Bell and was a bad clone.
Which model is this? A six pak?
b
The card I have is entirely un-marked. Here's a picture. https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/65762317/forums/ram_card_for_IBM_5150.jp... -----Original Message----- From: vcf-midatlantic [mailto:vcf-midatlantic-bounces@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org] On Behalf Of william degnan via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Monday, November 07, 2016 1:30 PM To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Cc: william degnan <billdegnan@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] ram card identification? On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 1:20 PM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
On 11/07/2016 12:07 PM, Steven Michelsen via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Hmmmm..... six switches.... could that equal 6 banks of 64k? I hate to guess at this.
Highly unlikely, the AST reference page seems to ring a bell.
I see that minuszerodegrees has a page on AST cards with plenty of options
for switches, but which one might represent mine? http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/AST/Cards/Many%20AST%20cards. txt
Rough guess:
MEMORY INSTALLED ON 6-PAK
6 dips sw. (note that sw7 is NA and that SW8 is parity which your board doesn't have).
See how your current switches match up with the existing board. Assume that it was working but that the memory board may not have the correct initial addressing. I do recall you said it worked when the case was open. This gives us starting point to intelligently guess.
Oddly enough I only owned 1 PC clone that ran DOS. My work machines were Windows (or OS9 & Flex). None were the type of PC clone that would need this board. Although I built dozens of the clones. Those usually the memory on board (3x256KB or 4x256KB). The one DOS machine I had was a Packard Bell and was a bad clone.
Which model is this? A six pak? b
It has 9 chips per row. Doesn't that indicate it does have parity? I bet the switches indicate what bank this memory starts at and (maybe) how many banks are installed. Bob On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 1:36 PM, Steven Michelsen via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
The card I have is entirely un-marked. Here's a picture.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/65762317/forums/ram_ card_for_IBM_5150.jpg
-----Original Message----- From: vcf-midatlantic [mailto:vcf-midatlantic-bounces@lists. vintagecomputerfederation.org] On Behalf Of william degnan via vcf-midatlantic Sent: Monday, November 07, 2016 1:30 PM To: vcf-midatlantic <vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> Cc: william degnan <billdegnan@gmail.com> Subject: Re: [vcf-midatlantic] ram card identification?
On Mon, Nov 7, 2016 at 1:20 PM, Neil Cherry via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vintagecomputerfederation.org> wrote:
On 11/07/2016 12:07 PM, Steven Michelsen via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
Hmmmm..... six switches.... could that equal 6 banks of 64k? I hate to guess at this.
Highly unlikely, the AST reference page seems to ring a bell.
I see that minuszerodegrees has a page on AST cards with plenty of options
for switches, but which one might represent mine? http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/AST/Cards/Many%20AST%20cards. txt
Rough guess:
MEMORY INSTALLED ON 6-PAK
6 dips sw. (note that sw7 is NA and that SW8 is parity which your board doesn't have).
See how your current switches match up with the existing board. Assume that it was working but that the memory board may not have the correct initial addressing. I do recall you said it worked when the case was open. This gives us starting point to intelligently guess.
Oddly enough I only owned 1 PC clone that ran DOS. My work machines were Windows (or OS9 & Flex). None were the type of PC clone that would need this board. Although I built dozens of the clones. Those usually the memory on board (3x256KB or 4x256KB). The one DOS machine I had was a Packard Bell and was a bad clone.
Which model is this? A six pak?
b
On 11/07/2016 01:53 PM, Bob Flanders via vcf-midatlantic wrote:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/65762317/forums/ram_
card_for_IBM_5150.jpg
Oops, never count ram chips when you've blown up the screen (yes, there are 9 in each row). -- Linux Home Automation Neil Cherry ncherry@linuxha.com http://www.linuxha.com/ Main site http://linuxha.blogspot.com/ My HA Blog Author of: Linux Smart Homes For Dummies
participants (4)
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Bob Flanders -
Neil Cherry -
Steven Michelsen -
william degnan