kamal@wpi.WPI.EDU (Kamal Z Zamli) (01/08/91)
BACKGROUND: ------------ I have a baby 286 computer with three 8 bit slots, and five 16 bit slots. I'm planning to upgrade my 286 to a 386SX. The problem I have is that most 386SX motherboard have only one 8 bit slot, which means I got to get rid off all three of my 8 bit cards from my 286. ( modem, IO card,disk drive controller ). QUESTION: ---------- Is there such thing as accelerator card which I can just plug in the 16 bit slot to convert a 286 to 386 SX ????? Any help is appreciated.....Thanks
mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord) (01/09/91)
In article <1991Jan8.140547.22430@wpi.WPI.EDU> kamal@wpi.WPI.EDU (Kamal Z Zamli) writes: < <I have a baby 286 computer with three 8 bit slots, and five 16 bit slots. <I'm planning to upgrade my 286 to a 386SX. The problem I have is that <most 386SX motherboard have only one 8 bit slot, which means I got to get rid <off all three of my 8 bit cards from my 286. ( modem, IO card,disk drive <controller ). As many others will probably also note, 8-bit cards can work just fine in a 16-bit slot. The only difference between an 8-bit slot and a 16-bit slot is the extra connector soldered to the motherboard. They are electrically identical in most systems. Some 8-bit cards protrude into the space occupied by the second connector in a 16-bit slot, and thus cannot physically be plugged into such slots. Odds are pretty good that your three 8-bit cards do not all have this problem. However, your disk drive controller may give you other problems.. bios related. 8-bit controllers DO work in AT/386 systems, but are tricky to configure.. and may cause problems when running in protected mode or v86 mode, due to the lack of full addressing capability outside of the lower 1MB. Try them before replacing them! -- ___Mark S. Lord__________________________________________ | ..uunet!bnrgate!mlord%bmerh724 | Climb Free Or Die (NH) | | MLORD@BNR.CA Ottawa, Ontario | Personal views only. | |________________________________|________________________|
tok@stiatl.UUCP (Terry Kane) (01/09/91)
kamal@wpi.WPI.EDU (Kamal Z Zamli) writes: >I have a baby 286 computer with three 8 bit slots, and five 16 bit slots. >I'm planning to upgrade my 286 to a 386SX. The problem I have is that >most 386SX motherboard have only one 8 bit slot, which means I got to get rid >off all three of my 8 bit cards from my 286. ( modem, IO card,disk drive >controller ). No, you most certainly do not need to get rid of your 8 bit cards. You can just plug them straight into 16 bit slots, losing only the notion of 16 bit speed. The only card that you'd probably care to replace with a 16 bit card is the disk controller - for the hard drives' access speed. (And you _may_ not care to do that; I don't _know_ that you'll see a significant performance boost without going to a really fast drive!) The other cards are not generally available in 16 bit versions - so by all means, upgrade your motherboard. But why not go on to a 386 Dx? These days the prices are falling so rapidly that you can probably spend as much now on a 25 Mhz 386dx, as you would have on a 16 Mhz 386sx three months ago!
cd5340@mars.njit.edu (Charlap David) (01/09/91)
In article <5180@bwdls58.UUCP> mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord) writes: >However, your disk drive controller may give you other problems.. bios related. >8-bit controllers DO work in AT/386 systems, but are tricky to configure.. >and may cause problems when running in protected mode or v86 mode, due to the >lack of full addressing capability outside of the lower 1MB. Yes, but some 8-bit cards are made for AT's, like my SCSI host adapter that was shipped with my Seagate ST-296N hard drive. --- Dave
ardai@teda.UUCP (Mike Ardai) (01/09/91)
In article <1991Jan8.140547.22430@wpi.WPI.EDU> kamal@wpi.WPI.EDU (Kamal Z Zamli) writes:
-I have a baby 286 computer with three 8 bit slots, and five 16 bit slots.
-I'm planning to upgrade my 286 to a 386SX. The problem I have is that
-most 386SX motherboard have only one 8 bit slot, which means I got to get rid
-off all three of my 8 bit cards from my 286. ( modem, IO card,disk drive
-controller ).
Actually, the only time you can't plug an 8-bit card into a 16-bit slot
is if it physically won't fit. (Some 8-bit cards have chips that hang down
where the extension connector of the 16 bit slot is.)
/mike
--
\|/ Michael L. Ardai Teradyne EDA East
--- -------------------------------------------------------------------------
/|\ ...!sun!teda!ardai (preferred) or ardai@bu-pub.bu.edugt5139c@prism.gatech.EDU (PETER L. THOMAS) (01/16/91)
In article <1991Jan9.045117.3367@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au> ant@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au (Anthony Murdoch) writes: >kamal@wpi.WPI.EDU (Kamal Z Zamli) writes: >However, there are available i486 expansion boards that turn your AT machine >into a blurring hunk of speed. You should probably check into these as I >don't think they are THAT much more expensive than the 386sx, 386dx or >i386 expansion boards. I can't think of the name of the company that makes >the ones I have seen, but if you want it is just a call to a friend of mine >away. I have an AST/286-premium (circa. 1987). People have told me that a mother- board swap is impractical/impossible for my case. (The AST has a non- standard case?? Looks like a standard AT footprint to me). How would I go about swapping up to a 386 or 486 motherboard? I need a "checklist" of things to do, pitfalls to avoid. I have a pretty large base of installed hardware (modem, video, Perstor controller, two fixed drives, floppy, etc., etc.). Noone will buy this system at any price near what I would need to recoup to buy a 386, so it looks like I need to build from what I have. Help. Any suggestions on practical "how-to" books on this sort of change would be appreciated. I'm certainly unafraid of opening the system up--I do it all the time to perform routine cleaning, install or modify memory settings, ad nauseum. . .but I've never swapped my whole motherboard before. Also, no reason to let the old motherboard go to waste--any ideas on how to go about selling the motherboard? advTHANKSance --Pete