80286 intel board: need help ID'ing

Yeah, this one's a dinosaur. It's got an intel 286 chip inside and still boots with windows 3.1

I'm not sure how to access the BIOS (the usual F numbers or alt - F numbers don't seem to work as there's a minor start up error which I have to bypass by pressing esc).

There's no CD rom on this relic just a 3/4 floppy. Was wondering if anyone knew of some software I could load into this win 3.1 system to get the BIOS string, from there I could probably track down the mobo make and specs.

There are some Zenith Data Systems stickers inside, that's about it...

I'm trying to remember; MSDOS came with a utility called "msd", which is short for MicroSoft Diagnostics. It might pump out a BIOS ID string... What else? Sometimes you can enter Debug (another MSDOS command), and dump the memory region at the very top of the 1mb limit (address FFFF:0000 or somewhere around there). That only works if BIOS shadowing is enabled, which it usually was on old decrepit machines like that.

Can't think of much else...

Thanks Albuquerque, I tried 'msd' and that got me into a series of dos menus. There was a BIOS ID Bytes 'FC 01 00' which doesn't make any sense to me. And a BIOS Version 'MFM-200 monitor version 3.7b' which didn't reveal any clues in google.

I'm not sure how to handle Debug. After entering 'Debug', the C prompt vanished and that was it.

LOL

This machine is so old that it predates having text-string identifiers. Your machine is being identified as an IBM "AT" class machine with a BIOS date around November of 85. Do a google search for "Int 15h C0h" (that is a zero in the C0h)

Just taking a wild guess, but MFM was a drive controller type before IDE was around. MFM controllers are seriously old-school; it stands for "Modified Frequency Modulation" and predates IDE by several years. I think that's what it's picking up in the BIOS version listing...

What's really whacky about MFM controllers is they are exactly tied to the drive; meaning you can only use a "Type A" MFM drive with an exactly matching "Type A" MFM controller. Dunno if that made sense, but basically if the drive that's in the machine is dead, you have to find another one EXACTLY like it (same size and everything) or else the controller won't work. Nice, huh?

Anyway, I'm not sure if there's anything more I could provide. It's doubtful that this bios was EVER designed to be flashed, to be modified, or even to be looked at. This thing is so old, it probably doesn't have any user-configurable options period.

Hey, just a guess, but does this diagram look familiar?

If so (or even if not), try hitting control-alt-insert to get to the BIOS setup. A lot of these severely-old machines allowed you to get into BIOS setup at basically any time the machine was booted -- no matter what was running. Give it a shot

wow Albuquerque! you been busy The diagram doesn't look familer, but what's interesting is that I've also got a similar detachable cpu mounted on a 'Daughter Card' lol. It's not the same as the one in the link, but I guess it's from the same Jurassic ball park, hehe.

I'll crank up the the old steamer and give the control-alt-insert a try

If it helps, here's a ref number plastered on one of the components:

Zenith Data Systems 444-793-7 (and a year 1991 which might suggest an upgrade at some point)

There are a lot of 'CHIPS' components (some marked Japan others marked USA): a typical reference - P82C211-12 C (not really helpful I know)

Originally posted by Albuquerque
try hitting control-alt-insert to get to the BIOS setup.

Click to expand...

no joy Think we'll just have read it the Last Rights.