486DX-50 Upgrade 1

[Larry424]

Hello,

I have a 486DX-50 computer I would like to upgrade to 32MB of RAM, with a 3GB hard drive. I am willing to stay with Win 95, and the 133MHZ cpu as I only need the machine to substitute for my main computer for downloading from sites that have adware, spyware, viruses, trojans, etc.

I have searched hard on Google, but even though I can come up with generic info on upgrading, and plenty of sites selling older parts and components, I can't really make the connections I need for ordering exact p/ns for a specific upgrade for this machine.

Does anyone know of a site that can give me exact upgrade scenarios that would be based on the individual component upgrades I desire (i.e, RAM, hard drive)? That's assuming I'm smart enough to select the right RAM type and hard drive for an upgrade . . hehe.

Thanks in advance for your help.

Larry

 

[wolluf]

132MHz CPU & 486DX-50 is clever! What have you got currently, and do you have manual for motherboard? Machine that old might not recognise 3GB drive without help - 2.1GB drive limit is possible (eg, disk manfacturer software utility). Has board some sort of EDO RAM?
Wouldn't it be easier to buy an old Pentium or equivalent(100+) with 32MB RAM and 3GB drive for this job - they're very cheap - rather than brave the perils of upgrading such an old machine.

 

[Larry424]

Thanks, wolluf. The machine is currently running:

Win95 // 16MB RAM // 212MB Maxtor 7213AT Hard Drive // v4.50G Award BIOS (1996) // No Info On MOBO - No Manual // 133MHZ AMD 486DX CPU // 380W FastMicro SPQ-4200 Power Supply.

There has obviously been an upgrade in the past, because the BIOS has a 1996 date (on a 1992 computer), the RAM is too high for a 486DX, as well as the CPU speed. Probably upgraded the motherboard, don't you think? I can find no info at all on the board, though, without removing it. Don't know yet about the EDO RAM, but am trying to find something...

As for the Pentium, sounds good to me... whatever comes out the least expensive and easiest to work with. The computer was given to me, therefore $0 initial cost...made it appealing... I fear the cost of a hard drive most - some are much as $85.

 

[edfair]

Additional cost for RAM will offset the price of a new board and processor.
E-bay is an alternate source for the hard drive. My last 1gb was $5.00.
Since the M/B was designed for the DX you probably would be better off with something designed around a later chip. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Snickle]

"Win95 // 16MB RAM // 212MB Maxtor 7213AT Hard Drive // v4.50G Award BIOS (1996) // No Info On MOBO - No Manual // 133MHZ AMD 486DX CPU // 380W FastMicro SPQ-4200 Power Supply"

Check that processor again, the fastest Intel 486-DX4 I saw was the 120MHz and the fastest AMD made was the 486-DX4/120MHz. You may have the 486-33MHz CPU, markings are hard to see sometimes, and it should be marked as DX or SX [SX had no math co-processor built-in, DX did].

If there's no PCI slots on the board, the memory may be 30-pin modules, which are quite obsolete. And you'd have to know if the memory is parity or non-parity and 60-ns, 70-ns, or 80-ns speed [ns=nanosecond]. Usually installs in 4 modules at a time, once in a while would see a board that took 2 at a time.

 

[Larry424]

Thanks, guys, for your valuable input, but I'm calling it quits on this one. This is almost as hard as trying to find driver updates for eMachines devices.

I appreciate your interest!

Larry

 

[Cindy1]

You could try

http://memory4less.com/memory

I have bought memory from them and have been very happy with the price and product.
Cindy

 

[Larry424]

Thanks, Cindy1!

Larry

 

[Kspade]

Berton, I have an AMD P75-133 chip socket3 4x86 arcitecture that runs at 133Mhz 33Mhz bus, they do exist. (I run it as a win95 Pre-A file server, one of my most stable machines.) It takes a "dx100" board which typically has a 2.1 Gb limit unless the BIOS had been flashes whis this one sounds as if it has. it name now have a 4.2Gb or 8.4Gb limit. and RAM it can prob take up to 64Mb max EDO 72pin which is still avail in various locations. I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every moment of it.

 

[Snickle]

Kspade, you got me to wondering so I got out my 'book' and looked up the Socket 3. Seems it could be used with both the DX4 processors and the Pentium OverDrive processors, along with the older 5volt SX, DX, DX2 chips.

Socket 2 had 238 pins and Socket 3 had 239 pins.

Seems the voltage could be set at 5 volts also, resulting in a burned up CPU if it was intended for 3.3volts.

That's a board I didn't work with because the Pentium 60/66 and 75/90/100/120 chips were out or coming out.

Larry424 may be totally confused now.

 

[Larry424]

Guys, I've been confused from the beginning . . this computer is confusing because it's apparently had a mysterious upgrade done several years ago . . just didn't bother to upgrade RAM and hard drive for some incredible reason. I checked the CPU, it is a socket 3 CPU, for sure. The CMOS at startup says the BIOS is 1996 Award 486DX v4.50G, with 16MB RAM, and running at 133MHZ processing speed. . that version of BIOS is 5 years newer than the computer. It is definitely originally a 486DX-50 . . stamped on the back of the computer. The power supply is 5v, 380w, have no idea if there is an adapter to keep the 5v from frying the apparently upgraded CPU.

Here's where I reveal my ignorance, bigtime! I have 9 modules plugged flat onto the mobo that were made by EtronTech (Korean) EM51256C-15P. When I search on "EtronTech," every reference is to video memory for games . . no mention of processor RAM. Well, guys, if this isn't RAM, I don't have any! My PCI slots (4 long, 3 short) hold the modem card and the graphics card, that's it.

Well, that's it . . that's all I can tell you for sure about this thing. Have fun!

Don't waste too much time on this. I won't order parts blindly . . too cheap! . . so you might be wasting your time. I don't know if it's possible to fully resolve these mysteries since you can't actually look at the machine.

Larry

 

[edfair]

9 chips are 2 mb of cache.
You'll have more memory somewhere. Pluggable , 72 pin, probably 4 sticks. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Larry424]

Sorry, Ed, I'm unable to find the memory you're speaking of.

Larry

 

[Snickle]

"My PCI slots (4 long, 3 short) hold the modem card and the graphics card, that's it"

The 4 long probably are the black ISA slots and the 3 short would be white PCI slots.

9 modules of memory may indicate that 1 is COAST, Cache On A Stick, it was replaceable. I mention that because 30-pin memory was installed in fours and occasionally pairs, and 72-pin memory on PCI boards is installed in pairs. Did see a few 486/Pentium60/66 boards that could use single 72-pin modules, as can my Lexmark laser printer [has a 25MHz CPU in it].

 

[Larry424]

If anyone would like to see a picture of this beast opened up, email me at larryfretwell@hotmail.com, and I will get it to you .

 

[edfair]

How about checking near the power connectors for a pluggable stick of memory. Hidden under the power supplies on a lot of systems I've worked on. Actually not hidden, but the cases are built in such a way that the board installs under a power supply support.
And the expansion slots are probably all black, 4 16bit and 3 8bit ISA.
What you are describing sounds like some of the Chicony boards I used. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Larry424]

Ok, thanks, Ed, I have finally found my RAM, harhar!

Underneath the hard drive and behind a thousand cables, I found two ram sticks. Each stick has 8 chips on the front and eight chips on the back, for a total of 32 chips. A sticker on one of the sticks says 2x32.

Here's some BIOS Info - Andreas Stiller 10/97

Computer ID: PC, Type: AT
BIOS Date: 04/01/96
Award BIOS Found: Award Modular BIOS v4.50G
Award ID-String: 04/01/96-VT496G-2A4L6F0IC-00
Board/BIOS-Version: Version 1.15G105
OEM: FIC
URL: http:/

http://www.fica.com

Chipset: VT496G / VIA 496G

I think this is the magic number for the motherboard: (First International Computer) FIC 486 PIO-3.

Now, if anyone can tell me how to use this to find full m/b specifications, including, of course, RAM information, I should be able to positively identify the RAM and decide how much I want to buy.
=======================================================
UPDATE: I just found this at the FIC faq page (

http://www.fic.com.tw/techsupport/faq/faqs486.htm):

8. Can I use EDO DRAM or parity DRAM on a 486 motherboard?

486 motherboards are not capable of supporting EDO DRAM and parity DRAM due to chipset limitation. Use ordinary DRAM memory on your system. (E.g non-parity DRAM).

Any help?
========================================================

Larry

 

[edfair]

Buy a replacement M/B, processor, and ram.
The price difference on ram will offset the other costs.

You'll need an AT type M/B.

Sorry about the redundent post. Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.

 

[Larry424]

Hi Ed,

1) Please check out the new info and tell me if I've chosen the proper memory.

2) Also, do you think I might get it cheaper somewhere else?

3) Do you still think I should go with a new M/B?

4) One last thing (oh, sure) harhar. When I search for hard drives, is there a site you know of that would tell me if a particular hard drive would be compatible with THIS particular M/B?
===========================================================
MOTHERBOARD:
486-PI0-3 Rev:A1 PCI Motherboard -- First International Computer (FIC)
- AWARD BIOS ID string 04/01/96-VT496G-2A4L6F0IC-00
- 2-72 pin SIMM slots (1-64meg FPM DRAM)
- 3-32bit PCI slots
- 4-16bit ISA slots
- 128k-1024k CACHE support in 8-32pin sockets + 1 TAG RAM socket
- AMI/AWARD Auto-Detect Flash Bios with Energy Mgmt.
- Supports LBA Mode Control & Large Disk DOS Compatibility.
- Green PC Connector
- VIA chipset
- Supports CPU voltages of: 3.3/3.45/3.6/4.0/5.0 volt
- ZIF CPU socket which supports these processors:
INTEL 80486SX/DX/DX2/DX4,P24S,P24D,P24T
CYRIX CX486S/DX/DX2(M7)/DX4,CX5x86
AMD AM486DX/DX2/DX4,AM X5
UMC U5SD,U5S,U5SLV
TI TI486DX2/DX4
- Supports speeds of 25/33/40/50/66/75/80/100/133 MHz.
- PCI Bus master IDE interface for upto 4 IDE devices.
- Multi-I/O chip supports 2 - 16550 Fast UART serial ports
1 - parallel port with EPP & ECP, 1 - floppy disk interface.
- Manufactured by: FIRST INTERNATIONAL COMPUTER, INC.
- WEBSITE:

http://www.fica.com

===========================================================
MEMORY:
2-72 pin SIMM slots (1-64meg FPM DRAM)
I found two ram sticks beneath the hard drive. Each stick has 8 chips on the front and eight chips on the back, for a total of 16 chips/stick. A sticker on one of the sticks says 2x32.

REPLACEMENT RAM:
OEMPCWORLD.COM: 32M -- $15.85 32MB 72PIN FPM DRAM SIMM 8MX32 NON-PARITY TIN 5V 60NS - 32M
For kit please buy Qty 2 = $31.70 = 64MB Capacity of Board.
===========================================================

Thanks,
Larry

 

[edfair]

Yes, that is the correct memory. Memory prices have changed dramatically since I last checked for FPM or EDO, which at $3.00 per Mb would have made a memory purchase more expensive than a M/B , processor, and memory. So that justification has been removed.
I suspect that you won't get more than 2 Gb of hard drive supported. It has been a while since I've used FIC stuff with 486 so I don't really know.
In the overall scheme of things I would strongly suggest a new M/B. But that will probably cause you to need a new case, too. But you'll be running about 5 generations later chip with support for just about any hard drive you can buy. Plus the memory support for later OS.
Ed Fair
unixstuff@juno.com
Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.