Inboard 386/PC 2mb expansion CLONE

[harrison.frazier]

Realizing this thread is slightly dated has anyone actually produced a viable daughter board?

I think there are over a dozen out there in the wild now!

 

[hglr24]

Done!! I thought I’d have to reconfigure the InBoard but it was completely plug-and-play with the new memory!

 

[hglr24]

Side note: if someone has a spare XT-compatible VGA card they’d be willing to part with, please DM me

 

[dparks256]

Thanks for the board Harrison! I put it together last weekend on a lazy Sunday afternoon, thanks for the excellent parts kit link and instructions.

I think i need to buy myself a nice matched set of 1MB dimms to get things working, but im not sure? I've have installed a mismatched 70ns 9 chip simm set. The ram is detected, counted, and configured by the inboard memory manager, and im getting no parity errors, but im having a hard time getting any games to detect the RAM whether configured as extended or expanded? DOS 6.22, XT-IDE, original 5160 bios, Intel inboard driver and memory manager loaded up. Also struggling to find a memory testing utility that should work with the inboard? Seeing very strange results about the RAM specs in mem (usually not detected) and sysinfo8. Don't see any issues with the soldering that I could find but I guess i should tone the board out. Have you guys got any guesses? Lacking a second inboard to test with, im unsure if I should be thinking I have software issues or hardware issues here. I'll probably just order a batch of RAM to find out since I'm ten or so hours into trying different memory managers and such to get things working, but if you guys have any config tips, I'd greatly appreciate them!

 

[mtrahms]

Thanks for the board Harrison! I put it together last weekend on a lazy Sunday afternoon, thanks for the excellent parts kit link and instructions.

I think i need to buy myself a nice matched set of 1MB dimms to get things working, but im not sure? I've have installed a mismatched 70ns 9 chip simm set. The ram is detected, counted, and configured by the inboard memory manager, and im getting no parity errors, but im having a hard time getting any games to detect the RAM whether configured as extended or expanded? DOS 6.22, XT-IDE, original 5160 bios, Intel inboard driver and memory manager loaded up. Also struggling to find a memory testing utility that should work with the inboard? Seeing very strange results about the RAM specs in mem (usually not detected) and sysinfo8. Don't see any issues with the soldering that I could find but I guess i should tone the board out. Have you guys got any guesses? Lacking a second inboard to test with, im unsure if I should be thinking I have software issues or hardware issues here. I'll probably just order a batch of RAM to find out since I'm ten or so hours into trying different memory managers and such to get things working, but if you guys have any config tips, I'd greatly appreciate them! View attachment 1271552View attachment 1271554View attachment 1271553

EMM386.EXE is incompatible with the inboard (per this thread). In the past, I've had good luck using just himem.sys without ilim386.sys. My test is that Wolf3D will report some amount of the memory available to the program. With just himem.sys, I see a good amount of conventional memory + 1000+ KB of XMS. More recently, I've been using Qualitas 386Max 8 (you can find it on WinWorldPC). With that, I'm able to see 1000+ KB of EMS and XMS.

EDIT: Checkit with 386Max will allow you to run memory tests with the memory viewed as EMS.

 

[dparks256]

EMM386.EXE is incompatible with the inboard (per this thread). In the past, I've had good luck using just himem.sys without ilim386.sys. My test is that Wolf3D will report some amount of the memory available to the program. With just himem.sys, I see a good amount of conventional memory + 1000+ KB of XMS. More recently, I've been using Qualitas 386Max 8 (you can find it on WinWorldPC). With that, I'm able to see 1000+ KB of EMS and XMS.

EDIT: Checkit with 386Max will allow you to run memory tests with the memory viewed as EMS.

Many thanks! Will try that - very helpful to know what SHOULD work.

 

[Cimonvg]

Thanks for the board Harrison! I put it together last weekend on a lazy Sunday afternoon, thanks for the excellent parts kit link and instructions.

I think i need to buy myself a nice matched set of 1MB dimms to get things working, but im not sure? I've have installed a mismatched 70ns 9 chip simm set. The ram is detected, counted, and configured by the inboard memory manager, and im getting no parity errors, but im having a hard time getting any games to detect the RAM whether configured as extended or expanded? DOS 6.22, XT-IDE, original 5160 bios, Intel inboard driver and memory manager loaded up. Also struggling to find a memory testing utility that should work with the inboard? ....

hello - the Qualitas RAMexam 7.01 (1993) works fine in my setup (IBM5150 rev A. superXT bios). Perhaps a disc from Checkit version 4 ??
/cimonvg

 

[nekonoko]

I have my ParrotyError board built and installed; it was a smooth build and the provided instructions are excellent. The only "issue" I encountered is that the RAM board would fall off when I closed the 5150 case (it rubs against the top and dislodges it), so I wound up putting some hot glue across the top of the pin connectors to secure them to the Inboard. Seems to work fine, and easy enough to remove with IPA if necessary.

 

[harrison.frazier]

I have my ParrotyError board built and installed; it was a smooth build and the provided instructions are excellent. The only "issue" I encountered is that the RAM board would fall off when I closed the 5150 case (it rubs against the top and dislodges it), so I wound up putting some hot glue across the top of the pin connectors to secure them to the Inboard. Seems to work fine, and easy enough to remove with IPA if necessary.

That will work! I have mine in slot 5 and it seems to nestle in between the mainboard's chips and stays in place pretty well. My headers on the current memory board I'm using may also be slightly off making them hold in better.

 

[DaCiRo]

Any suggestions on where to get the 1MB 30Pin 9Chip Parity 80ns memory modules?.... I find spares in ebay in groups of 2 or 4 mostly but not get 8 SIMMS in one go, and if I would ever get to collect all 8 overtime they would not be same maker/type. BTW,...do all 8 simms need to be matched to work on the ParrotyErrror board?.... does mixing modules form different makes cause issues?
(Man, I can't wait to get mine,...its on the way , Thanks again Harrison!)

 

[mtrahms]

Any suggestions on where to get the 1MB 30Pin 9Chip Parity 80ns memory modules?.... I find spares in ebay in groups of 2 or 4 mostly but not get 8 SIMMS in one go, and if I would ever get to collect all 8 overtime they would not be same maker/type. BTW,...do all 8 simms need to be matched to work on the ParrotyErrror board?.... does mixing modules form different makes cause issues?
(Man, I can't wait to get mine,...its on the way , Thanks again Harrison!)

I bought 2 groups of 4 SIMMs from the same listing on eBay and that worked for me.

 

[mtrahms]

I have my ParrotyError board built and installed; it was a smooth build and the provided instructions are excellent. The only "issue" I encountered is that the RAM board would fall off when I closed the 5150 case (it rubs against the top and dislodges it), so I wound up putting some hot glue across the top of the pin connectors to secure them to the Inboard. Seems to work fine, and easy enough to remove with IPA if necessary.

View attachment 1272772View attachment 1272773

Interesting, I haven't had an issue with rubbing on the top of the case. Did you remove any motherboard RAM chips that are interfering with the ram board?

 

[nekonoko]

Nothing is interfering as far as I can tell, but the RAM board sits a little higher than the Inboard when plugged in and rubs against the top of the case slightly, at least on my machine. The pins on mine are kind of a loose fit since I aligned them a little too well so it doesn't take much for it to fall off.

 

[harrison.frazier]

Dang. Looking back at pictures of the original piggyback it has 3 nylon standoffs in holes drilled in the PCB. Just when I thought Rev C was the final revision! lol.

The top holes are close enough to make something like a small zip tie work.. Or maybe just use a little strip of Kapton tape on either top side to hold it in.

 

[DaCiRo]

What about drilling a hole with a dremel on the lower end of the card to match the bottom hole of the inboard and place a small space between then. Given the size of both cards. Would these align well?..

 

[saifbadri]

My new find, can't wait to receive it. It has a book for intel inboard

 

[harrison.frazier]

What about drilling a hole with a dremel on the lower end of the card to match the bottom hole of the inboard and place a small space between then. Given the size of both cards. Would these align well?..

You could. It's a 4-layer board with a VCC and GND plane in the middle. Just make sure the planes aren't shorted after you make the cuts. And definitely use a non-metallic standoff so the planes don't short on that either.

 

[DaCiRo]

You could. It's a 4-layer board with a VCC and GND plane in the middle. Just make sure the planes aren't shorted after you make the cuts. And definitely use a non-metallic standoff so the planes don't short on that either.

Perfect, Thanks… I meditate for a month trying to gather the focus to drill a hole in this beauty

 

[DaCiRo]

Well ,..finished putting the board together, and I can’t see anything wrong with the assembly but getting 100% error on memory. No matter if I select the 2mb or 4 mb jumper option (see pics attached) looks like all memory is diagnosed with issues. Could it really be that all memory modules are defective? I got them from ebay. These are 8 modules 1MB Ram 30-pin 9-Chip Simm Parity Memory. Anyone experienced the same? Am I missing something?

 

[DaCiRo]

Pics of the build and the memory modules