Problem with OLD system (BIOS gone??)

Maybe these will help:

It says "PCB Ver 2.22" on the board itself

and two chips ON The board read:

"CIRRUS LOGIC"

and

"OPTi 82C802GA" & "OPTi 82C602A"

the OPTI chips are your chipset for the board

The CSI is an EPROM, probably containing the BIOS

how about something on the board itself ?

You have to remember, these older boards had to be configured by jumpers and switches. If you got a DIP switch or a jumper wrong the board may not work. It was important to know the proper jumper settings for them for these reasons. Also, some of those chips are older then the 486DX100, so it is possible that sometime tried to put an upgrade chip into it, it did not work, then shelved it. You will have to identify the board to ensure the jumpers are correct and the board can handle the CPU and memory.

"PCB Ver 2.22" is the only thing I see on the board, the rest are all attatched, the CSi one is the one I thought was the BIOS, but I don't see anyway to reset it. there's metal pegs around the board (and near that 'chip') that have plastic 'sheathes' over them, like a plug with the wires ripped out kind of. I was told that MAY be the 'switches' that are normally on a BIOS

those "pegs" are what some call "jumpers"

Actually, all of those metal plugs are either jumpers or they are connectors for cables. A jumper is just a way to configure something on the motherboard by shorting between two plugs with one of those plastic sheaths. However, without knowing which one to short you might damage some of the chips by indiscriminately shorting differents things. Sometimes the jumpers will be labeled in very tiny print beside them. I don't think they were labeling them as early as this mobo, but it's worth a try to get a magnifying glass and check.

Also, try to find an fcc i.d., it should be on there somewhere, although they are usually kind of hard to find. If you can find it go to

https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/c...ericSearch.cfm

You can put in the fcc id and get the manufacturer. Google the manufacturer and you may be able to find the jumper settings for that mobo or maybe even a .pdf online manual.

Thanks a lot people. Hopefully I can reset the BIOS and get things working again. Thanks for all the help.

What he described were in fact jumpers, period.

This is a security related site, and although I enjoy helping people, I am tired and can not possibly teach a 101 on what is inside when you open a computer.

Like I said, find WHATEVER you can printed on the board.

If you want to know what a jumper is, I have attached a page from an old M technologies PCI-486 ( R418 ) motherboard manual that describes a jumper.

Hope it helps you understand, and remember, google is your friend.

and, BTW, I already know that the maker of the BIOS is IBM. I know because it worked for us at some point, but then in formatting the HD it went bye-bye.

Firstly: IKnowNot a grandfather! congratulations old chap...............it is all downhill from here :D

We have an IBM of unknown origins. I have had this problem as well, and am more than willing to try to help TheSteelBlade, particularly as restoring old computers is a hobby of mine. Might I suggest that TheSteelBlade PMs me until we get it sorted out, then we can post a collective solution?

It is a 486 DX4/100. This means that it will only be about 8 years old. This is a 486 processor with a math co-processor, running at 100Mhz. "The last of the 486's" In their day they could give a PI/75Mhz a run for it's money. I would guess that the FSB is 66Mhz, but it could be 75?

I have not been there recently, but the IBM technical support site used to be one of the best, particularly with support for obsolete products.

If TheSteelBlade will contact me, I will do my level best.

BTW don't e-mail, I have just gone to broadband so I do not check my POP3 that regularly, I will alter the contact details when I have finalised a webmail provider.

Good Luck

Aside from the number/letter codes labelling all the pieces of the board I can find:

2 'bar code' stickers "J105W..." & "J10EE..."

26859 (stamped in white)

PCB Ver 2.22

Type C-2

on the back:
65G4187
EC D26208H

That's all I can find, I can see the Jumpers, and I know it was an IBM BIOS, if that helps any. I'm just not sure how to reset the BIOS with the jumpers.