Revamping a 486, processor + hard drive

[Guest_imported]

I would like to know if it is possible to purchase a newer processor for the old mobo. I know that I can't replace the motherboard without having problems with the cards. Two of them are - really long.
The processor has 168 pins. If I can still find a replacement, how fast a processor could I put in it without overloading the mobo?
I also tried to install a second hard drive, but it wouldn't recognise it in the BIOS. Any ideas why?

 

[Karl Blessing]

That depends on the motherboard, unlike some of the 486 boards in the past the one I have has a Soldered 486/25 SX, so the processor could never be upgraded but it could have a math coproccsor added, depending on your motherboard (might be a Socket5 or Socket3) the type of 486 depends on the socket name, also the age of the BIOS also will determine what speed your mobo will take, also far as the HDD goes, it maybe just too big for the BIOS to handle, if you are just trying to save a buck or two, it would be much cheaper to just buy a new barebone system and move some of the cards, and HDD over (btw the really really long cards you mentioned, I belive are ISA Cards, some newer pc's still hold least 1 ISA slot) [sig]<p>Karl<br><a href=mailto:kb244@kb244.com>kb244@kb244.com</a><br><a href=

http://kb244.com>

</a><br>Experienced in : C++(both VC++ and Borland),VB1(dos) thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, HTML, Visual InterDev 6(ASP(WebProgramming/Vbscript)<br>

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=629151

[/sig]

 

[edfair]

You can still find M/Bs with 3 ISA slots Length of the cards is immaterial on the replacement M/B if the processor itself isn't behind the ISA slots /and/ neither of the cards is VLB slot dependent.(well not totally true since other stuff can be put there too)
If you have VLB based cards then you have the choice of staying with 486 stuff or upgrading I/O cards.
If you have the manual for your M/B it will tell you what processors/speeds you can expect. Generally 486 and above have the capability of processor swap. I have several that allow from 33 to 100 mhz chips.
Some hard drives require jumpering. Look to see if your original drive has jumper marked slave present. 1st drive should be master, 2nd slave and the slave present jumpered if present. [sig]<p>Ed Fair<br><a href=mailto: efair@atlnet.com> efair@atlnet.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. <br>
Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.<br>
[/sig]

 

[Guest_imported]

Cool. Thanks guys. I had one of the other geeks in my dorm look at it. The processor is not soldered in. I have it sitting on my cd drive. Thanks for the jumper info. I had set them, but I'm going to look at them again. The bios on the system is the original that the system came with. I think that both hard drives just go over what the bios can handle. Only one of the long cards is ISA, the other just hangs over the slot more than the other cards. How can I tell if its a VLB card?
I think that I'm going to buy both a replacement motherboard and processor. I'll need ram to, since it just has 32 megs of ram in SIMMs, but it'll still be cheaper than buying a new system. I'm thinking of a Duron 700 mhz and a mobo that will suppport it. Any suggestions? Forsee any possible major problems?

 

[edfair]

VLB has an additional connector that looks like PCI sitting past the 16 bit connectors. And normally you'll have two or three and all I've ever seen were brown plastic.
Karl can tell you about the high speed stuff. I'm 166 Mhz tops and on the trailing edge of technology. Karl likes being on the bleeding edge. [sig]<p>Ed Fair<br><a href=mailto: efair@atlnet.com> efair@atlnet.com</a><br><a href= > </a><br>Any advice I give is my best judgement based on my interpretation of the facts you supply. <br>
Help increase my knowledge by providing some feedback, good or bad, on any advice I have given.<br>
[/sig]

 

[Karl Blessing]

um, VLB is the VESA Extension port , located on ISA slots, most of the older VESA Compatible video cards used these extra extenstions to help give the video further support and a boost for the better, keep in mind edfair, I may be on the bleeding edge of stuff, but I was running on a 486/25 SX for about 5-6 years before I started making some money of my own. [sig]<p>Karl<br><a href=mailto:kb244@kb244.com>kb244@kb244.com</a><br><a href=

http://kb244.com>

</a><br>Experienced in : C++(both VC++ and Borland),VB1(dos) thru VB6, Delphi 3 pro, HTML, Visual InterDev 6(ASP(WebProgramming/Vbscript)<br>

http://www.brainbench.com/transcript.jsp?pid=629151

[/sig]