Path: utzoo!utgpu!cunews!bnrgate!bwdls61.bnr.ca!bwdls58!mlord
From: mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware
Subject: Re: Upgrading from 286 to 386SX
Message-ID: <5180@bwdls58.UUCP>
Date: 8 Jan 91 17:35:12 GMT
References: <1991Jan8.140547.22430@wpi.WPI.EDU>
Sender: mlord@bwdls58.UUCP
Reply-To: mlord@bwdls58.bnr.ca (Mark Lord)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 28

In article <1991Jan8.140547.22430@wpi.WPI.EDU> kamal@wpi.WPI.EDU (Kamal Z Zamli) writes:
<
<I have a baby 286 computer with three 8 bit slots, and five 16 bit slots.
<I'm planning to upgrade my 286 to a 386SX. The problem I have is that 
<most 386SX motherboard have only one 8 bit slot, which means I got to get rid
<off all three of my 8 bit cards from my 286. ( modem, IO card,disk drive 
<controller ).

As many others will probably also note, 8-bit cards can work just fine
in a 16-bit slot.  The only difference between an 8-bit slot and a 16-bit
slot is the extra connector soldered to the motherboard.  They are electrically
identical in most systems.

Some 8-bit cards protrude into the space occupied by the second connector
in a 16-bit slot, and thus cannot physically be plugged into such slots.
Odds are pretty good that your three 8-bit cards do not all have this problem.

However, your disk drive controller may give you other problems.. bios related.
8-bit controllers DO work in AT/386 systems, but are tricky to configure..
and may cause problems when running in protected mode or v86 mode, due to the
lack of full addressing capability outside of the lower 1MB.

Try them before replacing them!
-- 
 ___Mark S. Lord__________________________________________
| ..uunet!bnrgate!mlord%bmerh724 | Climb Free Or Die (NH) |
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