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Anyone recognise this embedded x86 board?

Hi,

I recently got hold of an Internet TV set top box, and I was wondering whether anyone here might have some more detailed info it - ideally I'd like to convert it into a cut-down PC, as it seems like this might not be too hard.

The board itself runs an Intel 80486DX4/100, and generally seems to use standard PC hardware, all onboard:

- SMSC FDC37C665GT (SuperIO) - OPTi 82C802GA (Northbridge?) - OPTi 82C602A (RTC/companion chip?) - OPTi 82C931 (Audio) - Davicom DM9008F (LAN) - IGS CyberPro 2010 (VGA + TV out) - Philips SAA 7111A (TV in)

It has 16MB RAM (1x 72 pin) and 8MB Flash (also 72pin, in the second RAM slot.) The operating system was written by Neon Technologies.

When it boots up it displays the video card banner in standard PC text mode, and then loads the OS from the flash chip. If I remove the flash chip, it just resets at the point where the OS normally loads. The flash chip is an Intel DA28F640J5, soldered onto an otherwise blank

72-pin RAM stick. I'm guessing I'll have to flash something else onto the chip, however I'm not sure how to go about this - or even whether the chip will work in a 72-pin slot on a normal PC (and since a lot of PCs zero the memory at startup, whether this will erase the flash chip.)

Anyway, if anyone recognises this board or has any info, please let me know.

Thanks, Adam.

Reply to
Adam Nielsen
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Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking - *just* before the OS boots (or just before it resets if there's no flash) the num/caps/scroll lock LEDs work too, so there's definitely a separate BIOS in there - only problem is, I can't find it ;-) There doesn't seem to be any other flash chips on board, or any sort of dual high/low BIOS chips like the old AT motherboards used to have.

I have found a little more about the box though, it appears to be a Neon Technologies NTV-1000, and

formatting link
no longer exists :-( One person apparently *almost* got the board network booting a Linux kernel, so hopefully he can shed a bit more light onto this as well! There is apparently a service manual for it on
formatting link
but you have to pay for those, and I don't know how much information it goes into.

Cheers, Adam.

Reply to
Adam Nielsen

Most likely, the BIOS is in a write-protected region of Flash, which might be at any physical address and mapped into normal BIOS space. It would not make economic sense to build the board with seperate ROM, since most PCs are built with flash BIOS anyway.

Good Luck

Reply to
Stephen D

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