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Home / WebSurfer Areas / WebSurfer Technical Stuff Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? Please share information about using both the ISA and PCI slots at once.

Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) PiGod Is it only a hardware issue in that two cards can't both fit at the same time or is it a BIOS/software problem that both slots can't be active at the same time? Is there such thing as an adapter that would plug into the ISA or PCI and then allow you to plug a card into it, but would provide spacing between the slots? Here's a diagram: |_ |_ | |_ Where the two leftmost "-" are the slots and the "|_" is the proposed adapter. Obviously one of the cards wouldn't mate nicely with the back of the unit, but if one is just an IDE controller, you don't need to have it fit nicely. 04-28-2000 13:53:38

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) PiGod Here is some added info I found: http://x42.deja.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=604092140&search=thread&CONTEXT=956955531.1778253872&HIT_CONTEXT=956955291.1775370242&HIT_NUM=26&hitnum=13 Someone else, by removing the back plane, managed to get two cards to physically fit and they did work. =) 04-28-2000 14:00:17

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) tanker Do you think you can use an ISA riser card? I have an old one that has 3 ISA slots. Anyone try? Just picked up a WS today and will pull this baby apart tonight. I'll let you know how it works out. Later........ 04-28-2000 14:06:36

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) PiGod Now there's an idea. Of course, if you do that, you won't be able to put the case on, but that's another issue altogether. :) And you'll probably only be able to use 2 or 1 of the slots on the riser if it is the type that makes the cards go perpendicular to the original slot. The ones I've seen have 1 on one side and 2 on the other side. Whichever side is pointing towards the bottom of the machine (toward the motherboard) won't be usable. Good idea. Let us know how it works! 04-28-2000 15:08:44

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) Rick Hmm, I was thinking about this. I could remove the unneaded back plane of my PCI IDE controler and then put in an ISA NIC. But which is better, an ISA NIC or a USB Ethernet Adapter. USB uses CPU resources and ISA operates at 8Mhz. I want to give as much CPU to MP3 as possible. All my MP3's will reside on a network drive. I wish I had the resources to do SMD stuff and get that on-board IDE going so I could use a PCI NIC. --Rick 04-28-2000 15:10:37

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) PiGod Unless you are trying to do 100Mbits/sec, ISA should be fine. Heck, if you don't have anything else on the ISA bus, it should be able to do about 50MBits/sec, realistically. 04-28-2000 15:39:08

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) Tanker Well pulled the WS apart and tried to fit the riser card in but "No Go". The slot on the MB will not work with a standard ISA card. It seems to be floped. But the ISA riser will work in the ISA/PCI riser card that came with the unit. But that would put the ISA cards well out side the case. Has anyone tried a PCI vid card? still trying to work my way through all the posts. This is my first day on the WS quest. Trying to split time between this and my IO. :) Later...... 04-28-2000 16:02:42

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) PiGod Just to recap.... I think the best way to get the most out of this is to get onboard IDE and networking working and then you have two slots (one ISA and one PCI) *IF* one of the cards doesn't need a backplane. Of course, you can do a lot with USB, but that is sometimes more expensive and will take some of the cpu away. The answer to that is to overclock to 233 or try another Cyrix chip at a faster clock speed. I'm wondering whether the people who have been having MP3 problems are running their hard drives in compatibility mode in Windows? Well, before I get too far off topic, I'll quit. :) But before I do that, just what kinds of tools are really needed to do this type of soldering/populating??? I apologize if this is covered elsewhere, but I couldn't find it. I'd like a list of tools needed in order to do this type of work. 04-28-2000 16:13:13

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) Rick Ok, I tried using an ISA NIC and PCI IDE together and it didn't work. I used a Promise Ultra DMA/66 PCI IDE controler with the back plane removed and an ISA 3com 3c509b-TPO 10Bt ethernet card. The board didn't detect the PCI card, so it didn't boot. When I remove the ISA card it boots fine. A quick note to Tanker, it does take standard ISA cards. It's the slots that is pointing right instead of left. If you turned your computer upside down, the cards would be oriented the same as the WebSurfer. --Rick 04-28-2000 16:21:25

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) Enrico_Suave So what's the consensus on this???? Can you have a PCI card (IDE)(no backplane) and an ISA card (modem that comes with it for example) in at the same time (assuming no irq/etc conflicts)>???? I have a ton of ISA (okay 2) HD controller cards, but I want to still use the cheezy 56K modem in the device... Have any thoughts? (short of redoing the default IDE connector.. my solder skills stink.. i always make "cold" bad solder joints =P) Any feedback is appreciated! Enrico_Suave 04-29-2000 08:07:36

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) Rick I wasn't able to do it and I would imagine that the PCI and ISA slots share something to keep you from using both. The article that PiGod points us to is about an Abit motherboard, not a Websurfer. Under normal achitecture you should be able to use both slots in a shared space, but I think they were cutting corners with the websurfer. --Rick 04-29-2000 08:27:51

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) beavis I had old acer aspire that used a back plane that had 3pci 2isa slots that would end up horizontal when installed on a w/s,think i should be and indian giver and take it back from my mother in law hehehe nah I'll just searh surplus stores (chicken, afraid of both) 04-29-2000 09:14:45

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) Enrico_Suave Ack! Thanks Rick... Not the answer I was hopeing for though... I wonder if there is either a: 1. bios setting to enable concurrent pci/isa cards 2. a jumper setting " " " " 3. Some other magic =) In the short term (read low fundage)i'd like to get this working with the included modem and a PCI ide card.. wish there was a way.. Enrico_Suave 04-29-2000 09:36:14

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) PiGod Other threads have indicated that there are IRQ problems with using PCI cards. Try messing around with different combinations of reserving IRQs in the BIOS and see if it works. Of course, there is always a possibility that your PCI card doesn't work at all with this box. You can't test that until you get the onboard IDE working and then try the PCI card by itself. 04-29-2000 10:13:02

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) Enrico_Suave Thanks PiGod (nice nick.. anything to do w/Pi the movie?) The crux of my inquiry is whether anyone as simultaneously/concurrently got ISA and PCI to work... I'm sure I can work my way through the irq/config type issues in the bios as you suggest... But i'd like to know before i plunk down the duckets for a PCI IDE/EIDE/DMA/etc card if anyone has gotten both slots to work at the same time... Otherwise i could pursue different avenues/approaches... Thanks for the reply... Enrico_Suave 04-29-2000 10:25:01

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) PiGod Enrico-Suave: Sorry, my post was for Rick, since he has the hardware to test with. I'm in the same boat you are. :( And yes, the name does derive from the transcendental number. I started using it years ago when a friend and I were into memorizing the number up to as many digits as we could. I have been using it as a nickname for quite a while only because I haven't thought up a new one. :) 04-29-2000 18:19:40

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) spankyboy Profile Enrico, I am typing this reply on my websurfer that has a Promise Ultra33 IDE controller and the original modem that came with the WS. It is working fine. My only problem is when I install the audio drivers, any time a sound plays I get a hard lockup. Still looking for the solution to that one. 04-30-2000 10:37:15

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) Enrico_Suave That's great news! (except for your audio woes) Are there any generic PCI IDE controllers out there to be had =) I had a similiar problem once before (although it may not be relevant) with a crappy 486/100 my friend had... turned out to be a bus hogging issue with a crappy VLB diamond stealth card... YYMV =) i'm shlopping an isa ide card in mine now, and going to use an ancient external (14.4 yech) as a test run/beta setup... anyhow... Enrico_Suave 04-30-2000 12:41:08

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) Rick That is great news. I haven't had time to play with mine much this weekend. I have many other projects due next week. Next chance I get I will stick that isa NIC I want to use into my desktop and play with the settings. It's a 3com 3c509b-TPO and it doesn't have jumpers. I'll try setting it to the IRQ and memory address that the modem was originally set to. This is great, it means I won't have to put on the IDE header and I can have Ultra DMA 66 speed. --Rick 04-30-2000 14:02:23

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) hanky I know where thers a extender box that gives you another ISA and PCI slot for $200. It is on sale at comp USA right now. They call it a WebSurfer. To slots and you just have to use them both. When you get that you will want three. Its a $50 PC for crying out loud. 04-30-2000 14:02:33

RE:Two cards (ISA and PCI) at once???? (modified 0 times) Rick OK, I got it to work. I turned off Plug and Play on my NIC and set it to 300h and IRQ10. Works fine, except the Promise card conflicts with the On Board IDE. I'm able to boot off of it, but I have to use DOS compatability mode. This is not because I'm useing both slots, I had this problem before, just though I'd mention it. Windows dosn't let me change the IRQs on either. And neither does the BIOS, or that new BIOS that someone posted. --Rick 04-30-2000 18:08:05

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