Hello, Charles.

 CA> How do we determine what 'chipset' we have, assuming we get
 CA> this stuff used with no schematics etc. to go by? Are there
 CA> markings on the chips themselves, a utility that will report
 CA> this information, or ???

I see RJT has already written about Intel FX and VX chipsets - markings
on those chips are usually painted white. The HX and TX chipsets are
much harder to read - small letters just engraved into top of the black
material of the top of the chip.  Same with the Intel chipsets for
Celeron, PII and PIII boards - very hard to read, and even with a bare
board, I have to use a mag glass and hold the board at just the right
angle in the light in order to read them.

For a board which gets video but won't boot, there is usually a clue in
the "Bios String" which appears onscreen during POST.  There is info on
reading those in websites like WimsBIOS page.  I hardly ever use that
method.

For a board which will boot,  the freeware utility CTBIOS.EXE will
report back on the chipset.  For example, it tells me that this machine
I'm using now has an ALADDIN5 chipset.  That's the utility I use the
most for "unidentified" mainboards, since it usually will tell who made
the board, and often even suggests a manufacturer's URL to go to for
starting to look up manuals, jumper info, drivers and etc.

Good luck - - -  JimH.



... "Bother!" said Pooh, as his system wouldn't get video.
--- MultiMail/MS-DOS v0.32