Ace & Security

Rumor has it that Dwight Elvey may have mentioned these words: Ah... depends on the Dallas device. The two main devices used on (older) motherboards are the 12887 and the 12887A. Anyone care to take a guess as to the difference? The 12887A has a "erase" pin on the package, so even if there are no jumpers on the motherboard to erase the CMOS, you can jumper that pin to ground for a few seconds and Voila! Wiped settings. The reason for the "A"? The 12887 had _no_ pin for erasure, and if you forgot your CMOS password, or your CMOS got jumbled, you're SOL. (That's Surely Outta Luck... ;-) Many of the cheaper motherboard manufacturers soldered that package to the board, as well... meaning if you wanted to use that motherboard, either desolder that chip, install a socket, then put in a 12887A, or wait 10+ years for the battery to die. (even for that, the board's close to useless... once you turn off the 'puter, it'll forget all your CMOS settings.) PDF's of those parts are available from Dallas's website, which IIRC is http://www.dalsemi.com/ HTH, Roger "Merch" Merchberger -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig. If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.