Fixing a 386SX laptop

Sir, thank you for your genuine intention to help me. I think I found a better link: http://www.laptopsolutions.net/lcd_backlights.htm Since a custom order would still mean I have to assemble it, these guys are probably the answer. You send the laptop, they replace it for you for a flat fee and you're off. I wouldn't know if they serve customers outside the UK (Birmingham is their city of residence). Trouble is, I can't afford an international call to hear them say yes or no. Beside that, I really really really want someone to look into the machine and tell me if a custom RAM card can be made. The thing comes with 2 MB onboard (4 chips, apparently 4x512 KB) and it has a custom RAM upgrade card...which of course, can't be found anywhere on the whole Internet. I found these guys Googling for a memory expansion card for the Zenith Mastersport 386SX. That laptop was apparently VERY well-known while this one, being a simple clone, wasn't. This is where I found them: http://www.laptopsolutions.net/images4/page16.html Now, the laptop also has a custom connector for a 2400bps modem that it could host. Being a 386SX, it is most definitely 8-bit ISA or 16-bit ISA (but really nonstandard). I think it has 25 pins or so (not sure, quoting except ISA? As far as I know, PCI can only be implemented starting with a 386 DX so it's definitely not PCI. I refuse to believe that there aren't any people left in this world able to design and manufacture a custom PCB. One for the memory expansion (and not necessarily with 2 MB on it, it can have more - the 386SX I heard can access up to 16 MB, just like the 286, while the leap to 4 GB was achieved with the 386DX) and one for something else. Not a modem. I could attach an external modem to it just fine (oh yes, I'm a guy who wants his computers with modems if possible) if only it had two serial ports (because the other is needed for the mouse). But then again, there are USB modems. And then there's this little device: http://www.epapersign.com/LPT-to-USB/parallel-to-usb-connector/ Yeah, I know, they say it's only for printers but I wouldn't give up that fast. I'd get one and try everything USB I have: memory sticks, mice, whatever. Including one of those cheap USB sound card sold for 10$ or so. Just see if Win '9x requests drivers after doing a deep scan for non-pnp hardware. Anyway, getting back to what I would want on that custom slot that might or might not be a weird ISA slot: an ethernet controller so that I can connect the laptop to the Internet easier. I'm pretty sure 10 Mbps, the original Ethernet, kinda means 16-bit ISA so if it's 8-bit it might even not function correctly. You see, all these modifications would require the knowledge of a real computer elder who really knows what he's doing. It goes far beyond fixing the screen. Yeah, I'd buy a lamp for my screen but have it replaced by someone who can do it without messing up. Someone who can make a PCB and put 14 MB of RAM on it (I think I remember that the onboard RAM chips use multiplexing - whatever that is - because they have 10 pins each, but the number of pins used by the memory card is 18 - not sure - and that's the correct amount of pins to use for non-multiplexed chips) instead of just two. Someone who can hardware hack an old ISA Ethernet card to work on that infamous connector of mine, if that is even possible. In short, making this machine usable today. That's what I love to do most. I specifically bought a Pentium Overdrive 83 MHz (and I have a Socket 3 motherboard) so that I could have the fastest CPU in the lowest generation that supports Windows XP. Never even managed to install it yet. But I will, some time. Sounds way out there ? I wouldn't know, I jumped when I saw the SIIG SC-UNS012. I bought two of them. I never thought that's ever possible. It is. The SATA controller on that card (Silicon Image 3112) is reported by Everest that it can also support 66 MHz operation. Thus, the controller now resides on one of my PCI-X slots. Ah, enough with my complaints. Thanks a lot for the help. On Fri, Oct 9, 2009 at 5:43 PM, Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> wrote: