Jumper settings for "IDE plus v4" MultiIO card from Kentech Computer ==================================================================== Introduction ------------ Recently I had a need to deduce the jumper usage of an "IDE plus v4" multiIO card. The FCC ID number indicated the manufacturer was Kentech Computer (HK) Ltd. With no workable website available I set about discovering the jumper functionality. The card bears the following identifications: Card FCC ID: KJDKEN-IDEPLUSV4 Manufacturer: Kentech Computer (HK) Ltd Chips onboard: LGS Prime 3B 9536 (100-pin rectangular) LGS-9538 (20-pin dip) 2x LGS-9633 (20-pin dip) Made in: China Other markings: ESIO, European CE mark, "9638" displayed in "7-segment LED" font above an LGS-9638 chip The indications on the circuit board are that the Prime "3A" and "3B" variants are pin-for-pin compatible. There appears to be very little information on the web regarding the Prime 3B multiIO chip, so I took the opportunity to trace out the jumpers to the relevant control pins on the Prime 3B. This information should make it fairly easy for people with other cards based on the Prime 3B to work out their jumper assignments. ** Important note: this document is now outdated. On 7 June 2001 I received some information from someone who had the manual for this card. Consequently, many of the remaining mysteries were solved. Please go to https://www.just42.net/jwoithe/prime3b/ for the most up-to-date version of this document. Jumper use on the Kentech Computer MultiIO card ----------------------------------------------- The general layout of this board is as follows: __ | |G |G |G | ______________________________________| | JJJJJJJ FFFFFFFFFFFF gggg SSSS ssss | | |P | LLLLLL xxxxx rrrrrr |P | xxxxx DDDDDD |P | iii xxxxx |P | IIIIIIIIIIII iii |P | qq ___ Qddd ___| |CCCCCCCCCCC AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA | AA...AA = 8 bit ISA connector CC...CC = 16 bit ISA extension connector GGG = games port (15 pin D female connector) PPPP = printer port (25 pin female D connector) JJ...JJ = JP1 - JP12 FF...FF = pins for floppy disk cable gggg = pins for game controller cable SSSS = pins for serial port 1 cable ssss = pins for serial port 2 cable ddd = DMA selection jumpers II...II = IDE cable connector xx...xx = Prime 3B chip ii...ii = IRQ selection jumpers LL...LL = LGS-9638 DIP chip rr...rr = LGS-9633 RS232 driver chip for serial port 2 DD...DD = LGS-9633 RS232 driver chip for serial port 1 qq = JP25 Q = JP26 JP1: Game port (enable/disable) [note 1] 1-2 = enable 2-3 = disable JP2: Printer port select 1-2 = 0x378 (LPT1) 2-3 = 0x278 (LPT2) JP3: Floppy control pin (port selector?) [note 2] 1-2 = 0x3F0 (primary port) 2-3 = 0x370 (secondary port) JP4: IDE control pin (port selector?) [note 3] 1-2 = 0x1F8 (primary) 2-3 = 0x178 (secondary) JP5: Floppy control pin (enable/disable?) [note 2] 1-2 = enable 2-3 = disable JP6: IDE control pin (enable/disable?) [note 3] 1-2 = enable 2-3 = disable JP7: Printer port enable 1-2 = enable 2-3 = disable JP8: Game port (address?) [note 1] 1-2 = 0x201 2-3 = JP9: Serial port 1 enable 1-2 = enable 2-3 = disable JP10: Serial port 2 enable 1-2 = enable 2-3 = disable JP11: Serial port 1 adddress 1-2 = 0x3F8 (com1) 2-3 = 0x2E8 (com3) JP12: Serial port 2 address 1-2 = 0x3E8 (com2) 2-3 = 0x2E8 (com4) JP25: IDE IRQ 1-2 = IRQ 14 2-3 = IRQ 15 Notes: 1) JP1 and JP8 were not verified to control the games port - it was just the only thing left without any configuration pins. The enable/disable guess is based on the way JP1 is connected - see below. Note that not every IO card has a selectable IO port for the game adapter, but in this case it seems to be the only reasonable thing left for JP8. 2) JP3 and JP5 both affect the floppy controller. A primary controller is not found if either of these are set to pins 2-3. Time did not permit a determination of which jumper is really the port selector. This could be done in the field with little hassle. 3) JP4 and JP6 both control the IDE controller. A primary IDE controller is not found if either of these are set to pins 2-3. Time did not permit a determination of the exact function of each pin, but this could be done in the field without too many problems. Chip functions -------------- The LGS-9633 are RS232 driver chips, one per port. The LGS-9538 appears to handle the games port and perhaps takes a minor roll in the IDE port implementation. The LGS-Prime3B seems to handle the address decoding, FDD control, most of the IDE functionality, RS232 control and the printer port. The "LGS" chips perportedly come from LGE (LG electronics). LGE were formerly Goldstar. For this reason, the "Prime 2" chips for MultiIO cards were from Goldstar whereas the "Prime 3" and "Prime 4" chips are from LGE. Pin use on the LGS-Prime3B / LGS-9538 ------------------------------------- Using a multimeter, the following pin assignments on the LGS-Prime3 (and its companion, the LGS-9538) were discovered. This information could be used to deduce the jumper settings of other Prime3B-based cards. On the card at hand, JP2-12 had pin 1 tied to +5V and pin 3 tied to ground. Pin 2 went to the LGS-Prime3B chip. JP1 is dealt with below. The JPs in the following table refer to this card; use this to cross reference the effects of +5V and ground on these pins. Function JP IC pin ------------------------------------------------- Printer port select 2 Prime 3B #24 via discrete 4k7 resistor FDD (port select?) 3 Prime 3B #91 via 4k7 resistor IDE (port select?) 4 Prime 3B #92 via 4k7 resistor FDD (enable?) 5 Prime 3B #49 via 4k7 resistor IDE (enable?) 6 Prime 3B #50 via 4k7 resistor Printer port enable 7 Prime 3B #60 via 4k7 resistor Game port (address?) 8 Prime 3B #57 via 4k7 resistor Serial port 1 enable 9 Prime 3B #59 via 4k7 resistor Serial port 2 enable 10 Prime 3B #51 via 4k7 resistor Serial port 1 address 11 Prime 3B #64 via 4k7 resistor Serial port 2 address 12 Prime 3B #63 via 4k7 resistor JP1 (game port enable?) appears to be connected somewhat strangely: JP1 Pin 1 -> Prime 3B pin #24 JP1 pin 2 -> 9538 pin #2 JP1 pin 3 -> +5V Based on this, it seems unlikely that this is switching the game port address since the 9538 (whose pin is switched with this jumper) does not do any address decoding. Thus it is concluded that JP1 is probably "game port enable", with JP8 possibly controlling the game port address. For JP25, pin 1 was tied directly to pin C7 on the ISA bus while pin 3 was connected directly to pin C6 on the ISA bus. Interrupts for the 2 serial ports and the printer port were selectable on this card between IRQs 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9. A jumper block matrix was used to switch the relevant pins from the Prime 3B to the ISA interrupt lines. Probing around this matrix revealed the Prime 3B pins used for this functionality. Function Prime 3B pin # IRQ ISA pin # ------------------------------------- --------------- Serial port 1 IRQ 53 3 B25 Serial port 2 IRQ 62 4 B24 Printer port IRQ 43 5 B23 7 B21 9 B4 DMA usage for the FDD controller was selected with another block of jumpers, allowing a choice between DMA channels 0, 1 and 3. Two jumpers were required, one switching the DRQ to the Prime 3B, and the other taking care of the DAQ (DMA acknowledge). Once again, the Prime 3B pins used for this functionality were deducable: Function Prime 3B pin # DMA ISA req pin ISA ack pin ------------------------------------- ----------------------------- FDD DMA request line 98 0 D9 D8 FDD DMA ack line 95 1 B18 B17 3 B16 B15 A final "jumper" was labeled JP26. This had been soldered 1-2. Pin 1 was connected to ISA pin A21 which is the SA10 line (address bit 10). Pin 2 went to Prime 3B pin #96 and pin 3 was tied ground. Pin #96 on the Prime 3B obviously enables something when asserted and JP26 is used to select whether this is controlled by the SA10 address line or permanently held low. The actual purpose of this control line on the Prime 3B is at this point unknown. The control lines for the LGS-9633 connected to Serial port 1 are located somewhere between pins 31 and 50 of the Prime 3B. For serial port 2, the drive lines are somewhere between Prime 3B pins 50 and 65. This vague information should allow serial port 1 and 2 to be identified. Conclusion ---------- I hope that by making this information freely available, one more family of MultiIO cards might be more fully documented on the web. Although these cards are now obsolete, they are very cheap to buy (often free) and are still quite handy if an extra printer port is required in a PC with ISA slots. If anyone has further information to add to this document, please email me (jwoithe at this domain). Jonathan Woithe 13 March 2001 Revised 29 August 2001