Hi,

I recently got hold of an Internet TV set top box, and I was wondering
whether anyone here might have some more detailed info it - ideally I'd
like to convert it into a cut-down PC, as it seems like this might not
be too hard.

The board itself runs an Intel 80486DX4/100, and generally seems to use
standard PC hardware, all onboard:

- SMSC FDC37C665GT (SuperIO)
- OPTi 82C802GA (Northbridge?)
- OPTi 82C602A (RTC/companion chip?)
- OPTi 82C931 (Audio)
- Davicom DM9008F (LAN)
- IGS CyberPro 2010 (VGA + TV out)
- Philips SAA 7111A (TV in)

It has 16MB RAM (1x 72 pin) and 8MB Flash (also 72pin, in the second RAM
slot.) The operating system was written by Neon Technologies.

When it boots up it displays the video card banner in standard PC text
mode, and then loads the OS from the flash chip. If I remove the flash
chip, it just resets at the point where the OS normally loads. The
flash chip is an Intel DA28F640J5, soldered onto an otherwise blank
72-pin RAM stick. I'm guessing I'll have to flash something else onto
the chip, however I'm not sure how to go about this - or even whether
the chip will work in a 72-pin slot on a normal PC (and since a lot of
PCs zero the memory at startup, whether this will erase the flash chip.)

Anyway, if anyone recognises this board or has any info, please let me
know.

Thanks,
Adam.

Adam Nielsen wrote:
I expect there must be another ROM somewhere. The standard PC won't
even jump to the video ROM unless it first executes the BIOS. Once the
BIOS has done the self check it searches for other device boot ROMs such
as the video ROM. So if it is displaying the video banner it is running
the BIOS. I expect the Flash module you found is equivalent to a hard
drive and holds the OS and the app, but the BIOS is separate.

--

Rick "rickman" Collins

rick.collins@XYarius.com
Ignore the reply address. To email me use the above address with the XY
removed.

Arius - A Signal Processing Solutions Company
Specializing in DSP and FPGA design URL http://www.arius.com
4 King Ave 301-682-7772 Voice
Frederick, MD 21701-3110 301-682-7666 FAX

Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking - *just* before the OS boots (or
just before it resets if there's no flash) the num/caps/scroll lock LEDs
work too, so there's definitely a separate BIOS in there - only problem
is, I can't find it ;-) There doesn't seem to be any other flash chips
on board, or any sort of dual high/low BIOS chips like the old AT
motherboards used to have.

I have found a little more about the box though, it appears to be a Neon
Technologies NTV-1000, and www.neontech.com no longer exists :-( One
person apparently *almost* got the board network booting a Linux kernel,
so hopefully he can shed a bit more light onto this as well! There is
apparently a service manual for it on www.service-manuals.net but you
have to pay for those, and I don't know how much information it goes
into.

Cheers,
Adam.

Adam Nielsen wrote:

Most likely, the BIOS is in a write-protected region of Flash, which
might be at any physical address and mapped into normal BIOS space. It
would not make economic sense to build the board with seperate ROM,
since most PCs are built with flash BIOS anyway.

Good Luck