Identifying a chip?

[CTho9305]

I found a board that I would *guess* is some sort of single-board computer, because I see chips with markings that seem like RAM, and an EEPROM. The chip I want to identify is in a socket where teh pins are on four sidesand they kinda wrap around. There are no markings on the top, but on the bottom it says:
TI-1217
015115
HONG KONG

Google doesn't seem to come back with useful results. How can I find out what this board is?

edit: markings on the back of the board:
MoDAM SE030 REV C
(c) 1989 MEMORY PLUS

 

[dejitaru]

Check the manufacturer's website.

 

[Peter]

Show a closeup photo of the entire board.

 

[blahblah99]

I'm guessing the first set of numbers are the actual product information/ID, the second set is the date code, and the "Hong Kong" is origin of production. How many pins does it have? Is it a PLCC type of chip?

 

[ResidentIdiot]

The "TI" of the product code signifies a texas instruments part. You could try their website to identify that chip at least.

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: Peter
Show a closeup photo of the entire board.

pics (sorry about the quality - i had to borrow a friend's digicam and he took them )

 

[heliomphalodon]

I'm guessing that it's not an SBC at all, but rather some kind of D/A or A/D converter card for perhaps a VME bus system.
Surely someone can do better...

 

[Yomicron]

The presence of an EEPROM suggests it could be a NuBus card, how many pins does the connecter have?

I'm not sure what the card would do though. The 4 NEC chips are VRAM and the larger TI chip is most likely some sort of DSP.


What is that thing at the upper left of the card? is it a chip or a connector of some sort? could you provide a close of shot of it?

 

[Peter]

* It's too short for a VMEbus card.
* There's not enough stuff on it for an SBC.
* OK, it has RAM, a firmware EEPROM and some obscure TI chip (TI web site knows zip about a 1217). Or is that T1?

My guess it's some proprietary DSP coprocessor card for whatever system it came from. The mounting holes on the upper end suggest that.

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: Yomicron
What is that thing at the upper left of the card? is it a chip or a connector of some sort? could you provide a close of shot of it?

Yeah, it is a wide, thin connector. Doesn't look like this thing is very useful . Anyone want it? Otherwise it's going in the trash where it came from

 

[Demon-Xanth]

The markings on the bottom are usually for the manufacturer's convinence and are typically just lot info. Often companies will remove the information from the top of the board to reduce the chance of hacks, reverse engineering, or knock offs. It's quite common in cable boxes.

 

[Peter]

*large lightbulb appears over head*

RAM, firmware ROM, some unidentifed chip, a crystal oscillator, and a header connector? On second thought, that definitely looks like a display card! What's the frequency on the crystal?

 

[Peter]

Next step would be to pull the ROM chip, read it out and try to make sense of the contents

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: Peter
*large lightbulb appears over head*

RAM, firmware ROM, some unidentifed chip, a crystal oscillator, and a header connector? On second thought, that definitely looks like a display card! What's the frequency on the crystal?

44.9MHz