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What is this thing on my mom's motherboard?

no, that is not an ISA slot. My guess is that it was use in the manufacturing as a test port.

this an ISA slot:

M0040204.jpg
 
That isn't an ISA slot, though. It is an ISA connector. Why does the motherboard itself have a connector instead of a slot?

Edit: For clarification, I know what ISA is. It was pretty much dead at the beginning of my time, but I'm familiar with it. The connector at the bottom of the board, at first glance, does appear to align with the ISA pinout, though I didn't count pins or anything.

If you were talking about the bottom slot on the motherboard and not the connector at the bottom, that isn't an ISA slot. It's a PCI-X slot used for a riser card.
 
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pantsaregood said:
That isn't an ISA slot, though. It is an ISA connector. Why does the motherboard itself have a connector instead of a slot?

Edit: For clarification, I know what ISA is. It was pretty much dead at the beginning of my time, but I'm familiar with it. The connector at the bottom of the board, at first glance, does appear to align with the ISA pinout, though I didn't count pins or anything.

If you were talking about the bottom slot on the motherboard and not the connector at the bottom, that isn't an ISA slot. It's a PCI-X slot used for a riser card.
Click to expand...

I see what you mean now. I have no idea. Maybe some kind of expansion slot riser? I really don't know though
 
I knew that extended slot was a PCI slot of some kind and I figured what you were referring to was the card edge connector on the board. I was just point out that wetomb did not know what he was talking about. it looks like a pci connector. ISA contacts don't look like that, they are wider and have more space between them.
ISA:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/lits/network/ntresnet/isa.jpg

like I suggested, I suspect it was used in the manufacturing process for testing
 
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Probably some form of riser card connector. The motherboard doesn't have the normal number of expansion slots (7 has been the standard for many years). Often, these older slimline motherboards would have a proprietary riser card connector, to allow them to be used with multiple expansion cards.
 
The motherboard does use a riser card. It fits into the PCI-X slot. Seven is the standard number of expansion slots for an ATX motherboard. Six for mATX. If it was intended to fit some sort of riser card, it is in a completely unusable position.

The top PCI slot is also completely unusable. The slot on the back of the computer simply doesn't line up with it.
 
pantsaregood said:
The motherboard does use a riser card. It fits into the PCI-X slot. Seven is the standard number of expansion slots for an ATX motherboard. Six for mATX. If it was intended to fit some sort of riser card, it is in a completely unusable position.

The top PCI slot is also completely unusable. The slot on the back of the computer simply doesn't line up with it.
Click to expand...

If it was a riser card connector, it would be in an unusable position in that case. However, it is likely that the motherboard was designed for use in other types of case (the top PCI slot is unusable in that case).

It may be the case, that that motherboard was designed for use with multiple riser cards in larger cases.
 
It's for expansion when used in other cases, that's all.
I've seen tons of motherboards like this, I had a Compaq form wayback that had a board like this with two extensions on it in a large case.
 
Soundmanred said:
It's for expansion when used in other cases, that's all.
I've seen tons of motherboards like this, I had a Compaq form wayback that had a board like this with two extensions on it in a large case.
Click to expand...

This. I've seen them as well, not with Dell but with Compaq. They'll use the same small motherboard in their SFF systems as well as their bigger towers, the difference being the bigger towers gets a motherboard extension for a few more slots.
 
There is so much potential in this thread with regards to commenting on your mom's ISA slot that I am just going to post this worthless post on my observation, ....and then leave. Here's a bump for you.
 
thats not an isa slot. its an extension port. some HP,s use those. so that they can use a microATX board for both microATX and full ATX cases.

if it sin a full atx case, there isa 2 slot extension card that goes there.
 
hans007 said:
thats not an isa slot. its an extension port. some HP,s use those. so that they can use a microATX board for both microATX and full ATX cases.
Click to expand...

Yep, back in the day when we bought Compaq for our work PCs (ya, I know .. I know) this is how every Compaq came to us. They also had a riser card that plugged in vertically and offered 2+ more ISA slots.

Not quite as weird as some of the Asrock CPU upgrade slots found on some Asrock boards, but nevertheless rather odd in appearance.
 
That really takes me back to 15 years ago. You never knew what you were going to find when opening up someone's Dell, HP, or Compaq. The worst was when slots on the riser cards didn't work properly and you had to somehow find a replacement for it.
 
Mark R said:
If it was a riser card connector, it would be in an unusable position in that case. However, it is likely that the motherboard was designed for use in other types of case (the top PCI slot is unusable in that case).

It may be the case, that that motherboard was designed for use with multiple riser cards in larger cases.
Click to expand...

Some Risers turned the cards 90°
 
pantsaregood said:
This thing is a dinosaur. If you'll look at the bottom of the board, you'll notice it has some kind of expansion slot-ish connector. I have no idea what it is.
Click to expand...
Do you mean the gold contacts/fingers along the edge of the board? Its a PCI extender connector. There is a daughter board that plugs into it and makes it into a full ATX board. The daughter board has (usually) three additional PCI slots (or perhaps other slots such as ISA or PCI-X).
 
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