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486DX thinks its a 486SX??

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by terindeb 1 view

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And she don't detect my hard drives. i had her apart practicing on her and now she don't recognize the hard drive or VGA or anything . CMOS set up works but I can't get her out of the A: prompt?? do I have to reinstall all adapters and controller cards and reformat and partition , where do i begin?? or where would you begine?? I am tempted to throw her out but!! wait a minit I am studying to fix these puters and become a systems analyst so I guess i've got to keep a journal and see what I invent aye??
I hope I get some good sugestions , I don't mind help at all!oh and any quick tips on how I can give you the points let me know , I hate having to read the way to do things on these web sites , its takes up so much of my time! I've got better things to learn how to do!
sincerly
Thanks
wanna be hacker!
Deborah

27 replies

by net_vamp

You may want to reset (clear) your CMOS . As far as i know it will help & once it is done - try booting it with just a graphic card, floppy drive& 1 HD.

by net_vamp

if this doest help however - boot up using the configuration mentioned above & specify hard drive detail manually (heads, cylinders..) all the info needed to do this will be written on a sticker located on top of your HD

by terindeb

YOu helped to verify my choices of repair, but I thought about manually putting in the harddrive geometry , its just that the geometry isn't all that clear on my hard drive it gives two sets of geometry ,same heads a sec/tracks but different cyynders, also the way to set master and slave is very unclear.what does a diagram like this mean...
Pk CS DS SP
----------------
-------X--------
----------X----
--X------------
-----X----------

Also you didn't say why she thinks she's a 486S2 instead of what she used to say 486DX maby i made an ajustment with a jumper on the mobo .but they look fine to me.
very good sugestions tho.

by dmiles

Boot the system up and enter the BIOS Control panel and reset the settings
Startby using the start-up disk
1)At a:type in FDISK /MBR
2)Reboot the computer and type in FDISK
3)Select no.4 to view disk info,hit esc
4)Delete the Primary Partition,if their is one if not then you want to proceed to Create the Primary Partition,reboot
5)At a:Format drive,using the drive letter
The cd-rom shaould be in drive,after format then proceed to Set-Up

by tbradley

First, it might help if you post the make/model of the computer. It may not help us with clones ( generic ) computers, but brand name models generally use the same settings which can be looked up easily.

Take her apart one more time. Look closely at the board, and look closely at the Chips. You may very well have a puter that was a SX to begin with, and was upgraded with an overdrive chip to 486DX. Look to see if you have a chip marked sx. Also look to see if there is one with a cooling fan, or heat sink on it. That will be your DX or overdrive chip. Somewhere around them will be a jumper that should be set to DX33/66/etc.

On your hard drive, make sure the jumper on the end between the power plug and the pins is set to MA ( master ) not SA or SL ( slave ). No one uses CS ( cable select ) anymore.

Plug in the ribbon cable with pin 1 towards the power plug, and make sure pin1 is in IDE1 on the board. You can see a tiny number on one corner, or you may see a 40. If all you can find is a 40, pin 1 is on the opposite end. You can tell pin1 on the ribbon cable because it is usually marked with a red or blue stripe.

Do the same for the floppy drive, although you don't have to worry about a jumper setting. Use the end of the ribbon cable that has a twist in it for the floppy end, not the motherboard end.

Make sure your video card and memory is seated. Then, look closely for a jumper that is marked CMOS CLR or something similar. Pull it off, or put it on, as the case may be, and power the system on. Turn it off, and change the jumper back.

If the system has a removeable battery, you can do this also by removing the battery, and let the machine sit for 5-10 minutes.

When you turn the machine on, you should see a message in the upper left hand corner. This will tell you what bios you are using, Award, Phoenix or something similar.

by tbradley

Most bios's will post a message on how to enter the control panel, either the F1 key, del Key, or a sequence like ctrl-alt-esc or ctrl-alt-insert. Certain IBM models you could only get in by holding down a key until a stuck keyboard ( 301 ) error occurs.

BTW, one trick as a last resort to find the key sequence is to boot without the keyboard. This will automatically generate an error message like:

"301 keyboard error""hit f1 to enter setup"

You should normally let the bios autodetectthe hard drive, but you can set the bios manually. On Harddrive1, select user, and put in the Heads, Cylinders, and Sectors per track information that is ususally printed on the hard drive. If it isn't, you can note the model number and manuf of thedrive, and there are many web sites that cross reference all this information. The landing zone and write precomp fields are usually left blank, or filled with a zero.

Some boards allow you to change the processor type in BIOS, so look for this setting.

hope this info helps

by terindeb

This is a 486DX66 Trident computer
BIOS ver. VL4.7. She recognizes both HD , now yea ,but will not boot even with win95 startup Disk, says HDD controller Failure. ,,well she used to say that and after a few retrys turning her on and off she would eventually come up. so I guess I need a new HDD controller card? an older version one for this machine if I can find one. , Hey if I reformat and partition do I need to reinstall Dos 6 then Win 3 then win95?? please this question has been bugging me to death. I don't have Dos6 disks and never did I have win3 disks and a win95 upgrade CD only.
Thanks again gurus
Deborah

by dmiles

The way to get into Bios Control Panel is to boot disk inserted and when the start up screen appears hit the (CNTRL+ALT+ESC)keys,this will open the CMOS control panel.
After formating you will need to use the c: /s command to load system files and to get the cd rom support.If you know the BIOS number,update the bios.The bios will not recognize large hard drives,so this also is your troubles,yet I have gotten a recent 486 to operate.

by terindeb

oh I knew that , its just that they seem to refer to the same thing with different names which makes learning this stuff a little more than confusing, Just down right FRUSTRATING!!!Thanks

by terindeb

Well Gurus...finally @ 7pm she went straight to windows 95! I was noticing the CD-Rom drive light kept staying on so I unplugged her and she booted up! I took the first guys sugestion finally after trying some other things like changing master slave, checking mobo jumpers again, switching master and slave again, I figured she came up before she should again! But she didn't till i unplugged the CD-Rom. She froze on first try tho after i reset the time change hehe. But she came up again, she runs real slow tho, even after i gave her 16 more megs of ram and brought her to 32mgs. I want to backwards install her to Dos6.2 to study that environment! think I should and how would you go about it? i'm thinking I should uninstall all programs , then win 95 to at least win3 where I ciould get back to the Dosshell! How does that grab ya? I'm happy with just a floppy and hard drive for the dos environment for now. Well so far i really feel the first guys sugestion (net-Vamp) to just conect one hard drive and floppy helped the most so far! that FDisk guy was real funny! TBradley helped alot too! Thanks guys wish I could divy out the points but they won't me!
Deborah

by dmiles

You will be able to load the WIN95 operating system,using the unarthodox way of using a Win98 startup disk,it will load the files necessary to install
Use 98 start-up disk
boot the system and go through Fdisk /MBR
now format the drive and reboot after format,then system starts up and when it gets to the prompt insert the Win95 boot disk and the CD-ROM,then type in setup c: and proceed with the installation

by terindeb

I need more info Soulrider, I fi I Fdisk /mbr and format won't I loose all my files? I only have a upgrade version of 95 not a full install! how about going backwards back down to dos 6.2??
thanks
Deborah

by dmiles

Recently had to do a rebuild on a 486DX and this was the procedures that I had to go through that you have expierenced and tried to pass on to you,so the FDISK part was the only way to re-install the operating system,you will lose all files and using Fdisk /mbr clears the boot record.Witheout a full win95 version I donot see you updating the system,I had to buy a upgrade version,just to get the boot disk.Sorry you found Fdisk to be funny but it was an option.
Good Luck

by terindeb

thanks soulrider, its just that , I mentiond I was new at this and good thing i knew better than to do an Fdisk with out a full install to recover from.;I just thought that maby you were taking advantage of that fact to trick me into wiping out my harddisk. something alot of hackers love to do is screw people up. Don't take me wrong, now i know you were just tryibng to help. and a good idea it is! but at this time seeing how I got her up I am going to try and tweek with her and get her running more effiently, She is running slow right now but obeying orders. I don't mind losing all my data I don't need whats in there so maby I'll just go out and a get a full install and Partion this drive. Its never been partioned and I am surprised the PC recognizes her being bigger than 504mb! But the drive is a 2 gig.
I have alot of studying to do , I plan to take the A+ test soon so I wanted to play with dos in its real mode! win 95 has some functions of dos but not all.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
Deborah

by shmaltz

you say she dosnt get out of the A: prompt, remove the floppy from the A: drive and restart the computer.
can you access the HD when it comes to the A: prompt?

by terindeb

well then removing the a:drive would really not bring her up. Ok gurus, problem has been solved by the first responder net_Vamp@hotmail.com because , all I really wanted was to get her up and running and net's solution did the trick. You were all right in your answers but with different outcomes and the one outcome i wanted was to see win95 show up on the screen and it did just by unplugging power to the CD-Rom . She works too but slow..well she is just a 486/DX66 but still says 486sx ... Iam going to reformat now and do a full install of win95! I want to give the points to net_vamp so Net re give a solution so it will be easier to give you your points. I'd love to be able to divy out the points because you had good answers. thanks for taking the time to encourage me along . have a Merry Xmas!
Deborah

by poettone

You are learning the right way my friend, and keep up the good work you future hacking guru. As for me I would suggest that instead of you scrapping win9x altogether, have you thought of a dual boot situation between dos 6.22 and win9x and for that matter even win3.1. Sounds fun doesnt it. It can be done and if you like the shell there are many more sophisticated options. Good luck to ya. P.S you can divy up the points buy selecting all acceptable answers then accepting your choices, it will then divide between all your chosen acceptable answers. GOOD LUCK AGAIN!

by terindeb

Thanks Poettone, Good idea, I'm glad you reminded me I could do that when i partion the drive,
I will remember to try that suggestion for divying up the points but i think its too late to do that now coz I've already marked them unacceptable ,they should have a choice of I'll try that and get back to ya and if it worked then you could give an honest answer of acceptable or not. All of the suggestions were helpfull ...so if you all answer again with a short tip I can accept them all then hope you get some points. I'll wait till Friday to make an acceptable shoice so that you all have a chance I am offering 2000 so thats a lot of points to go around!
Thanks again to all . I really appreciated the time you all took to answer .
Merry Xmas
Deborah

by xj0

go to the manufactorer website and upgrade the bio. did you try another processor?

by terindeb

No I didn't try another processor. she's up and running , but I'm gonna reformat FDISK,partion,do a full install of windows!

by xj0

go to the manufactorer website and upgrade the bio. did you try another processor?

by kgosnell

Something has reset the Bios, Look , I would normally reccomend that you deep six it , but since you want to take the headache course, call around and get a tech willing to show you the Bios setup from Cylinder set , to the Video, as there is no manual going to impart the simple seeing for yourself, and those hackers who are working for a company to stress the local software makeout like bandits , all others get treated like bandits , and unless you are super good , the other hackers will use you to take the fall

by terindeb

Whatch you talking about Willis?
You change the Bios settings in the CMOS setup utility right? She recognizes the hardrives now and boots all the way to win95. You are getting all the tech points ! I asked the others that were helpfull to answer again so i could get the points divied out but they havn't answerd so i am closeing this question with your answer but please email me more on what you were talking about , getting a tech to show me how to change the BIOS from the cylinders to thevideo that didn't make much sense to me. But something tells me , you have alot more on the subject to tell me. Please do, at
terindeb@garlic.com
thanks to all who answerd

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