19 Sep
1998
19 Sep
'98
4:24 p.m.
Tony Duell wrote:
Thanks for the very helpful information Tony. I would like a copy of
the shematic if you can swing it!
--Alan
--
Computing since: 1982, VIC-20, CoCo, PC, CP/M
Amateur Radio since: 1971, WN8JEF, KA6EXR, N8BGR, AA4ZI
BASIC, dBASE, Assembly, C++
<A
HREF="http://www.bright.net/~oajones">http://www.bright.net/~o…
Recently I bought 2 IBM 5170's (PC/AT) for 6 bucks. I bought these
machines to add to my collection. Both of them say this when I boot up:
"162 - System Options Not Set - (Run SETUP)"
That normally means that something has changed since the CMOS RAM was
configured.
Both of them have a 512k System board. One only
shows 256K of memory
during memory test and the other one shows 512K but has a parity error.
Which version of the system board do you have? The older one has 36 RAM
chips, each one being a 128K*1 device (actually made from 2 DIPs soldered
together). The later one has 18 256K*1 bit devices on it. I have
schematics, etc for both boards.
The partiy error sounds like a RAM chip failing. Try reseating them, and
if it's the later version, try replacing the RAMs one at a time with
known-good ones. 256K*1 DRAMs are pretty easy to get, and the ones on the
system board are socketed.
Is there any dip switches on the motherboard, and
is SETUP a software
There are 2 switch-things on the system board (unless you count the
little 8-pin DIP postion behind the expansion slots that can be used to
fiddle with the ROM addressing).
One is a slide switch next to the power connector. In one position the
board is set up for an MDA display. The other way for a CGA one. I can't
remember which is which, but if you get it wrong, all that happens is
that it fails the POST and beeps. Flip the switch and try again.
The other is a jumper (J18) to the left of the speaker connector at the
front). This selects between 256K and 512K for RAM on the system board.
Check this is set the same way on both your boards.
program?
Yes, SETUP is the program used to load the parameters into the CMOS RAM.
Unlike most modern PCs, this is not in ROM, but has to be loaded from
disk. There's a free clone (with source, I think) on Simtel somewhere. If
the parameters have got scrambled, then about the only thing it can boot
from is a 5.25" drive as A:
-tony