trouble with old 486

[Francois]

Hi,

I just removed my old 486 from the closet to install debian. There was a
message about a low battery and bios needing something (?) so I went in the
bios and set the default and save the configuration.

It seem it was a mistake...
Now, when the computer boot, I have this message:

cmos memory size mismatch
run setup utility
press <f1> to resume


when I press f1 i get:

on board parity error
addr (hex) = (0000: 000a)
system halted

and nothing

when the computer boot, it write:

press <del> to run setup

I tryed but it dosen't work, I also tryed f1, with no luck

The bios battery is welded, so I removed the bios chip (it is written AMI on
it) and ground all the legs trying to reset it, but again without any luck.

the computer is a clone, 486 33 mhz with 16 megs of ram.

Thanks for any suggestion

Frank

 

[JT]

Hi,

I just removed my old 486 from the closet to install debian. There was a
message about a low battery and bios needing something (?) so I went in the
bios and set the default and save the configuration.

It seem it was a mistake...
Now, when the computer boot, I have this message:

cmos memory size mismatch
run setup utility
press <f1> to resume

needs a new battery.

when I press f1 i get:

on board parity error
addr (hex) = (0000: 000a)
system halted

could also be a ram problem.

and nothing

when the computer boot, it write:

press <del> to run setup

I tryed but it dosen't work, I also tryed f1, with no luck

The bios battery is welded, so I removed the bios chip (it is written AMI on
it) and ground all the legs trying to reset it, but again without any luck.

What do you mean by "Welded"? Is it a barrel type battery soldered on the
board? If so, most of those were rechargeable batteries. Try leaving it on
for a while. They also normally had a 4 pin connector close to the onboard
battery for an external battery. The BIOS chip is not where the settings
are stored (even though they are the bios setup settings). The CMOS ram was
part of the chipset even back in the 486 days. Removing the BIOS EEPROM and
shorting it will have no effect.

the computer is a clone, 486 33 mhz with 16 megs of ram.

Thanks for any suggestion

Frank

Don't spend too much time fighting with this old system.

JT

 

[Francois]

Don't spend too much time fighting with this old system.

JT

I just removed the ram and replace half of it and every thing is almost back
to normal.

Being 2:30 am, I will go to bed and try to find the bad ram tomorrow.

My theory is that when I set the bios to default, wich certainly include
parity check (and it was not included in the old setting) the bad ram became
a trouble maker. Of course, this is just my theory, wich can be wrong since
I don't know much....

I know I should not spend too much time on this 10$ computer but I used to
run RH on a even older 386 that act as a firewall and cable modem router
perfectly for years, and I'm pretty sure this one can do the same.

Thanks for your input

regards,

Frank

 

[philo]

Hi,

I just removed my old 486 from the closet to install debian. There was a
message about a low battery and bios needing something (?) so I went in the
bios and set the default and save the configuration.

all you have to do is unsolder the old battery...
you can replace it with almost any battery that's 3 - 5 volts

 

[John]

all you have to do is unsolder the old battery...
you can replace it with almost any battery that's 3 - 5 volts

Hey do those blow up with excessive heat? Well they are kind of dinky
so I guess it wouldnt be that big of a pop.

I was reading a bizarre story about a guy who was using his cell phone
and it exploded. They think there might have been some cheapo
counterfeit batteries in it.

 

[Ayaz Ahmed Khan]

"Francois" typed:

"JT" typed:

[...]
Don't spend too much time fighting with this old system.

[...]
I know I should not spend too much time on this 10$ computer but I
used to run RH on a even older 386 that act as a firewall and cable
modem router perfectly for years, and I'm pretty sure this one can
do the same.

I wish I had an old system to experiment different distributions on.

 

[kony]

Hey do those blow up with excessive heat? Well they are kind of dinky
so I guess it wouldnt be that big of a pop.

They are sealed but if properly designed should vent, hopefully in a safe
manner. Dinky may not be an issue though if it explodes in your eyes.
Desoldering (done right/normally) won't heat it up enough to
explode/vent it.

I was reading a bizarre story about a guy who was using his cell phone
and it exploded. They think there might have been some cheapo
counterfeit batteries in it.

.... don't stick hot exloding batteries next to your ear?
There is a danger of rapid charging batteries without thermal cutoff or
wrong charger but an overly charged battery has a lot more heat energy in
it than you'd add by desoldering.

 

[George]

I wish I had an old system to experiment different distributions on.

I'm surprised you can't get something like this for free. Even the schools
won't take a system that old (or a Pentium, Pentium II, Pentium PRO, or
Pentium III). I just recently had to "resurrect" an old system that was
having some problems w/o spending much money...I managed to buy a new MB,
w/1.2GHz CPU, on board LAN, VIDEO, and SOUND and it came to a whopping $10
after rebate (it is a P3 class MB with a VIA processor).

 

[Ayaz Ahmed Khan]

"George" typed:

I'm surprised you can't get something like this for free. Even the
schools won't take a system that old (or a Pentium, Pentium II,
Pentium PRO, or Pentium III). I just recently had to "resurrect" an
old system that was having some problems w/o spending much money...I
managed to buy a new MB, w/1.2GHz CPU, on board LAN, VIDEO, and
SOUND and it came to a whopping $10 after rebate (it is a P3 class
MB with a VIA processor).

Hardware is still moderately expensive here. I bought, for example, a
40-Gb Seagate's Barracuda hard-disk after grinding for over four
years a small 4-Gb Fujitsu one, which has been booting two OSs on it.

I bought my first PC, a Pentium-I, some seven years ago. Since then,
I have upgraded it only once, and only to a Pentium-III, 700Mhz
Celeron. I can do almost everything on this system and don't forsee
an upgrade any sooner, nor require one. It boots three OSs: Mandrake
9.0, Slackware 9.0, and WinXP. I'll be removing the latter very soon,
and will probably replace it with either Mandrake 9.2 or Debain.

Anyway. Had to cast it off my chest.

 

[~misfit~]

"George" typed:



Hardware is still moderately expensive here. I bought, for example, a
40-Gb Seagate's Barracuda hard-disk after grinding for over four
years a small 4-Gb Fujitsu one, which has been booting two OSs on it.

I bought my first PC, a Pentium-I, some seven years ago. Since then,
I have upgraded it only once, and only to a Pentium-III, 700Mhz
Celeron. I can do almost everything on this system and don't forsee
an upgrade any sooner, nor require one. It boots three OSs: Mandrake
9.0, Slackware 9.0, and WinXP. I'll be removing the latter very soon,
and will probably replace it with either Mandrake 9.2 or Debain.

Isn't Mandrake 10 out?

 

[George]

Hardware is still moderately expensive here. I bought, for example, a
40-Gb Seagate's Barracuda hard-disk after grinding for over four
years a small 4-Gb Fujitsu one, which has been booting two OSs on it.

Point well taken. I DID forget to enquire where you are and I have noticed
that even in England prices are about double what I can buy things for.
What a shame that it winds up being landfill here when it is still usable to
somebody somewhere.

George

 

[Ayaz Ahmed Khan]

"~misfit~" typed:

[...]

Hardware is still moderately expensive here. I bought, for example,
a 40-Gb Seagate's Barracuda hard-disk after grinding for over four
years a small 4-Gb Fujitsu one, which has been booting two OSs on
it.

I bought my first PC, a Pentium-I, some seven years ago. Since
then, I have upgraded it only once, and only to a Pentium-III,
700Mhz Celeron. I can do almost everything on this system and don't
forsee an upgrade any sooner, nor require one. It boots three OSs:
Mandrake 9.0, Slackware 9.0, and WinXP. I'll be removing the latter
very soon, and will probably replace it with either Mandrake 9.2 or
Debain.

Isn't Mandrake 10 out?

Yes. But support for PCTel's winmodem drivers is still experimental
in the Linux 2.6 kernel. Any my only means to get to the Internet is
through an on-board PCTel AMR winmodem.

 

[Ayaz Ahmed Khan]

"George" typed:

Point well taken. I DID forget to enquire where you are and I have
noticed that even in England prices are about double what I can buy
things for. What a shame that it winds up being landfill here when
it is still usable to somebody somewhere.

True. I'm in Karachi, Pakistan.

 

[~misfit~]

"~misfit~" typed:

[...]
Hardware is still moderately expensive here. I bought, for example,
a 40-Gb Seagate's Barracuda hard-disk after grinding for over four
years a small 4-Gb Fujitsu one, which has been booting two OSs on
it.

I bought my first PC, a Pentium-I, some seven years ago. Since
then, I have upgraded it only once, and only to a Pentium-III,
700Mhz Celeron. I can do almost everything on this system and don't
forsee an upgrade any sooner, nor require one. It boots three OSs:
Mandrake 9.0, Slackware 9.0, and WinXP. I'll be removing the latter
very soon, and will probably replace it with either Mandrake 9.2 or
Debain.

Isn't Mandrake 10 out?

Yes. But support for PCTel's winmodem drivers is still experimental
in the Linux 2.6 kernel.

Thank you, I didn't know that.

Any my only means to get to the Internet is
through an on-board PCTel AMR winmodem.

That's a shame, I *do* like hardware modems.

Good luck with your original problem.