emmo@moncam.co.uk (Dave Emmerson) (01/19/90)
I'm getting pretty frustrated with this d*** Sperry box. Having determined that it has a primary release version BIOS ROM (1.34F) and that later versions supposedly fixed the stupid bugs which are plagueing me now, I've been trying to contact their spares/customer support dept. Telecom gave me 0908 260088 to try. That's the wrong place, but they said try 0707 269911. I've tried (and tried and tried and tried) - nobody answers. Does anyone out there in netland have another number worth trying? PLEASE! I'd be forever in your debt. (== never pay you back). Cheers! Dave E.
SGREEN@umiami.miami.edu (Steven M. Green) (02/23/90)
> Having determined that [my Sperry PC] has a primary release version BIOS ROM > (1.34F) and that later versions supposedly fixed the stupid bugs > which are plagueing me now, I've been trying to contact their > spares/customer support dept. The only phone numbers I have are toll-free (800 prefix numbers) valid only in the USA. I do have some information for you: the correct Sperry part number for the latest BIOS chip set (version number) depends on which version of motherboard you have. I am assuming you actually have the Mitsubishi-built machine since the BIOS number you gave was one of their early ones. First you need to know whether you have what they marketed as the HT (big ugly metal box), IT (much smaller), or micro IT (definitely small foot print). Next, for the HT at least, there are different levels of motherboard, each of which takes different BIOS chips although they have essentially the same BIOS code. Motherboard numbers for the HT include WESY1 [has a little stick-up add-on near the powersupply, 128K], WESY 10 [128K without that doodad], WESY30 or 31 [256K, floppy controller on the motherboard], etc. The respective Sperry part numbers for these for the ver 4.71 Mitsibushi BIOS chip set would be F5083-00, F5083-01, F5083-02, each one slightly different and matching specific WESY #'s only. Unisys has essentially stopped selling directly and these upgrades are handled by sales in the USA, not by service, so try finding their UK distributor and/or a dealer. For your bargaining info, Unisys's price to their distributors is about $30, distributor to dealer about $45, and the retail list is about $100. Incidentally, if you are using Hercules graphics cards or clones, the new BIOS chips introduce all sorts of new video incompatibilities, but they're fine otherwise, especially re. hard disks, COM problems, etc. The latest DOS release for these machines (3.2) also helps fix some of the annoying incompatibilities and you can buy the DOS/BIOS combo as a set under its own part number for about 50% more. I recently upgraded 8 of these machines and it was worth doing except for the Hercules problems.