scon@unmc.UUCP (Student Consultants) (10/05/86)
*** REPLACE THIS LINE WITH YOUR MESSAGE *** ----- Transcript of session follows ----- imsvax.UUCP!ted...couldn't resolve imsvax.UUCP. resolve 'imsvax.UUCP!ted' = ted @ imsvax.UUCP (0) 550 <ted@imsvax.UUCP@unmvax.unm>... Host unknown ----- Unsent message follows ----- Received: by unmvax.UNM.EDU (5.51/UUCP-MOD-1.2) id AA00570; Sat, 4 Oct 86 08:52:11 MDT From: Student Consultants <scon@unmc.unm> Date: Sat, 4 Oct 86 08:50:26 mdt Message-Id: <19847.8610041450@unmc.unm> To: ted@imsvax.UUCP Subject: Re: MS-Windows on Zenith-158/No Escape??? Newsgroups: net.micro.pc In-Reply-To: <617@imsvax.UUCP> Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM Cc: I tried to mail this, but it got returned as a daemon, so I'll post it now ( or at least try to do that ), hope it reaches you ok. In article <617@imsvax.UUCP> you write: > > >Recently, I saw one of the worst PC nightmares I've ever heard of. Users at a >client site had taken delivery four weeks ago of a Zenith 158 with Windows on >it and had been unable to use the machine for anything other than the >Windows Reversi game; Windows was all they could see on the machine no matter >what they did. The machine could not be booted from a floppy (it had some >way of jumping to the autoexec.bat file on the hard disk, which I've never >seen before), and even after I got out of Windows via alt-space-bar (which the >client folks hadn't been informed of by the vendor) and DELETED the autoexec >file on the hard disk, the damned thing STILL behaved as if that autoexec >file was still there. The only thing which finally worked was to simply >alt-space out of Windows and re-format the hard disk, after which the 158 >behaved like an ordinary computer again. > >I would appreciate hearing from anyone who has a reasonably good idea of >what I was seeing and how it worked. I personally know very little about >windows other than that it doesn't seem to work well without a mouse (I >hate mice), that the mag editors all black-balled it, and that I would >heavily recommend its ABSENCE on any micro intended for serious use, based >on what I've seen. > >Ted Holden, IMS The Zenith 158 is actually a very nice machine, but it does have a few small quirks about it. For one thing, it will always boot from the winchester unless you enter what Zenith terms it's "MFM" monitor. This MFM is a sort of mini debug routine that Zenith has inserted in its ROM. You can enter the MFM at any time by pressing Ctrl-Alt-Ins. What you get is an arrow: '-->' that sits there. Pressing "?" will get you a list of commands. The only way out of the MFM is to reboot and you can do that from there by entering "bf" for boot floopy, or "bw" for boot winchester. Note that "bf" is the only way you can specify to boot from a floppy ( and you can even specify which floppy ). As for not being able to delete the autoexec.bat file, did you check the attribute setting for it? If it was set for read-only, then there's no way except formatting which will delete it, or allow it to be re-written, unless you change the attribute to do so. Don't be too hard on the Zenith, it's actually a very nice machine, and all the funny stuff about the monitor is covered in the manual. Our school uses the 150 series of Zeniths, and they tend to hold up pretty well, especially when you consider that every term brings 600 more people to the introduction to micro's class, and the repair rate remains very low on these puppies. If you ever need any more help, just give a yell. By the way, I'm fairly new at using the net, so if this does reach you, I'd appreciate knowing it. Thanks. Wayne L. Moore BITNET - { WMOORE@UNMB } Usenet - { wmoore@unmg }