DLV@CUNYVMS1.BITNET (05/27/90)
I've managed to do something truly bizarre to my computer. :) I have a '386 motherboard with lots of Chips and Technologies stuff on it. At boot time, I have the option to run setup/extended setup. While trying to do something, I managed to alter the settings in 'extended setup' part (the bits in various 'C&T CMOS registers') in such a manner that the machine will no longer boot; when I reset it, it goes beep-beep-beep pause beep-beep-beep... Of course my initial reaction was to try to disconnect the battery and let the CMOS memory clear itself; alas, it doesn't seem to be possible on this motherboard!!! (Or at least I don't see how). It's got a 10-year rechargeable battery that's evidently soldered to the board. Whatever skimpy documentation there is does not deal with the question of disconnecting the battery. Does anyone have any suggestions at all??? This is a fascinating problem, variants of this have been undoubtedly discussed here in the past (what would happen if the configuration settings were damanged not ny the bumbling owner, but by a malevolent Trojan Horse; what would happen if you forgot the password on a PS/2). I will not be able to reach the person who sold me the board until Monday, and I'm wide open for suggestions. Thanks, Dimitri Vulis Department of Mathematics City University of New York Graduate Center Proud owner of RUSTEX-L, the Russian TeX and Soviet E-mail mailing list
bwb@sei.cmu.edu (Bruce Benson) (06/06/90)
CCBOBVER@uqvax.decnet.uq.oz.au writes: >> manner that the machine will no longer boot; when I reset it, it goes >> beep-beep-beep pause beep-beep-beep... > > The three beeps seem to indicate a memory error. You may have > done some unintentional mods to your memory configuration on the > motherboard. Any PC will not boot if it either finds an error in > the first 16KB of RAM or cannot locate it as this is usually where > it tries to load the startup BIOS. Just within the last 5 days my Zeos 386 w/AMI Bios has started this same pattern of three beeps. The AMI documentation says this means an error in the first 64K. A few other facts: - seems to happen when I first boot the machine after being off many hours - repeated cold boots eventually resulted in a successful boot - replacing all simms (4mb) had no affect on the problem (but I do now have a total of 8Mb of memory, good excuse to buy!) - using the hardware reset switch clears the problem immediately - the only system changes in this period was to add an internal MNP modem I am still playing with the problem, but anyone with more insight into the meaning of the 3 beeps, or why the reset switch would work differently than power on/off, please offer up your insights. * Bruce Benson + Internet - bwb@sei.cmu.edu + + * Software Engineering Institute + Compuserv - 76226,3407 + >--|> * Carnegie Mellon University + Voice - 412 268 8496 + + * Pittsburgh PA 15213-3890 + + US Air Force
CCBOBVER@uqvax.decnet.uq.oz.au (06/06/90)
DLV@CUNYVMS1.BITNET writes: > I've managed to do something truly bizarre to my computer. :) > > I have a '386 motherboard with lots of Chips and Technologies stuff on > it. At boot time, I have the option to run setup/extended setup. While > trying to do something, I managed to alter the settings in 'extended > setup' part (the bits in various 'C&T CMOS registers') in such a > manner that the machine will no longer boot; when I reset it, it goes > beep-beep-beep pause beep-beep-beep... > ... > Thanks, > Dimitri Vulis The three beeps seem to indicate a memory error. You may have done some unintentional mods to your memory configuration on the motherboard. Any PC will not boot if it either finds an error in the first 16KB of RAM or cannot locate it as this is usually where it tries to load the startup BIOS. Regards Robert, (University of QLD)