I have a problem. I have a PS/2 386 and last nite I thought I was going
to go do some more writing. However, when I flipped it on, it went through
the memory check then it displayed "162" and "163" then sat there without
doing anything further. It also emitted 2 long beeps. What could be the
problem? A battery? Did both hard drives fail, or is there a bigger problem?

100 responses total.

Those two errors together generally mean that the battery is failing.  If
it is a model 55, you may be out of luck getting a replacement, most of
the rest can be replaced, but the cost of the batteries was around $18
when these things were much more common.

If you don't want to deal with batteries, you can use the reference disk
to start the unit up (it will boot in that condition, but ONLY to the
reference disk) run the setup, and warm-boot.  Make several copies of the
disk if you plan to do this.  You will stil need the reference disk if you
replace the battery, to re-configure the CMOS.

If you don't have a reference disk, I can probably create a few if given
the model number of the unit in question.

(Don't spend the $18 on batteries!  Make up your own pack with however many
1.5v AA cells it takes and solder it in.)

  Ok, I can do that.

  Mike, I can use a reference disk, and I'll e-mail you with the model number.
In fact, I think it is a Model 55.

162 is a configuration error.
163 is a date & time error.
Two beeps and ablank screen is a display adapter error(possibly misconfigured)

Most of the reference disk are available on-line at service5.boulder.ibm.com

I'm not sure that PS/2 units use a multiple of 1.5 volts, and if it is a
model 55, the battery is a special motherboard component that needs to be
replaced, and even I don't know how to do that.  I do have some contacts
that might be able to help, but I'll need to know for certain.  When you
get the model number, I'll be able to make much more specific comments.

Diodes drop .7 volts.  Use diodes to get close to the desired voltage.
Also, 3v is usually close enough if there was a 3.6v battery, etc.  I
just solder wires to the mother board if there is one of those on-board
battery holders.  It may, however, be a better bet for you just to get
the right battery and still have a working computer.

Ok, you can pick up a 4 AA battery pack for a computer from Radio Shack for
3 buck that will replace the battery in your model 55.  I've done this before
so i know it should work. .

  Ok, cool. I can do this. The question now is when.

  Any clue as to where the terminal is located?

Perhaps you'd better get an OEM battery.

OK, the battery should be velcrowed to the side of the power supply.  Follow
the wires to the motherboard.  Where the join the motherboard is the terminal.
Just give it a light tug and the plastic clip will come off the terminal pins.

PS/2 units don't use the same battery logic as many AT-compatible systems.
For models other than the 55, the battery fits into a clip.  On desktop
units this is often at the left front of the case.  On tower units the
clip is integrated to the speaker mount.

I strongly advise not messing about with a PS/2 battery system unless you
can afford to lose the system.

A model number would help a lot.  On desktop units, the model and serial
numbers can generally be found on the front, under the power switch, under
a recessed ledge.  Also on the back or bottom, on a bar-coded label.  On
towers, there is a little window under the power switch ledge, or the
bar-coded label on the back again.  Model numbers look like 8555-021 or
8560-031.

  The computer is a Model 80.

Your battery is at the front of the case at the bottom after you remove
the side.  You can remove the battery and see if any specialty stores
(computer or battery) have it.  In the past I've been able to get theese
from Radio Shack, but as they are turning from technical supply to
consumer electronics they become less useful for this sort of thing. If
you cannot find one at all, drop me a line, I can try a few people I know
in the business.

Once you have the battery replaced, you will need a reference disk to
start the unit.  Let me know if you need one, I can copy one of my archive
set and drop it in the mail.

The big screws on the side can be loosened with a quarter, if the lock is
on for some reason and you don't have the key, pull out at the back middle
of the panel, this will bow the door and the lock will pop, you can then
remove the tab if you have to.

  I need a reference disk. Look for my address in e-mail.

  Is it possible to replace the batter with AA's? I have a AA holder with
a pc battery terminal on it. I'll look at it in a few days.

  New problem.

   I'm about to take the CD-Rom plunge, meaning I have found a CD drive 
within my price range. Could someone here outline how difficult it is to
install it, and configure it for Windows? It will be  32X, and it is made by
Atlas Peripherals. Anybody heard of them?

  This will be for my 486, and it will be internal.

Thanks for any advice.

I assume you've installed a 5-1/4" drive before? It's just as easy. If you've
got a dual IDE controller, the easiest thing to do is to put your CD-ROM as
your secondary master device. Otherwise, you'll need to slave it to your HDD.
Check the manual for the CD-ROM as to how to set the jumpers (or look at the
back of the drive, it's *usually* marked there.)
What version of windows are you running? If your're running 3.1, you'll need
to edit your CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files to load the drivers for the
CD-ROM. Hopefully the CD-ROM you bought comes with a driver disk that has some
kind of install program that will do this for you. If not you'll need to add
theses lines yourself:

CONFIG.SYS:
Device=CDROMDRV.SYS /D:CD-ROM01

AUTOEXEC.BAT:
MSCDEX.EXE /D:CD-ROM01

You'll need to substitue the name of the driver that came with your drive for
"CDROMDRV.SYS". MSCDEX.EXE might also need a "path" e.g.: C:\DOS\MSCDEX.EXE,
or C:\WINDOWS\MSCDEX.EXE.

Under '95, you just need to add the "Device=" line to your CONFIG.SYS file.
'95 handles CD-ROMs without MSCDEX.EXE. If you want to run the CD-ROM in DOS
mode, however, add the "MSCDEX.EXE" to your DOSSTART.BAT file in the
C:\WINDOWS directory.

Would there be an issue with BIOS support?  This is an older PC omni is
talking about.

  I am talking about my 486. It is fairly new. I would think the BIOS would
be a non-issue.

 re 16- OK, Cool. I can do this. I will make sure the drive comes with
the appropriate drivers and all that.

If its' an IDE and the computer has Windows 95, it will be recognized when
the system reboots.  Drivers are only needed for the DOS mode.  The
computer BIOS does not need to be aware of the drive in any case, it can
be, but W95 or the DOS drivers will handle it either way.  Other operating
systems (Linux and the like) would need to be told the drive was there.

  I'm using Windows 3.1. I would like to find a cheap (free) Win 95 CD, 
if possible, but since I have heard so many bad things about Win95, I'm just
not sure that I want to use it.
  I only have 8 Megs of memory. Will Win95 even run in this kind of
environment?

Well, kinda. It'd be reeeeeealy slow. Windows '95/98 needs 128+MB of RAM to
run really well (and even then it still uses HDD space for swap memory). 
J/k :) Seriously, you'll want at least 16MB to run '95 without too much
trouble.

You can run one application, if not graphic intensive, in 8MB with
tolerable performance.  If your funds are limited and the computer can
handle it, you'll get a bigger boost out of more memory than a faster
CPU.  The speed of the disk and the interface to it limit the value of
swapping on fast CPUs, so avoiding swapping as much as possible gets more
effective performance out of slower units.

    Thanks. Exactly what I wanted to know. I will stay with Windows 3.1
which is doing what I want it to.

I run Win95 on my notebook, which is a low end 486 with 8M of memory.  It
works fine as a terminal, which is mostly what I use it for.  It gets really
slow if I try to run big programs on it.  I would stick Linux on it instead,
except that it's the only Win95 box I have at the moment, and that's useful
occasionally.

  I seem to be asking all the questions here.

  Does anyone know if Win 3.1 comes on a CD? I really would like to have one
instead of disks. 

  I guess I could also run Win 95, since all I do is run small programs
and things like Word 4, Internet Explorer, and HTML Notepad. I don't 
use IE for net things, only for seeing how my pages look.

   Does anyone know of a place one could obtain Win 3.1 on a CD, cheaply?

I don't know that it's possible to get Windows 3.1 anymore, from any legal
source.  Your best bet, on all counts, would get someone with a CD burner
to copy your existing Windows 3.1 disks to a CD.  I can tell you from
applying this principle to a ZIP disk that you can pile all the disks into
a single directory (provided that any directories on the diskettes are
preserved relative to the consolidation directory), and it will load just
fine when started from that media.

Win 3.1 did come on CD, years ago.  It's not still sold, but somebody probably
has one sitting around.

Can  someone legally sell the license they have for software to someone
else? (I'm sure this has been thrashed out before, but I don't recall.)
I'm surprised there isn't a big exchange for buying and selling 'used'
software licenses, but if it illegal, it would explain why.

Yes, licenses are legally transferrable if you the seller destroys all copies
of the software other than the original CD or disks that they are selling.

At this point, though, I seriously doubt that Microsoft would care if you made
a copy of Windows 3.1.

But, as we observe here, you have to have it to copy it. There are many
used book stores - why not used software stores? I'd be happy to buy
some second-hand "out of print" software for some applications. Obviously
people have replaced/upgraded a vast number of applications - where are all
the forlorn ones? 

No, I bet they would care.  That's one more copy of Win98 you are *not*
buying.

OK, Microsoft would *care*, but it is legal to do it, good old American
entrepeneurship should carry the day. It must be illegal.

  Ok, an update. 

  I went to Best Buy and bought the drive. I saw one that being held for
another person and read the side of the box. It says that it is compatable
with Win 3.1 and 95, and that installing it is simple. I now just need to
contain my glee until it shows up at Best Buy. I hate sales.

  BTW, if anyone still wants one of these drives I have a raincheck
in my name and I will be happy to buy the drive for you (with your
money). I also noticed scads of 40X drives on the shelves. I hope that this
isn't the beginning of the end of the 32X's usefullness. Any comments?

Beyond 16x or so the extra speed is pretty much theoretical and only happens
in rare cases.  I still have 2X in my home PC, no complaints since I only use
it to install software.

I believe that the reasoning behind the higer speed CD-ROMs is due primarily
to games. Most people don't want ot devote 600+MB of HDD space to a game, so
they run it right from the CD, or do a minimal install of only the main files
and the rest (images, maps, etc.) are pulled from the CD. In that case, at
least an 8-10x is a good choice. I also think that other programs like M$
Office give you the option of running from the CD. I currently run an 8x, which
works just fine for anything I need. I'd get one of those spiffy 32x+
vibra-matic drives, but I don't like my coffee to fall off of my desk.

Windoze 3.1, happily, installs fine from a Hard Drive. My current practice
is to keep copies of all the disks in an \INSTALL\WIN31 directory, and when
I need to do an install, just CD to \INSTALL\WIN31\D1 on the appropriate drive
and type 'setup'. When it tells you to swap diskss, change the name in the
box to ...\D2 and so on.

I can't speak for Windoze 95, but I have confirmed that Windoze NT has
floppyless install capability, via /S:SourcePath /B switches. (I hate floppy
based installation; the damn disks screw up eventually given enough of them
in the install sequence.)

The CD burner route sounds like a good idea - I am in the market myself now.
A singll CD ought to be able to hold *much* more than the Win 3.1 install
files - have whoever is doing it for you throw in your DOS disks and other
applications as well. You've got up to 650 MB; why waste it?

As to CD-ROM drives, stick to 4X or so. Anything more is a waste of cash.

I could see making a CD-ROM of all my install disks, for each computer I may
own.  Then I'd ductape the CD to the inside of the case.  In a few years it
would be worth its weight in gold (which for the weight of a CD would still
be worth a few bucks) in trying to find the obscure drivers for the old
obselete whatever.

  re 36
   My version of Win 3.1 wouldn't do that, It wanted disk 2 only and only from
a certain drive. I beat it though by putting all 7 disks into one dir, and
installing from that directory. Now the installation takes about 2 minutes,
and it really faster than it was. Thanks for the idea, Drew.

Win 95 will indeed install from a directory.  Just copy the contents of 
the win95 directory from your cdrom to some directory on your hd (or put 
the contents of all the disks there. Same thing) and run setup from that 
directory.  I currently have a burned CD that has win3.1, win95, and 
office on it.

Re: Win 95 on a 486: My copy of OSR2 refuses to install to a computer 
with less than a 486 Dx2/66 in it.  I don't have that problem with OSR1.

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