Old Pentium s Boot Up

[canadaboy25]

Ok hello i have an old asi 9000 PC (made in 1996) and i only paid like 6 dollars. I guess i needed a fuse for something because when i found it in a closet it didnt work so i just jumped the fuse and connected everything. It doesnt have a hard drive so when i turn it on it just says searching for main master and it detects my cd drive and when i press f1 to continue it says boot error even when i put in a live boot cd. my question is im wondering if a pentium-s processor can support cd booting

any help will be apreciated.

canadaboy25

[pfrcom]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

It's not the processor that controls from which media you can boot, it's the BIOS

BIOS chips of Pentium-S vintage had a tiny capacity compared to today's, and this controlled how much could be done by the size of firmware stored in them

That usually meant they could boot from a floppy disk, or a hard disk, or a CD-ROM in later model ones which perhaps yours is not

Get into the BIOS settings, usually by pressing Delete during boot up, and check if there are options for CD-ROM boot

If there aren't, you need to use a Boot Manager from a bootable floppy disk - Gujin is one I've used, but there are others

Gujin is Linux command line oriented, and not that friendly to set up - I suggest:

1. Get & install the 7-Zip utility

2. Download a Gujin Install .tar.gz from http://sourceforge.net/projects/gujin/files/

3. Use 7-Zip to extract the .tar from the .tar.gz

4. Use 7-Zip to extract the Install folder from the .tar

5. Get a copy of rawrite.exe and use it to write boot.144 from the Install folder to a 3.5" floppy disk

6. Boot from that floppy disk and look for Gujin to present a F1/F2/F3/etc option corresponding to the CD-ROM

[canadaboy25]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

It's not the processor that controls from which media you can boot, it's the BIOS

BIOS chips of Pentium-S vintage had a tiny capacity compared to today's, and this controlled how much could be done by the size of firmware stored in them

That usually meant they could boot from a floppy disk, or a hard disk, or a CD-ROM in later model ones which perhaps yours is not

Get into the BIOS settings, usually by pressing Delete during boot up, and check if there are options for CD-ROM boot

If there aren't, you need to use a Boot Manager from a bootable floppy disk - Gujin is one I've used, but there are others

Gujin is Linux command line oriented, and not that friendly to set up - I suggest:

1. Get & install the 7-Zip utility

2. Download a Gujin Install .tar.gz from http://sourceforge.net/projects/gujin/files/

3. Use 7-Zip to extract the .tar from the .tar.gz

4. Use 7-Zip to extract the Install folder from the .tar

5. Get a copy of rawrite.exe and use it to write boot.144 from the Install folder to a 3.5" floppy disk

6. Boot from that floppy disk and look for Gujin to present a F1/F2/F3/etc option corresponding to the CD-ROM

Thanks for the reply i will try that tomorrow.

canadaboy25

[pfrcom]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

I haven't heard of ASI as a brand, but it may be proprietary rather than using a generic motherboard like Asus or Gigabyte or ??

If it's proprietary, getting into BIOS may not be the Delete key, but F2 or F10 or ?? - look for messages during boot up, like "Press ?? to enter BIOS"

"Press F1 to continue" sounds proprietary - probably the CMOS battery (if it has one) has gone flat - are there other options at this time, like F10 to enter BIOS ?

I'd expect a PC built in 1996 would have a BIOS capable of booting from CD-ROM

[luke10050]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

i think a better boot manager is PLOP, its actually quite simple to use and will fit on a floppy. might not do all you want though
http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagers.html
they have a floppy version... from memory theres some formatting magic in there (1.60MB floppy)

[canadaboy25]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

I haven't heard of ASI as a brand, but it may be proprietary rather than using a generic motherboard like Asus or Gigabyte or ??

If it's proprietary, getting into BIOS may not be the Delete key, but F2 or F10 or ?? - look for messages during boot up, like "Press ?? to enter BIOS"

"Press F1 to continue" sounds proprietary - probably the CMOS battery (if it has one) has gone flat - are there other options at this time, like F10 to enter BIOS ?

I'd expect a PC built in 1996 would have a BIOS capable of booting from CD-ROM

I have no problem getting into the BIOS menu but when i go in there are only options for floppies not cd's.

canadaboy25

[canadaboy25]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

I haven't heard of ASI as a brand, but it may be proprietary rather than using a generic motherboard like Asus or Gigabyte or ??

If it's proprietary, getting into BIOS may not be the Delete key, but F2 or F10 or ?? - look for messages during boot up, like "Press ?? to enter BIOS"

"Press F1 to continue" sounds proprietary - probably the CMOS battery (if it has one) has gone flat - are there other options at this time, like F10 to enter BIOS ?

I'd expect a PC built in 1996 would have a BIOS capable of booting from CD-ROM

If the battery has gone flat what does that do to my system?

Man i use a lot of adapters on this thing lol.

canadaboy25

[Uniballer]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

If the battery has gone flat what does that do to my system?

It will not know the time and date, and you will need to run BIOS setup so it can be happy about floppy disk, CDROM, HDD (if you put one in), etc. Some systems from that era seem to have a supercapacitor rather than a battery, so that would presumably not need to be replaced. I also have a motherboard of similar vintage in my parts bin that has an ODIN OEC12C887A which could be replaced by the appropriate Dallas part, probably DS12C887A.

FYI - I have a 1997 vintage Pentium 100 (P54C) that runs environmental controls in my kennel (my oldest computer system since I got rid of my PDP-11/73). No work has been done on it since it was new except the AT-style power supply has been replaced with one from another machine, and the operating system is now FreeBSD 6.4 (the last version the installed BIOS can boot). I have the same issue with being unable to boot from anything but a floppy or hard disk, and I have a PLOP floppy that I can use to boot from the CDROM drive.

[euromatlox]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

Found info of that mb using google and it seems to be pretty old one, 5 ISA slots and 3 PCI slots. I have about similar looking board (Asus), with Pentium 200Mhz processor. Finding a hard drive can be difficult, and if found, it's probably noisy one. I have succesfully used (Seagate) Microdrives (kinda CF card with miniature disc inside) as hard drive, and they work great. Since it's a CF card, it needs some editing (formatting) before it can be used as a hard drive. Google search should help for details. I think 2.5, 4 or 8 GB Microdrive is okay, using too big might not be compatible.

To use Microdrive as hdd, of course a Compact Flash CF to 3.5" IDE 40 Pin Converter Adapter is needed. Should not be a problem to find one (eBay).

About the battery, just replace it with new one. It might be CR2032 or 3.6V Akku (eBay: motherboard nimh 3.6v), in which case it needs soldering. You need to check/set BIOS settings next boot after replacement.

I think there are no separate cd options in BIOS, just IDE settings (for hard drives and CD drives). Usually auto/LBA should be enough.

[euromatlox]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

If I remember right, it was 'fixmbr' or something (recovery console), which turned CF Microdrive into hdd drive (cannot be used anymore in cameras). Fdisk also has /mbr option.

[pfrcom]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

If the battery has gone flat what does that do to my system?

Just means you'll be prompted to do something about BIOS settings every time you boot

If you don't want/need permanent BIOS settings, means you'll have to press F1 every time you boot, to accept the defaults

Defaults are usually boot from floppy disk first, and if no floppy disk inserted, boot from hard disk second

[pfrcom]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

i think a better boot manager is PLOP

I found PLOP could not do a more unusual task which Gujin was able to do

For a straightforward task like booting from a CD-ROM when the BIOS can't do it, PLOP may be a simpler option

[cheapie]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

If I remember right, it was 'fixmbr' or something (recovery console), which turned CF Microdrive into hdd drive (cannot be used anymore in cameras). Fdisk also has /mbr option.

Just pop it into a Linux box and use (g)parted. That's probably the easiest way to do it.

[RJARRRPCGP]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

"Press F1 to continue" sounds proprietary

Not proprietary, AFAIK. What would be proprietary is if it demanded a particular floppy to be inserted. Not likely on 1993 and later PCs.

[pfrcom]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

FWIW here's a couple of links I found

http://www.wincom.net/mission/seanix.htm

http://museum.ttrk.ee/th99/m/S-T/33120.htm

Judging by the second link, ASI 9000's motherboard has a Dallas-type module, not a CR2032 battery

If it's soldered to the board like mine was in this thread https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23718, would be a P.I.T.A. to replace it

I reckon OP might just as well continue pressing F1 to accept CMOS defaults each time he boots

[canadaboy25]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

Ok so I havent been posting for a while because ive been busy with other things but now I have a new, more importat problem.

I have a PC from 2002 with a AMD Athlon processor and has been stored in a shipping container for about 6 years with temps of plus 40 to minus 40 and just pulled it out yesterday. It boots up fine just gives a few outdated error messages but whenever i turn it off or reboot it it goes off fine but when it tries to come back on all the fans start running my disk drive lights up and searches for a disk and my hard drive spins up. But nothing comes up on the screen and the motherboard doesnt beep. The only way around this is to pull the main power cable and plug it back in then it works. What could be causing this?

canadaboy25

[canadaboy25]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

FWIW here's a couple of links I found

http://www.wincom.net/mission/seanix.htm

http://museum.ttrk.ee/th99/m/S-T/33120.htm

Judging by the second link, ASI 9000's motherboard has a Dallas-type module, not a CR2032 battery

If it's soldered to the board like mine was in this thread https://www.badcaps.net/forum/showthread.php?t=23718, would be a P.I.T.A. to replace it

I reckon OP might just as well continue pressing F1 to accept CMOS defaults each time he boots

It does have a little round battery that is dead.

[pfrcom]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

I have a PC from 2002 with a AMD Athlon processor and has been stored in a shipping container for about 6 years with temps of plus 40 to minus 40 and just pulled it out yesterday. It boots up fine just gives a few outdated error messages but whenever i turn it off or reboot it it goes off fine but when it tries to come back on all the fans start running my disk drive lights up and searches for a disk and my hard drive spins up. But nothing comes up on the screen and the motherboard doesnt beep. The only way around this is to pull the main power cable and plug it back in then it works. What could be causing this?

canadaboy25

Seeing that dates from the height of the bad capacitors plague, perhaps bad capacitors

Time to have a look inside that PC - at the motherboard and possibly its power supply as well

If the motherboard does have bad capacitors, and you want help, start by searching this forum, using the motherboard's model number

If nothing useful from searching, begin a new thread about the motherboard - in the appropriate "Motherboards with Bad Capacitors" section, having the board's model number in the title

[canadaboy25]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

Could someone please give me some step by step instructions on creating a startup floppy?

All of the ways I have tried just result in a disk boot faliure.

canadaboy25

[canadaboy25]

Re: Old Pentium s Boot Up

Well I just got it running today!

I had to reverse lots of cables on the mobo and made a plop floppy to boot from my windows 95 cd. I also needed a dvd drive not the cd drive.

It was asking me to press f1 because the floppy drive was not being recognised.

I used an old 30gb hard drive with bad sectors to install windows on

Well now its working for old games at least.