Win 3.1 Questions

I have aquired a few older ibm puters and have been trying too get them to work and am getting error mssg's etc errors
601, 161 , 163 . and another says syntax error is there a site where i can get the ibm error codes so i don't have to keep bothering you good people.. also how do i format an ibm 386 do you know what key to hit to enter setup .. got just of couple of puters here that have me stumped as i try to fix them up and give them to the neighbourhood kids that appreciate them at least they get some puter exp. playing the games i put on them thanks for any help again allan

Go to Google.com, type in:

• ibm "error codes" 601 161 163

and press [Enter].

Microsoft KB: How to Use the Fdisk Tool and the Format Tool to Partition or Repartition a Hard Disk

Keystrokes required for various computer BIOSs:

Press [Delete] during boot = AMI, Award BIOS
Press [Esc] during boot = Toshiba
Press [F1] during boot = Toshiba; Phoenix; Late model PS/1 Value Point and 330s
Press [F10] when cursor junps to top right-hand corner of screen = Compaq
Press [F10] when logo screen is displayed = Compaq
Press [F2] during boot = NEC
Press [Insert] during boot = IBM PS/2 with reference partition
Press [Tab] during boot = Emachine
Press [reset button] twice = some Dells
Press [Ctrl Alt +] = Misc computers
Press [Ctrl Alt ?] = Some PS/2s, such as 75 and 90
Press [Ctrl Alt Enter] = Dell
Press [Ctrl Alt Esc] = AST Advantage, Award, Tandon
Press [Ctrl Alt Ins] = Zenith, Phoenix
Press [Ctrl Alt S] = Phoenix
Press [Ctrl Alt Shift + Num Pad Del] = Olivetti PC Pro
Press [Ctrl Esc] = Misc computers
Press [Ctrl Ins] = some PS/2s when pointer at top right of screen
Press [Ctrl S] = Phoenix
Press [Ctrl Shift Esc] = Tandon 386

Note: If I'm remembering correctly, with some older IBMs you needed a special diskette to access the CMOS Setup.

Vernon**** your a lifesaver again thank you for the info also im kinda going brain dead here as to getting a mouse installed on the 3.1 program i did a few some time ago and cannot seem to get one installed this time going into the win setup,options,change sys settings,mouse,setting it at other mouse then putting disk in A:\ and get setup cannot find OEMSETUP.INF and wont install it .. then i downloaded the DOS mouse and it extracted it and put it in the DOS but no mouse on the puter yet Where or what stupid thing am i doing wrong here Thanks Again for the help allan

Type Mouse at the c: prompt and hit enter. If you get an error message, then go to the directory where the mouse is and type mouse again. Let us know what happens.

Hey Allan,
I had posted a couple mouse drivers here for you, but that post seems to have vanished. !! :(

Anyhoo.... I'm thinking hardware here now. If this is the IBM PS/2 you were asking about, is it using a serial adapter? that could be bad. Is that port turned on in the BIOS ?

Dave

typed mouse at C:\ and got bad command,, went into file mngr , search and c:\DOS/mouse came up ,, so went into DOS and it has a mouse . com in there when i highlite it and hit enter it loads a Windows task switcher pop up program support
then it says your pop up program has been loaded and you may activate it as you would normally.. When you have finished using this pop up program exit it and press ctrl+c to exit the shell
then it says
POINTING DEVICE FOR MOUSE AND TRACKBALL
VERSION 8.04A
MOUSE INSTALLED [P/S 2 MODE]
REPORT RATE (DYNAMIC RESOLUTION) STANDARD
The last in capitols is in and beside a large mouse diagram ,, and now im really lost as what to do HELP!!! thx Allan

If you still have the same message onscreen...
Look for one of the CTRL keys, hold it down and while holding it down press C to return to windows 3.1

Shut down windows 3.1 and restart the computer and windows.

To try to load a driver for use under windows 3.1, get to the main group you were in before and perform the steps you did before using the Windows setup icon. Select a mouse from the list this time instead of selecting "other mouse"
Try the choice for Microsoft, PS/2 mouse for example.
You may be asked for one of the windows 3.1 original installation diskettes.

If you have a mouse which windows 3.1 does not supply a driver for, the diskette which came with the mouse is needed and then it would be appropritate to select "other mouse" and put in the diskette.


Here's some more info on the error.
"Windows Setup
Setup cannot find OEMSETUP.INF
Please type a new path to the OEMSETUP.INF file. OK"

The Windows 3.1 setup program was begun after Windows was previously installed.

The setup program icon in the MAIN group was selected. The "change system settings" entry from the options menu was selected and a search for an alternate manufacturer's mouse driver
was made. The setup program looked for the file on a diskette. The diskette inserted did not contain the OEMSETUP.INF file. The file is needed for windows to load the mouse driver.
On my computer the mouse choice for Microsoft, or IBM PS/2 works fine.

ROBERT M Thanks for the info i beat the cat to the mouse and have successfully installed a mouse on the ibm puter ,, i had to use mouse disk and go to prgrm mngr , run, and type A:\ SETUP.EXE and it installed for me , kinda a different way then u suggested but your advice got the brain into the right gear ,, now another question ?? where can i find a setup disk to download so i can get into the cmos/bios been told i need a disk to access this cannot get to it by hitting a key Thanks Again Allan

Hey Allan,
I see you got the one mouse driver... mouse.com with your description of how it booted up, [including the picture of a mouse]

You can have that load in your autoexec.bat file as follows
LH C:\mouse\mouse.com

Now as far as your bios you can go to this website and dowload a little program to give you info about your BIOS.

http://www.simtel.net/pub/msdos/sysutl/

Scroll down to biosid.zip or biosver.zip.

Then when you have the info on your BIOS go to the mfg's website and see if you can still get the disk you need to access their BIOS.

Dave

Quote:

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Originally posted by ALLANB4
I have aquired a few older ibm puters and have been trying too get them to work and am getting error mssg's etc errors
601, 161 , 163 . and another says syntax error is there a site where i can get the ibm error codes so i don't have to keep bothering you good people.. also how do i format an ibm 386 do you know what key to hit to enter setup ..

---

You don't format an ibm386, you format a hard drive. (Just in case you are really confused). ;)

On my computer, when I boot, there is a message right at the start of the process, down at the bottom left, that says "Hit delete to enter the BIOS". Check yours on boot and look for messages similar to this.

try pulling the floppy cable before you boot.. this might generate an error msg and allow you to enter the bios.

an old compaq trick.. I dont remember ever having to do it for an ibm but it is worth a shot.

For some IBM models, a startup diskette is needed.
For other IBMs, a reference diskette is needed.

Any add on boards for IBM Microchannel computers came with their own diskettes to configure them


The following link provides a place where duplicate images of startup diskettes, reference diskettes, and others for IBM computers can be found. Not sure if downloading them is legal.
The sight provides other information also.

http://www.computercraft.com/docs/160.shtml

Ok tried the bio's disk and it ate my himem sys and win will not load now so whats the key command to get into the config.sys i have to re enter the device = himem.sys line i guess thats what the puter says but forgot how to access been working with win 95/98 too long
thanks allan i'll try the other suggestions again when i get booted up also on the other puter the 161 /163 code with an
=(ok) IBM slash thru the ok says dead battery .. ive got 3 of these type puters 2 working and they all have no batterys or even a place for them .. how can u replace a non exist battery help

What diskette did you use?
Whatever diskette you used to boot the computer, any one of the following or more than one of the following caused HIMEM.SYS error.
1. a reference to the Himem.sys file is not in the config.sys file
2. the himem.sys file is not on the floppy and the config.sys file on the floppy does not point to the himem.sys file on the hard disk.
3. The config.sys is not saved as a text file.
4. The himem.sys file is corrupted

Your hard drive probably still contains the correct statement in its config.sys file and the HIMEM.SYS file probably still exists there.

Restart the computer after removing the floppy.
The computer should boot up. Typing win may be neccessary to start windows.

No need to edit the config.sys and if you booted with an IBM startup or reference disk made from the link I provided, do not edit the config.sys file on the floppy. (May not work correctly later)

The "edit" command can be used to create, edit, or modify the config.sys file.
For example to add or change the entry for himem.sys in the config.sys file on your internal hard disk you could use:
edit c:\config.sys <enter>
This assumes a path to the edit program has been established.
If no path has been established the response will be the message "bad command or filename"
In that case locate the edit command with the following
dir edit.*/s
Then change into the directory it was found in, for example
cd\dos and try the command again.

Robert heres what the screen says after turning on the puter now. i used that biosid.zip , it screwed up the works as i was saying screen says
SMARTDrive cannot be loaded because the XMSdriver HIMEM.SYS is not loaded
Check the config.sys file for a device=himem.sys command line
Your computer cannot run windows in either standard or 386
enhanced mode

ok i tried the edit command no good tried dir C:\ has config.sys
did cd\dos then dos dir and the himem.sys is in there
hope this helps you cause im sure lost thanks allan

Hey Allan,
how did you run the biosid.com program?
All it should do is put out about 6 lines of bios specs.
Dave

> says dead battery .. ive got 3 of these type puters 2 working and they all have no batterys or even a place for them .. how can u replace a non exist battery help

I believe you mentioned they are all IBM PS/2's but, what are the model numbers? (50, 55SX, 60, etc.).

Note: If these are *really* old IBM's, (way before the PS/2), they may not have a battery. Before the battery-backed CMOS Setup came into being, you setup the computer via banks of little dip switches on the motherboard.

David i booted with the floppy in the drive mistake #1 so it just froze the puter ,no non sys disk errors or anything ?? removed disk when i realized my mistake and rebooted and u know the rest of the story ..i some how have to get into config.sys and see if that device=himem line is still there ??? how can i get in there?? and as an answer to VERNON i folled the link for the start up ref disks and that compurtcraft site told me a whole lot abt these machines as i have model 70's and 55 sx's answered my question abt the 55's batterys now all i have to do is find some of the dallas real time batt's any idea's thanks allan

Allan,
If you post your config.sys file here we can see what needs to be done to it.

To do that, put a floppy in your A:\ drive. Then from the C:\> type the following:copy config.sys a:\config.txt <enter>.

This will copy your config.sys file to the floppy as a text file.

If for some reason the 'copy' command doesn't work from the C:\> then type: cd dos <enter> and then from the C:\DOS\> prompt, type the following: copy c:\config.sys a:\config.txt <enter>

Then take the floppy and put it in the computer your using here and open the text file and copy and paste it's contents here.

Dave

DAVE got a good one here for u now i could not get the floppy to copy so just for the h of it i decided to check floppy connection . unplugged floppy and thought what the h im gonna turn it on .. darn puter loaded windows like it's supposed to!! plug the floppy back in and i get a 164 code says 164= (ok)----> IBM has a slash thru the ok this machine's a p/s model 70 386 has side by side places for the floppy put it in left side where it belongs and get the previous code mentioned put the floppy in the right hand slot i get601,164,162, codes then it loads windows , so ive got another floppy and put 2 side by side and back to the 162,164=
(ok)-------> IBM stuff and won't start windows bet this will keep u thinking Thanks Allan

> now all i have to do is find some of the dallas real time batt's any idea's

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&l...ime%22+battery

You may not need a battery.
What happens when you use an IBM startup or reference diskette?

Robert i will try this im gonna track down some start/ref disks now do you know how im supposed to use them put in and boot up or.. ???thanks allan

> im gonna track down some start/ref disks

ftp://ftp.pc.ibm.com/pub/pccbbs/refdisks/
ftp://ftp.pc.ibm.com/pub/pccbbs/allfiles.txt

> do you know how im supposed to use them put in and boot up or.. ???

Yes.

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Vernon Frazee
> im gonna track down some start/ref disks

> do you know how im supposed to use them put in and boot up or.. ???

Yes.

---

<snicker> ROTFL:D

Ok found the ref files Now another question the puter that would boot and load win 3.1 with the floppy pulled out .. i shut it off and when i turned it back on it booted to IBM P C BASIC
VERSION 1.10
62940 BYTES FREE
OK






1LIST 2RUN 3LOAD 4SAVE 5CONT+ 6LPT1 7TRON+ 8TROFF+ 9KEY 0 SCREEN


NOW WHAT DID I SCREW UP GENTLEMEN ?????????


Thanks Allan Where did the win 3.1 go??

When early versions of IBM PCs could not find a bootable disk, (hard or floppy), they automatically booted up a version of BASIC, (which resides in a ROM chip on the motherboard).

In other words, it sounds like the PC is occasionally having a hard time booting from the hard drive. Could be something as simple as dirty contacts or, the hard drive may be on its last leg. :(

OK im making headway on these puters as i got a ref disk but it asks for the slot 1 adapter drivers which will be the floppy drive but i dont know which driver to use any help would be appreciated thanks allan

Do the filenames of the drivers give any hint as to what they are?

Is there a "readme.txt" (or similar) file?

Maybe post a list of the drivers here?

If I recall correctly and not sure if I do.....
The Slot 1 adapter drivers refers to drivers on another "option" diskette which may have been incliuded with the original system which was used to configure the Micro-channel Architecture SCSI adapter card. When do you see the message?

Basically the way it used to work was:
A duplicate copy of the reference diskette was made because the original is "write protected"
One of the choices on the duplicate reference diskette somewhere is "copy the option disk". This puts additional configuration info on the reference disk and then rebooting with the reference diskette would allow the computer to be configured.
I think:

The option diskette in this case would be for a SCSI adapter card, which may be plugged into one of the computer's expansion slots and controls the hard drive.
I think you need to make or obtain the SCSI adapter "option diskette" Good luck.

Looking for the scsi download as time allows it , seems that i get busier, at my job so not much time left when i want to work on puters thx allan