• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

IBM PC/XT... and now the fun starts

MrCoffee

Member
Joined
Sep 19, 2006
Messages
41
Ok, so I picked up a used, but in really good shape, IBM PC/XT of fleaBay this week. I got it last night and unpacked it. For it's age, it is really really nice shape, a couple of case scratches, but nothing major. Nice IBM Personal Display with it, and the orginal manuals, sales info, etc. All and all I wwas pretty happy with it.

Came into work with me today, first because I wanted to work on it during lunch, and second, because we still have PC's here running Mono displays, DOS, and such on our CNC network.

Anyways, I got it set up in my office and tried to boot it up, and I got the GRRRRRind reset of the floppy, and two beeps, but no display. Hmmmm. Ok, shut it down popped the case, and it is a B revision board (marked 256-640k #########B) and the motherboard, video card, Floppy, HD all look almost new. A little dust, but pretty clean. I reseated all the cards, tried to boot again, same thing. (I was expecting that I would at least see the IBM logo on boot, even if the HD was wiped, I should have gone into BASIC from ROM, write?) Took the Display off and went downstairs and pulled it into a CNC and got nadda on the display. So methinks the display was damaged in shipping. :(

And that is where I am at for the moment. I am thinking of grabbing a Trident 8900D or TVGA 9000 video card and popping it in, since both (according to the docs I have read) are 1) auto sensing, and 2) have jumpers to allow them to be used in a 8-bit slot. Will have to see, but I kind of get a kick out the idea of the old PC/XT with a 15 inch flat panel... :)

Cheers!

PS: STILL looking for LEWP 1.5a if anyone has it...
 
Congratulations with your XT.

I got two of them, one in near-mint (unformaly without manuals),and one in "fair" condition (also without manuals).

Here is the general questions I will ask:
Do you get video at all?
Pull all cards except floppy and video. Anything changes?
Pull the video card and the floppy card, and turn it on. Do you get one beep followed by two short ones?
Put the video card back in. Do you get video output? what errors do you get?

If you don't get video by this point, replace the video card. It should be possible to get the computer into BASIC without anything but a working video card. and a keyboard.

Put the floppy disk card back in. Assuming the video card is working by now, do you get any errors on startup?
Put the hard drive adapter in. Errors?

It would have been great if you could provide the ressults from therse guidelines.
 
Anyways, I got it set up in my office and tried to boot it up, and I got the GRRRRRind reset of the floppy, and two beeps, but no display. Hmmmm. Ok, shut it down popped the case, and it is a B revision board (marked 256-640k #########B) and the motherboard, video card, Floppy, HD all look almost new. A little dust, but pretty clean. I reseated all the cards, tried to boot again, same thing. (I was expecting that I would at least see the IBM logo on boot, even if the HD was wiped, I should have gone into BASIC from ROM, write?)

A bad monitor wouldn't cause the POST to fail. Maybe the DIP switches aren't set to monochrome? Check here:

http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~preid/pcxtsw.htm
 
two beeps isn't good

two beeps isn't good

Two beeps is some kind of POST error. Unfortunately, without a display you won't know which one it is.

After the POST you should hear one beep, then the machine will try to boot from the first floppy. (note- the floppies are reset during the POST, so the activation of the floppies after the beep is the second activation of the floppies).
 
Two beeps is some kind of POST error. Unfortunately, without a display you won't know which one it is.

It's not a problem with the video card however, because in that case you'd get one long and two short beeps. That's why I suggested checking that the DIP switches are set correctly.
 
Two beeps in an IBM XT

Two beeps in an IBM XT

Looking through the source code of the POST in the 11/08/82 and 01/10/86 versions of the IBM XT BIOS, there is time when the POST issues two short beeps (and straight afterward displays that standard 'RESUME = F1 KEY' message on-screen).
It happens when a problem is detected after the 8259 interrupt controller chip has been programmed to process interrupts from the 8253 timer chip and the circuitry supporting the keyboard.

So maybe you have two problems, one being display related.

My summary (doesn't have everything) of the 01/10/86 POST is shown below.

Code:
From the listing of the 01/10/86 revision IBM XT (5160) BIOS:

8088 PROCESSOR TEST         - on fail, halt CPU
ROM CHECKSUM                - on fail, halt CPU       (test checksum of 64K block at F0000 [i.e. both U18 and U19])(earlier BIOS' test only part of U18)
8237 DMA INITIALISATION     - on fail, halt CPU       (also sets up chan. 1 of timer for RAM refresh)
BASE 64K RAM TEST           - on fail, loop forever   (earlier 5160 BIOS' test only first 16K)
8259 INITIALISATION         -
INIT/START VIDEO CONTROLLER - on fail, beep 1 long then 2 short
8259 TEST                   - on fail, display a 101 error then halt CPU  (at end, system interrupts are enabled but not device interrupts)
8253 TIMER CHECKOUT         - on fail, display a 101 error then halt CPU
KEYBOARD TEST               - on fail, display a 301 error
SETUP H/W INT VECTOR TABLE  -
EXPANSION I/O BOX TEST      - on fail, display 1801 error
ADDITIONAL RAM TEST         - on fail, display a 201 error followed by failing address followed by bit error pattern
EXPANSION ROM SEARCH        - look for expansion ROMs from C8000 to F0000 - for each one found, examine their checksum
                            - if checksum is good, call the ROM
                            - if checksum is bad, display segment address of faulty ROM followed by "ROM"
DISKETTE ATTACHMENT TEST    - on fail, display a 601 error.
SET UP KYB BUFFER           -
8259 - ENABLE TIMER/KYB INT - on fail, beep 2 short then display 'RESUME = F1 KEY'      (enable interrupts from 8253 timer [chan 0] and keyboard)
                            - else on pass, beep one short
DETERMINE LPT/RS232 PORTS
ENABLE NON MASKABLE INTERRUPTS
DO BOOTSTRAP
 
Well then....

Well then....

Ok,. thank you everyone for the replies. Sorry it took so long to get back to workin on this.

Here's what we. I tested the Monitor on a different system, and yup, the Monochrome monitor is dead. So I thought maybe I could find a VGA card to stick in the unit, and get it too boot. I removed the Monochrome Display card, and put in a Trident 9000A. I removed all the jumpers from JP9 so it was in 8-bit mode.

Now I get a long and two short beeps. :/

I went thru the switch settings and changed 5 and 6, and got the same result. Not sure why the card isnt working in 8 bit mode, or the XT just doesnt like it. Anyways I walked thru the units switches and it has 640k, and otherwise is totally stock. I reinstalled the Mono Card and I get the single beep, test the floppy, boot from HD, I am a happy camper PC sounds, but of course I cant see anything on it.... making it less then useful.

I guess I am going to have to find someone with a Monochrome monitor for sale, or a EGA card/Monitor combo or something.
Sigh.

Thanks again everyone!
MrC
 
Ok,. thank you everyone for the replies. Sorry it took so long to get back to workin on this.

Here's what we. I tested the Monitor on a different system, and yup, the Monochrome monitor is dead. So I thought maybe I could find a VGA card to stick in the unit, and get it too boot. I removed the Monochrome Display card, and put in a Trident 9000A. I removed all the jumpers from JP9 so it was in 8-bit mode.

Now I get a long and two short beeps. :/

I went thru the switch settings and changed 5 and 6, and got the same result. Not sure why the card isnt working in 8 bit mode, or the XT just doesnt like it. Anyways I walked thru the units switches and it has 640k, and otherwise is totally stock. I reinstalled the Mono Card and I get the single beep, test the floppy, boot from HD, I am a happy camper PC sounds, but of course I cant see anything on it.... making it less then useful.

I guess I am going to have to find someone with a Monochrome monitor for sale, or a EGA card/Monitor combo or something.
Sigh.

Thanks again everyone!
MrC

Since you tried a VGA card, did you go through all 4 combinations of switch 5 and 6 (on the motherboard)? You need is to set both 5 and 6 to On. The "no video error" you get shouldn't appear with that configuration.

By the way, 8-bit mode is when the jumpers are installed on jp9.
 
Last edited:
I removed the Monochrome Display card, and put in a Trident 9000A. I removed all the jumpers from JP9 so it was in 8-bit mode.

Now I get a long and two short beeps. :/

I went thru the switch settings and changed 5 and 6, and got the same result. Not sure why the card isnt working in 8 bit mode, or the XT just doesnt like it.

Mine does the exact same thing. I don't recall the exact model of my Trident video card, but it works perfectly in my zenith 8088 in 8 bit mode, and gives me the same beep sequence as yours when I put the card in my XT.

I haven't had time to investigate why the XT is so finicky-may be a BIOS revision, but for now mine is unplugged and the z8088 is in its places. I hope you can get yours to work so you can tell me what you did to fix it!
 
Mine does the exact same thing. I don't recall the exact model of my Trident video card, but it works perfectly in my zenith 8088 in 8 bit mode, and gives me the same beep sequence as yours when I put the card in my XT.

I haven't had time to investigate why the XT is so finicky-may be a BIOS revision, but for now mine is unplugged and the z8088 is in its places. I hope you can get yours to work so you can tell me what you did to fix it!

Check where the BIOS is located. I'll add more to this post when I've looked over the listings.

The XT does give a 2 short 1 long error if one of the modules containing BASIC is failing (it shouldn't really matter since you get it working without the card). The BIOS itself doesn't issue any other error of this kind if SW1 nr 5 and 6 is both on. In that cause, the error is generated by the BIOS on the video card (maybe because of incalid jumper settings?).
 
Last edited:
Ok, well this morning I tried an Trident 8900D-R (Turbo C) card and it didnt fail on boot up, but it didnt produce any video either >:/

The card was BNIB, and came with the Jumper Docs, but they don't match the actual card.... prefect, eh? But when I put it in 8-bit mode, and changed switches 5 and 6, the system did boot up, but I got nothing on my display at all. (Yeah the display work just fine, it is also new). So I assume that it was running as thou it had no video (i.e. 5&6 on, EGA/VGA/or NO video).

Didnt get the beep codes (it is one long and two short BTW). Nor do I get it with the Mono card in there. Sigh. Anyone got a nice Monochrome monitor they wanna sell? :)
 
:D :D :D

Was digging around, and found a Tandy VM-5 mono display in the trash. Popped it onto the XT and she is all set.....

well.... almost.

Had to boot from a dos disk (Had 3.3 here in the box) and the HD has "issues". Displays the directory structure ok, but I get drive reading errors, and it will not boot to the drive. But it has a ton of software on it (WP51, etc) and I am going to try and NDD the drive if I can, not wipe it. I also think I have a 80meg MFM drive someplace at the house.

Going to keep trying to find a VGA card for it, so far no luck with either the Trident 8900D-R (turbo-C) or the Trident 9000A.

Anyways thanks for all the help!
MrC
 
Ok, well this morning I tried an Trident 8900D-R (Turbo C) card and it didnt fail on boot up, but it didnt produce any video either >:/

The card was BNIB, and came with the Jumper Docs, but they don't match the actual card.... prefect, eh? But when I put it in 8-bit mode, and changed switches 5 and 6, the system did boot up, but I got nothing on my display at all. (Yeah the display work just fine, it is also new). So I assume that it was running as thou it had no video (i.e. 5&6 on, EGA/VGA/or NO video).

Didnt get the beep codes (it is one long and two short BTW). Nor do I get it with the Mono card in there. Sigh. Anyone got a nice Monochrome monitor they wanna sell? :)

do you get one short beep after waiting a little?

Try to get another VGA card (like the Tseng EX4000-based ones, as they autodetect the bus with).
 
Nope, just the one long beep, then two short beeps, or nothing at all (I let it sit for at least 10 minute cause my wife happen to call...)

Both the Trident cards are also auto detect... :)

But I am pretty happy just to have the darn thing booting!
 
Trident

Trident

Not sure of your exact model, but if you're trying it with a flatpanel, and if the jumpers are the way I think they are, try this:

J1 Closed
J2 Open
J7 Close (try it a second time with it open)

J6,J9,J10 all closed

patscc
 
Nope, just the one long beep, then two short beeps, or nothing at all (I let it sit for at least 10 minute cause my wife happen to call...)

Both the Trident cards are also auto detect... :)

But I am pretty happy just to have the darn thing booting!

Congratulations getting it to boot. Sad with that hard drive, however, most of the programs are problably availible from elsewhere. The 20MB drive in my XT got some problems too, but it just won't park the head. I've backed it up anyways. If you want relability, I strongly suggest that you wait for the XT-IDE project to finish.


About the no beep issue, that must mean that the code in the Video-card's BIOS is doing something that either puts the processor into an infinity loop, or halts it.

I got a Trident 8800CS to work in my XT, but I don't know why the 8900 shouldn't as well. As said, the Tseng EX4000-based ones tend to work very well in 8-bit mode.
 
I am having a sort of similar issue. I put an 8 bit VGA card into my 5160, and now when I turn it on I get one long beep followed by 2 short beeps which indicates a video issue, but the video works fine, color and everything.
 
I am having a sort of similar issue. I put an 8 bit VGA card into my 5160, and now when I turn it on I get one long beep followed by 2 short beeps which indicates a video issue, but the video works fine, color and everything.

Are you 100% sure SW1 5-6 is both on?
 
Yeha I checked both of mine as well, moving them back and forth a couple of times. The inside of this system is cleaner then some of the NEW systems I have gotten recently.

Will continue to play with getting the VGA working at some point, but I really prefer at this point to get the system fully operational, and get working on it. Who would have thought I'd miss my XT? :) But I do, especially when I am writing.

Now if I can just find DoubleDOS and LEWP 1.5a, I can die happy :D
 
Back
Top