Samsung notemaster 386s/ 25e

[varol]

Newbie post really sorry if wrong section or something else.

Lately got a notemaster 386s/25e

device is not in the best condition

I tried to make a bootable dos 6.0 diskette but on the boot it says

Invalid configuration information please run SETUP program

f1 for continue f2 for setup



in the setup menu it says

cmos battery backed ram lost power all cmos defaults were loaded

standart cmos checksum was invalid standart cmos defaults were loaded

extended cmos checksum was invalid extended cmos defaults were loaded

system configuration was invalid. rewiev the first page settings.


after that there is this thing

all i want is boot to dos, maybe boot win 3.1 and main purpose is play dos games.
actually I'm a console collector as you see i dont get the classic computer stuff, but i'm really into it.

 

[modem7]

Welcome to these forums.

Background

To put it simply, your computer has a chip on the motherboard that stores the computer's configuration.
The configuration is things like:
* Date and time
* Parameters of the hard drive (if any)
* Types of floppy drives fitted
* Amount of RAM

The chip needs to be constantly powered. When the computer is powered off, a small battery, somewhere in your computer, powers the chip.

Error messages

The error messsages that you are seeing indicate that your computer has lost its configuration (setup), and the 'Pheonix SETUP Utility' screen that you are being taken to is where you type in the lost configuration details.

Going forward

Before we go down the path of instructing you on what to type into the setup screen, there is something that you need to check out first, and that is the battery that I wrote of earlier. The failure of that battery is the most likely reason that the configuration was lost. No point in you typing in the configuration information if it will be lost when you power off the computer.

So identify the battery, and measure its voltage to see if it is flat/low.

The battery is probably going to be one of the following three types:
* NiCad (Ni-Cd) of barrel shape soldered onto the motherboard (photo)
* 'External' battery that plugs into a connector on the motherboard (photo)
* Module soldered onto the motherboard (photo)

The NiCad ones are known to leak a blue-green substance that can cause motherboard damage.

 

[Stone]

No point in you typing in the configuration information if it will be lost when you power off the computer.

Why would you say that? The computer will run fine (if it's able to) until it is powered off. During that time it can be used normally and investigated for possible other problems, defects and features. And, to start it up again after a power off simply requires re-entering of the necessary configuration information. There's a lot to be learned in the time it might take to get a replacement battery located and installed and not having one (the battery) doesn't affect the computer's use in any way.

 

[modem7]

Why would you say that?

Yes, it does reflect my opinion. Over to you.

 

[varol]

Soooo do i have to change the battery to boot the pc with a dos diskette?

 

[modem7]

Soooo do i have to change the battery to boot the pc with a dos diskette?

I did a search, and discovered that the Notemaster 386S/25e is a laptop computer, and has a 1.44M floppy drive.
As for your Notemaster not booting from diskette, the following are what I think are some possible causes.

* F1 key

When the computer prompted, "f1 for continue f2 for setup", did you try the F1 key ?
If so, what happened?

* Bad boot diskette ?

Have you confirmed that your boot diskette can boot another computer? This is important. We've seen a few cases of people with computers that will not boot from diskette, and the problem turns out to be that the diskette is bad (or for whatever reason, not bootable).

* Diskette drive has 'dirty' heads

* Faulty diskette drive

* Low battery

There is a chance that a low configuration (CMOS SETUP) battery is preventing a boot from diskette. From memory, I think the PS/2 model 30 is one of the computers known to suffer from that problem.

 

[modem7]

According to [here], the NoteMaster 386S/25 has a removable hard drive.

And [here] includes, "Without a doubt the most innovative feature of the NoteMaster 386S/25 is its removable hard drive. Yes, you read that correctly; the hard drive can be removed from the NoteMaster, since it's mounted in a convenient handheld caddy."

Does your 386S/25 still have its removable hard drive?

 

[offensive_Jerk]

When you get to the screen that you took a picture of, press the PGDN key. There are more options on page 2

 

[varol]

I'm not sure if there is a removable hard drive there is one door leads to a metal plate and two screws that probably means i have no hard drive i guess.

And i'm not sure that my boot disk works ok, i downloaded the image from bootdisk.com.

When i press f1 that menu from the capture pops out, i can change hard disk tab from 1 to 48

i did press page down and there is one page more but not boot related.


lastly i managed to get a there is no boot device screen at the startup.

where can i find bootable images for diskette and how can i write them.

 

[modem7]

lastly i managed to get a there is no boot device screen at the startup.

In a way, that is good, because it suggests that the computer would have tried the diskette drive. Did you see the drive light go on?

I'm not sure if there is a removable hard drive there is one door leads to a metal plate and two screws that probably means i have no hard drive i guess.

A user manual or technical manual will give you the evidence that you need.

And i'm not sure that my boot disk works ok, i downloaded the image from bootdisk.com.

Obviously, you did not create your boot diskette using the NoteMaster; you used a different computer, one with a 1.44M drive.
If that computer can boot from its 1.44M drive, then that is one way to test your boot diskette.

where can i find bootable images for diskette and how can i write them.

Where you have been, bootdisk.com, is a major source.

You could try the 'Creating a 720K Boot Diskette Using Your Modern Computer' section at [here].

 

[varol]

now without diskette device says invalid configuration information please run setup program

with the dos diskette it says no boot device press f1 to reboot f2 to run setup program

when i insert diskette and boot floppy drive makes some sound as its working, and floppy drive indicator lights too.

and i tried the diskette on a x86 pc as a boot device via usb floppy drive and yes it's works it boots dos.


i guess i have i find a compatible floppy drive which is really hard.