Compaq Portable 486c - Restore and upgrade

[Fox W.]

Hey all, so far I've restore the PSU and the screen. The issue I'm having is trying to make CF storage work.
I'm using the typical Syba SD-CF-IDE unit, with a 2GB CF. I'm able to get the configuration utility part of Softpaq 'sp1855' to see it.. it shows it as a custom defined, 2GB, so LBA works.

However when booting, the system still throws the error "disk does not support block mode." I'm not sure if there is a newer firmware needed to match what the config utility can do, or what. It's really hard to find much support for these since they are uncommon.

Has anyone succeeded in using CF storage on these?

Thanks!

 

[Fox W.]

Progress. New screen in.

 

[creepingnet]

I never managed to get any working on mine aside from the original 238MB HDD. That portable was real persnickety about storage, that's why I sold it to someone else for parts....that and finding a screen for it was a nightmare....so congrats on that. That part number is still stuck in my mind. I'm still getting emails from the Chinese surplus people asking me if I want to indulge in their October NEC injection molder screen special, lol.

 

[Fox W.]

Upgraded with Evergreen 586

The screen I used is not an original Sharp. Instead it is a Mitsubishi AA104VH01, with a generic reference controller board. I reused the metal frame from the original and drilled some new holes to mount the new one, getting it all lined up was tricky. (The display area of the two is the same, but the bezel is much smaller on the new one, and mount holes are totally different.

As for storage, I got an 'Industrial' (fixed disk bit set) CF card and all works well. It does complain on startup about with the 'disk does not support block mode' error, but once you continue it works very well all the same.

So at this point we have it running at about a P75 equivalent speed.
32MB of ram
SB AWE32
Plextor SCSI CD/RW drive
3COM 905c ethernet
AA104VH01 panel (Much greater brightness (LED) and contrast ratio)

Just need a new keyboard cable. And also a way to control the brightness with the original potentiometer.

 

[travphel]

As for storage, I got an 'Industrial' (fixed disk bit set) CF card and all works well. It does complain on startup about with the 'disk does not support block mode' error, but once you continue it works very well all the same.

Howdy Fox, I'm new to the forum and have recently acquired a Compaq 486C/66 and am in the process of restoring it from the trash pile it was found in. To that end, I tried to obtain a screen from AliExpress and it came, but when I plugged it in the screen was just bright white. If I disconnected the CF tube's power I could see a bit of an image but based on other's postings I think the caps on the module are dead and therefore just returned it. I'm now waiting for a new IPS LCD display and controller board to come in and I'll try to whip up a replacement module with that. However the one thing I was battling with was trying to get a CF card to work as a hard drive. Can you provide which industrial fixed disk you used and how you got it working?

Thanks,
Travis

 

[Fox W.]

TRANSCEND 2GB Industrial Grade CF200i ; thanks!

 

[twolazy]

I had issues with alot of my 486 prolinea compaqs and cf based storage as well. Ive found microdrives work fine, as well as transcend cards and ativa brand industrial cards.