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Compaq Prolinea 4/50: Mystery connector

I

itsvince725

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I recently managed to obtain a Compaq Prolinea 4/50 system, sadly missing its CPU thanks to one of those gold scrapper types. I noticed a strange expansion slot next to the CPU socket.

https://i.imgur.com/qyiKJgL.jpg

What is this expansion slot for? I imagine it's for some piece of hardware that a higher ranked model of Compaq would have had but what would that have been?
 
Possibility that it's for a RAM/cache expansion card. Where's the location of the current memory and how much is installed?
 
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T-R-A said:
Possibility that it's for a RAM/cache expansion card. Where's the location of the current memory and how much is installed?
Click to expand...

There's 3 sticks in the 3 RAM slots, two identical GoldStar branded sticks of unknown capacity and then a single 4MB stick. I'd imagine the GoldStar sticks are probably 8MB each because they're double sided (a bunch of chips on one side and then like 3 or 4 on the other). I won't know for sure how much each stick is until I either look up the part number or find a CPU to test this thing.
 
Spent some time digging through the old Compaq Quickspecs CD...apparently they called your model a "Prolinea - Enhanced", at least for purposes of the CD info. For starters, here's a jumper settings list in case you need it:

Prolinea450Jumpers.JPG

Couldn't find any specific info on the board, though I did find a photo of it. The parts listing shows a 128Kb cache module, part # 197005-001. A Google image search for that turns up an ebay auction photo of something that looks like it would fit in that slot, though the link to the ebay auction is dead. Looks to me like T-R-A guessed correctly.

Wesley
 
itsvince725 said:
I'd imagine the GoldStar sticks are probably 8MB each because they're double sided (a bunch of chips on one side and then like 3 or 4 on the other). I won't know for sure how much each stick is until I either look up the part number or find a CPU to test this thing.
Click to expand...

If the module has 8 chips on one side and 3/4 on the other, it's parity memory. The additional memory chips are used as parity bits and don't actually contribute to the usable capacity of the stick. If you can get a part number off of one of the 8 chips and there was a datasheet available, it'd be easy to figure out the capacity.

If the 3rd stick is not a parity module, then none of the modules can run in parity mode for parity checking. Parity is the predecessor to ECC, it can detect bit errors, but it can't actually correct them. If the system detect a parity error, it'll just throw up a "PARITY ERROR, SYSTEM HALTED" message and lock up.

If you need a CPU for the machine, I have a spare DX/2-66 if you need it. I'd have to put it in a machine to see if it worked still, it has been sitting in a drawer for over a decade.
 
GiGaBiTe said:
If the module has 8 chips on one side and 3/4 on the other, it's parity memory. The additional memory chips are used as parity bits and don't actually contribute to the usable capacity of the stick. If you can get a part number off of one of the 8 chips and there was a datasheet available, it'd be easy to figure out the capacity.

If the 3rd stick is not a parity module, then none of the modules can run in parity mode for parity checking. Parity is the predecessor to ECC, it can detect bit errors, but it can't actually correct them. If the system detect a parity error, it'll just throw up a "PARITY ERROR, SYSTEM HALTED" message and lock up.

If you need a CPU for the machine, I have a spare DX/2-66 if you need it. I'd have to put it in a machine to see if it worked still, it has been sitting in a drawer for over a decade.
Click to expand...

I managed to get my hands on a DX-2 66 myself and get the system booted today, despite 3 RAM sticks it states there's 16MB of RAM (that must mean a RAM stick isn't being recognized because there's no way 3 sticks can equal 16MB). Yeah, they're definitely parity SIMMs based on your description, my guess is that the 4MB non-parity stick isn't being recognized and the two parity sticks are 8MB each.

I'm assuming this is one of those Compaqs that requires a diskette to get into setup because none of the typical keys (Esc, Del, F1, F2, F8, F10, etc) do anything. It's apparently SP1363.EXE but I dunno where to actually find the file.
 
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It turned out I was doing my math wrong! There's 4MB onboard so 4MB onboard plus 12MB worth of SIMMs = 16MB.

Thanks for the link! I was just finding the text file.
 
itsvince725 said:
I managed to get my hands on a DX-2 66 myself and get the system booted today, despite 3 RAM sticks it states there's 16MB of RAM (that must mean a RAM stick isn't being recognized because there's no way 3 sticks can equal 16MB). Yeah, they're definitely parity SIMMs based on your description, my guess is that the 4MB non-parity stick isn't being recognized and the two parity sticks are 8MB each.

I'm assuming this is one of those Compaqs that requires a diskette to get into setup because none of the typical keys (Esc, Del, F1, F2, F8, F10, etc) do anything. It's apparently SP1363.EXE but I dunno where to actually find the file.
Click to expand...

I've got a ton of different Memory Modules of all different types, if you want to post a picture of what you've got, I can look to see if I've got any matching ones.

This is what it says in the Service Manual as to how to get into the Setup.

Basically it says to Press F10 within 2 seconds of Power Up when there is a Cursor Flashing in the Upper Right Corner of the Screen. If you miss it you can not Soft Boot (CTRL-ALT-DEL), you have to do a Full Power Down / Power Up again.

Page 174-175

Compaq Prolinea 4-50 Page 174-175.jpg

I don't want to get into an argument over this, but just FYI, this Image File was 37KB and 706 X 757 pixels in Dimensions and was still Resized to an unusable Dimension of 261 X 280 pixels after Upload. I wish this would get fixed it is really annoying.
 
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Syclops said:
I don't want to get into an argument over this, but just FYI, this Image File was 37KB and 706 X 757 pixels in Dimensions and was still Resized to an unusable Dimension of 261 X 280 pixels after Upload. I wish this would get fixed it is really annoying.
Click to expand...

Don't upload it as an attachment, put it on an external image website and link to it with
 
Syclops said:
I don't want to get into an argument over this, but just FYI, this Image File was 37KB and 706 X 757 pixels in Dimensions and was still Resized to an unusable Dimension of 261 X 280 pixels after Upload. I wish this would get fixed it is really annoying.
Click to expand...

GiGaBiTe said:
Don't upload it as an attachment, put it on an external image website and link to it with tags.[/QUOTE]This solution has already been suggested to him in a previous post:

[URL]http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?59327-WTB-Tandy-1000-SL-bottom-drive-rails&p=581071#post581071[/URL]
Click to expand...
 
Syclops said:
But I just disproved your assertion from that other Thread in Post #16 "But it doesn't do that. Images < 100k are not resized" by uploading a file that was 37KB and it was still resized, so basically you don't know what you are talking about.
Click to expand...
I don't know what there is to be said if that's what's preventing you from using an image hosting site and then linking to that image here so that you get the desired result.


In any case, I don't have the problem you do with the forum software resizing the pics to the point where they are unuseable.

Have a look:

DOSSideways-2-750-rr.jpg

It's quite legible, it's the right size and it's being hosted right here, on this forum, as an attachment.

What are you doing to get such an unsatisfactory result?
 
Syclops said:
This is what it says in the Service Manual as to how to get into the Setup.

Basically it says to Press F10 within 2 seconds of Power Up when there is a Cursor Flashing in the Upper Right Corner of the Screen. If you miss it you can not Soft Boot (CTRL-ALT-DEL), you have to do a Full Power Down / Power Up again..
Click to expand...

That is correct...but you have to have the Compaq setup software installed (first thing on a blank drive so it creates a special partition) before the F10 setup will work. It's been a while, but I'm pretty sure you can boot off of the setup install disks as well.

Wesley
 
This is an Experiment uploading the same image that I uploaded previously, but I'm uploading the original file in 3 different formats .PNG .GIF and .JPG.

What I believe is happening is Vbulletin is Converting the .PNG or .GIF images to .JPG and in the process of performing the Conversion it performs a Resize on the image that it does not perform on an original .JPG image that is uploaded.

All 3 of these uploaded images are the same dimensions prior to upload, 706 X 757 pixels.

I could be wrong, but it is the only thing I can think of that might make a difference.

PNG Upload - Size on Disk 40KB
PNG - Compaq Prolinea 4-50 Page 174-175.jpg

GIF Upload - Size on Disk 28KB
GIF - Compaq Prolinea 4-50 Page 174-175.jpg

JPG Upload - Size on Disk 80KB
JPG - Compaq Prolinea 4-50 Page 174-175.jpg

BINGO!!! Hypothesis Confirmed!!!
 
@wesleyfurr
Do You have some other info about Prolinea Enchanced?

@Syclops
The Compaq 466 is NOT Compaq 4/60 etc. If Compaq 4/50 is Compaq Prolinea Enchanced it is with ISA slots. This manual is for later Compaq with PCI

-----------
About this mystery connector. Maybe it is just VESA Local Bus? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_Local_Bus

How do You connected CMOS battery? Do You use external battery pack?
 
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