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Dauphin 900N laptop BIOS error codes

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Old Computers

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Hello everybody. I have a Dauphin 900N laptop (above the keyboard it says 930, but on the outside it says 900N).

At one point it powered up and functioned fine. I took it apart to change the CMOS battery and remove corrosion from the battery pack. There was also something floating around in the case and I removed that too.

Ever since I have taken the computer apart it has not functioned. It gives me an error code which consists of the following beeps: long long short short short. The BIOS is Phoenix. I looked up the error codes and the error appears to mean that the CMOS RAM is bad. Is this correct, or do you think that the error codes have been customized?

I have tried almost everything from removing the HDD, reseating the BIOS chips, reseating the RAM, etc to fix the problem.

After researching this computer on the internet I found very little information about the computer and its motherboard. The motherboard says ADI on it.

An odd thing is that it did POST once after the problem has manifested itself. I powered it up and it showed the POST screen (didn't boot because it lost the settings for the HDD). After I shut it down and turned it on later the problem came back. I think that this suggests that this problem is intermittent and can possibly be remedied.

EDIT: Just thought that I should mention this. Is the CMOS RAM a big blue thing (I can't think of a better description)? The motherboard says CMOS right next to it, but I am unsure if that label actually goes with that part.

Do you guys have any insights?
 
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I have a few machines which POST sometimes and other times have a beep fit, so this is really a generic thing to try.
I'm not sure what reset or power switch options you have but... power it up and let it have it's beep-fit, then hit the hard reset (or pulse the power switch quickly). I've had a few machines now where this technique is the only way to get them to boot.

I wouldn't normally suggest something so generic, and it's unlikely a fix, but worth a shot and might help work out what's going on.
 
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This computer unfortunately does not have a hard reset button, and the power switch is a soft switch. Holding it in does not turn the computer off after the beeps. Would unplugging it and plugging it back in be fast enough?

Would a picture of the motherboard be of any assistance?

Thanks
 
Don't think so, if it's soft start it'll be unlikely to come back up :S
Photos are always great, but I don't think I'll be too much help, might help the others though.
 
Just remembered this: Sometimes the computer powers up on its own. It's kinda odd, but it only happens after I have unplugged it then plugged it back in. So there is an off chance that your method might work.
 
I just thought of something. Could bad RAM cause the computer not to POST? I think that that BIOS in this computer is shadowed so maybe if it loads itself into RAM it cannot function with bad RAM. I remember once trying to turn off the shadowing when the computer would POST to free up some memory for Windows 3.1, but the computer did not like it.
 
EDIT: Just thought that I should mention this. Is the CMOS RAM a big blue thing (I can't think of a better description)? The motherboard says CMOS right next to it, but I am unsure if that label actually goes with that part.
Click to expand...

If it looks like this:
NiCd_Button_Cell_Battery_60K_3_6V.jpg

Then no--that's the CMOS battery (rechargeable NiCd).
 
No. It is in an SIL package, about a couple of inches long. There are rectangles on one side, and on the other side there are circles (they are not drawn on, but they rise from the surface of the part). It looks like it is almost a smaller circuit board coated in blue epoxy. I will try to get a picture of it tomorrow.
 
That looks for all the world like an encapsulated SIPP memory stick. I think that the CMOS labeling belongs to the two pads in the rectangle right next to it. Probably a way to discharge/clear CMOS.
 
Thanks for helping me identitify that part. So that is not part of the CMOS RAM?

Do you have any more insights into what I could do to diagnose the problem? I tried SpidersWeb's suggestion, but that did not succeed. Could a bad RAM card cause the error?
 
No, I suspect that it's a cache RAM. Is there a lithium coin cell anywhere on the thing?--that would be the CMOS battery.

I can't say that I've ever heard of the 900N--about the only Dauphin box that I recall was the DTR-1 pen computer. I think the DTR-1 pretty much sunk the company. Dauphin survived after bankruptcy apparently until 2006, as a shell (read: cardboard box in someone's office). After which it went into some strange mergers with itself and changed its name to GeoVax and went after some NIH money to develop an AIDs vaccine. I don't know what happened after that.
 
There was a cylindrical 3v lithium battery with a cable coming out of it that connected to a connector on the motherboard. I have tried replacing it by using a 3v coin cell, but that did not help. If I remember correctly, sometimes the system did not beep with a new battery, but it did not POST.

The main reason why I want to fix this computer is because of its obscurity. The only references to it I have been able to find are battery packs for sale. The story of that company is an interesting one. I have heard of the DTR-1 and I am looking for one right now. The logo on the case looks just like the logo on the DTR-1.

If it helps in identification, the motherboard says ADI on it. It was made in Taiwan, and I have found references to other ADI motherboards on the internet. The back says Asic Designs Inc.

Edit: Here are the pictures.
IMG_1034.jpgIMG_1035.jpg
 
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I have been checking some of the chips on the motherboard to see if any are the CMOS RAM. So far I have not found anything. The only chip I think might be the RAM is a chip labeled TC511664J-10, but that is a DRAM chip. CMOS RAM would be static right?

There are several monolithic componets. Should I look into those as well?

There are three sets of jumpers on the motherboard. I have not touched those, but do you think that one of them could cause a problem?

The circuit board appears to label the SIPP memory stick with PS1.
 
The easiest way to get in the neighborhood of the CMOS chip is to look for the little 32KHz crystal (usually a small round cylinder) and see where the traces go. The CMOS in this thing could well be part of a larger LSI chip.
 
The crystal is between several different chips. The motherboard is a multi-layer PCB so I cannot tell for sure where the traces would go.

This chip sounds promising: http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/93151/XILINX/XC3030.html
I am not sure if it contains the CMOS RAM though. It mentions something about configuration settings but that sounds like parameters for the chip itself not the computer. Even though the chip is programmable it sounds like its program is stored in an external ROM instead of inside the chip.

With a CMOS battery connected would it be a good idea to check the voltages on that chip to see if that could be the one?
 
A chip that has some voltages on its pins is a chip labeled: Benchmarq bq2001s. I looked up its data sheet and it also has some type of configuration RAM, but I am doubting that that is the chip at fault (it's an enegry managment unit). I also checked the SIPP memory stick just in case and it has nothing on it.

Several chips throughout the board have ~0.01 to 0.03 volts on them. I am assuming that that is nothing to take note of.

Here are some chips that might be it, but I am not sure because the datasheets say they are Octal-D type transparent latches and an analog multiplexer and demultiplexer respectively:
http://datasheetcatalog.com/datasheets_pdf/7/4/H/C/74HC573D.shtml
http://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/156870/PHILIPS/74HC4053D.html
 
The 7400-series ICs aren't part of the the CMOS timekeeper. However, the bq2001 is a vital chip, even if it's not the CMOS device we're interested in. You should see +3 or so on pin 15 and nearly that on pin 14 with the machine powered off. If you don't, we may well have our answer.
 
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