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Hi there!

[UFO]

Experienced Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2012
Messages
56
Location
Spain
Hi!

My name is Rafa, from Cádiz, Spain. I arrived to this forum looking for some info about the QDI US491P3 mainboard, which was my most recent adquisition :) .

I'm 29, grew up with an IBM Aptiva equipped with a 486SX-33 and 4MB RAM bought back in 1995. Now, I have an Aptiva boosted to a 486 DX4-100 and 16 MB RAM, where I have a little FTP server. I like vintage games, both playing and editing, and programming languages, specially Basic, Pascal and C.

I do not consider myself a collector but like to get everything related to IBM PS/2 computers and newer. I hope to learn much from this forum and its people.

Cheers! :D
 
Welcome to the forums! :) Is that the only vintage system you're using now adays? Pretty nice computer for all of the above (gaming, programming, etc).
 
Thank you all for the warm welcome! :)

Welcome to the forums! :) Is that the only vintage system you're using now adays? Pretty nice computer for all of the above (gaming, programming, etc).

Well barythrin, that is the only PC-like system that I have and use everyday. I also have a Sinclair ZX Spectrum +2A and a Sony MSX HB-10P (they were my childhood machines, back in the 80s) in excellent working condition but use them once in a while. I will put a pic soon to show them.
 
Introducing my humble machine:

Board: IBM Aptiva 2144 - Type C1
CPU: Overdrive DX4-75 (BIOS recognize it as a DX4-100!)
RAM: 16 MB - SIMM 72c
HD: IBM - 1.2 GB
Video: Cirrus Logic GD-5422 ISA - 1 MB
Sound: Sound Blaster Pro ISA
Network: 3COM Etherlink III ISA
Optical: LG CD-RW
OS: FreeDOS (thinking about a multi-boot with WIN95... will see...)




Hope you like it! :)
 
Introducing my humble machine:

Board: IBM Aptiva 2144 - Type C1
CPU: Overdrive DX4-75 (BIOS recognize it as a DX4-100!)
RAM: 16 MB - SIMM 72c
HD: IBM - 1.2 GB
Video: Cirrus Logic GD-5422 ISA - 1 MB
Sound: Sound Blaster Pro ISA
Network: 3COM Etherlink III ISA
Optical: LG CD-RW
OS: FreeDOS (thinking about a multi-boot with WIN95... will see...)

That nice machine is screaming it wants to run Xenix. :D
 
So, the sooner I introduce it to the community, the sooner fails. Suddenly, it does not boot. I was in FreeDOS and it appeared a MEMORY ERROR and some hexadecimal digits overwriting the current screen.

I boot it up, it does the memory test, calculates the 16 MB I have installed and stays there. No beeps, no nothing. Sometimes I can get into the IBM Configuration Utility (BIOS config), sometimes don't, it appears a screen asking for a disk and press F1... I do not know... I have to investigate what the f&$% happened. Darn it! :(
 
So, the sooner I introduce it to the community, the sooner fails. Suddenly, it does not boot. I was in FreeDOS and it appeared a MEMORY ERROR and some hexadecimal digits overwriting the current screen.

I boot it up, it does the memory test, calculates the 16 MB I have installed and stays there. No beeps, no nothing. Sometimes I can get into the IBM Configuration Utility (BIOS config), sometimes don't, it appears a screen asking for a disk and press F1... I do not know... I have to investigate what the f&$% happened. Darn it! :(
Must be the planet alignment or something. Just scrapped my 386sx33 today.
Your problem just well be just the cmos battery or just a shady contact/connection. Here's hoping. Good luck.

Modular blah. A phillips screw driver and hammer are the only tools you need on a clone ;)
 
Yeah, definitely an easy and quick test would be to remove and reinstall the common components, (RAM and CPU). It doesn't give you a beep code or error code on the screen though? A bit tough to tell what's happening if it's failing during POST. Probably worth giving the motherboard a quick look for bulging or burned out capacitors.
 
Problem spotted: IDE controller seems dead. I will look for an ISA adapter. Phew! :)
 
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