Max IBM5150
Member
I just recently aquired an IBM PC/AT off eBay and I have big plans for this machine, I am going to take this computer, (With the help of Windows 3.11,IE 5.0 and an ISA eithernet card) Onto the internet to surf the Web! ( just as a proof of concept really, I really love the AT and wish to use it for business applications and other cool things aswell.) I have allready gotten Windows 95 pc's to do this just fine but I like to push the envelope.
I got this thing with no FDD's or HDD's and only a memory add-on board to bring the RAM to 1MB (that also includes a Paralell/ sereal port and a Non-IBM CGA card. There was no life in this machine at all when I powered it up at first.
Well I went digging thru my AT class stuff and found 2 1.2MB 5.25" Floppy drives and a FDD/ IDE HDD controler from about 1986. I also found a 1988 Western Digital 3.5" 40MB HDD so I installed that. I also installed a 16-bit VGA/EGA/CGA/MDA card to upgrade the graphics memory to 1MB, and use VGA (or the respective graphics modes when needed) aswell. I even found a 16-bit SIMM-based memory add-on board with 4MB or SIMM RAM on it (expandable to 8MB) allready and a Sound Blaster 2 Pro. I even found an 8-bit Paralell card from my 5150 I replaced with a multifunction card,and put that in there too.
After I installed this all, the machine seemed to work untill it wouldnt adress past 1MB of RAM and wouldnt adress the HDD either and it old me to run setup and I was thinking to myself that this is one of the worst things this computer can tell you sence that the BIOS config files are supplied on a Floppy Diskette.
So The way I see it, I have 2 major problems
1. I dont have the BIOS setup diskette.
2. I the computer does not adress over 1MB or ram at startup, even though I know there is 5MB total. (and I eventully want to go to the maximum 16MB or RAM) and it does not adress the Hard Drive. (even though I run FDisk, it tells me there are none either)
So the questions I have now are,
1. How can I get the BIOS setup disk?
2. After I get the disk, would this let me configure the system to adress past 1MB of RAM and adress the HDD?
3. Would getting the Intel 80287 Math Coprosessor help me with this feat?
4. And are there any random facts that anybody knows about the PC/AT that would help me?
If anyone out there has any advice for me that would be great, I was born in the Pentium-Era of computing so I dont have alot of experence with these computers (except for an IBM 5150 that I rased from the dead a few months ago, but that is a whole other animal alltogather in a way)
But I love restoring these machines and teaching others my age about them too (some of the kids I talk to tell me that computers werent even invented untill 1986 or so, Ha Ha Ha)
Well, from the next-generation of vintage computer restorers and collectors I say thank you for reading this, and thanks for helping.
I got this thing with no FDD's or HDD's and only a memory add-on board to bring the RAM to 1MB (that also includes a Paralell/ sereal port and a Non-IBM CGA card. There was no life in this machine at all when I powered it up at first.
Well I went digging thru my AT class stuff and found 2 1.2MB 5.25" Floppy drives and a FDD/ IDE HDD controler from about 1986. I also found a 1988 Western Digital 3.5" 40MB HDD so I installed that. I also installed a 16-bit VGA/EGA/CGA/MDA card to upgrade the graphics memory to 1MB, and use VGA (or the respective graphics modes when needed) aswell. I even found a 16-bit SIMM-based memory add-on board with 4MB or SIMM RAM on it (expandable to 8MB) allready and a Sound Blaster 2 Pro. I even found an 8-bit Paralell card from my 5150 I replaced with a multifunction card,and put that in there too.
After I installed this all, the machine seemed to work untill it wouldnt adress past 1MB of RAM and wouldnt adress the HDD either and it old me to run setup and I was thinking to myself that this is one of the worst things this computer can tell you sence that the BIOS config files are supplied on a Floppy Diskette.
So The way I see it, I have 2 major problems
1. I dont have the BIOS setup diskette.
2. I the computer does not adress over 1MB or ram at startup, even though I know there is 5MB total. (and I eventully want to go to the maximum 16MB or RAM) and it does not adress the Hard Drive. (even though I run FDisk, it tells me there are none either)
So the questions I have now are,
1. How can I get the BIOS setup disk?
2. After I get the disk, would this let me configure the system to adress past 1MB of RAM and adress the HDD?
3. Would getting the Intel 80287 Math Coprosessor help me with this feat?
4. And are there any random facts that anybody knows about the PC/AT that would help me?
If anyone out there has any advice for me that would be great, I was born in the Pentium-Era of computing so I dont have alot of experence with these computers (except for an IBM 5150 that I rased from the dead a few months ago, but that is a whole other animal alltogather in a way)
But I love restoring these machines and teaching others my age about them too (some of the kids I talk to tell me that computers werent even invented untill 1986 or so, Ha Ha Ha)
Well, from the next-generation of vintage computer restorers and collectors I say thank you for reading this, and thanks for helping.