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IBM AT 5170 Memory Error / parity error 2

offensive_Jerk said:
I only see Intel on the memory board. No other writing. I will upload here.
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It turns out that I was looking at a photo of an INTEL ABOVE BOARD AT (it has "ABOVE BOARD AT" printed on it). I subsequently found a photo that exactly matches with what you have. That photo is simply described as "Intel above board", and so I do not know whether you have the original Intel Above Board, or some variation of it. Maybe someone reading this who knows will comment.

offensive_Jerk said:
I suspect it's an inboard Intel 386 card because of the sticker on the case, and the card here.
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Sounds convincing. I am unfamiliar with the card. You may need to run the software that was supplied with the card in order to see the RAM configuration. Maybe someone reading this who knows will comment.
 
modem7 said:
Sounds convincing. I am unfamiliar with the card. You may need to run the software that was supplied with the card in order to see the RAM configuration. Maybe someone reading this who knows will comment.
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Not sure if that will be possible, as I am unsure of the hard drive's condition. Not sure if it works and just needs to be configured in Bios or what. I need to run the setup disk.

When I tried to boot dos floppys, it would display garbage characters, so maybe the ram error is affecting that.

I should probably post a wanted ad for a 286 for this machine and get it running that way first.
 
I took out the Intel Ram card and booted and I got no memory errors, and made no other adjustments. So it's something with that card.

at mem error.jpg
 
I'm using the guide on how to run setup using basic in minuszero but I ran out of time.

Is it possible that this error is happening due to miscondiguration due to battery loss? Or does the ram count too high for it to be that. On the basic commands I used it told me my base memory is 512, yet when I run the command to find expanded memory it says 0 with the ram card out, but post still counts to 1536 and doesn't error with the 386 inboard card in and without the intel ram card.
 
I got it booting from a floppy and can access the HDD now. But I still need to figure out how to fix that expansion ram card.
 
offensive_Jerk said:
Is it possible that this error is happening due to miscondiguration due to battery loss?
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The "0004 in "2C0004 0004" indicates a single bit in error. With a misconfiuration that results in the 5170 reading non-existing RAM, you would see many bits in error. So my answer is no.

offensive_Jerk said:
... yet when I run the command to find expanded memory ...
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Expansion memory, not expanded memory. 'Expansion' is IBM's early term for RAM past 1 MB, and then later, that became known as 'extended'.

That BASIC command, by the way, is showing what the POST found at power on time.

offensive_Jerk said:
yet when I run the command to find expanded memory it says 0 with the ram card out, but post still counts to 1536 and doesn't error with the 386 inboard card in and without the intel ram card.
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Your "counts to 1536" suggests that the Inboard 386 card is supplying 1 MB of extended RAM (512K on motherboard + 1024K on card = 1536K).

But the result of 0 for the BASIC command that shows expansion (extended) RAM does not make sense in consideration of the expansion (extended) RAM on the Inboard 386 card. Are you sure that you typed in the command correctly?

offensive_Jerk said:
I got it booting from a floppy and can access the HDD now. But I still need to figure out how to fix that expansion ram card.
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We will get there, but first, we need to be certain of the situation presently (without the Above Board inserted).

I suspect that the Inboard 386 card (presently fitted) is supplying 1 MB of RAM between the 1 MB and 2 MB addresses.
Is it true that you no longer see on-screen error codes?
And is it also true that when you performed SETUP, you used a figure of 1024 KB for 'expansion' RAM ?
 
I was able to run the IBM advanced Diagnostics disk now. I am now able to run the setup program. I specified 0 for expansion ram, since I wasn't sure how much memory or what I should enter for that part. When I run setup now, it does give me a "164 -MEMORY size error" now. I will try to enter setup again and put 1024 in for expansion Ram and hopfully that will clear that error.

My ultimate goal is to revert this back to stock as possible and remove the 386 card, and get the other Intel memory board working. Modem7, do you know which 286 variant this would have came with?

I backed up what I could from the HDD. there was a folder called 'AST' (there are no AST cards I know of) and another folder called MISC with what I believe to be the drivers/files for the inboard 386 card. Modem7, let me know if you want those files for your site. minuszerodegrees has been super helpful to me so far.

There's a manual for the inboard 386 here, but it doesn't show the 5170 installation.

http://maben.homeip.net/static/S100/intel/datasheet/Intel%20Inboard%20386%20Manual.pdf
 
Stone said:
Translation please. :) :)
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Whoops, I meant Intel Inboard 386/PC (for PC XT's) and a different model, a Inboard 386/AT (for AT machines.)

Anyway, The only marking I found on the card is 107037 Rev B. I google that and it does bring up results for Intel Above Board cards like the ebay link below. Now to find a manual. I need to get that other RAM card working sometime so I can revert back to 286.

And I also should note, that I set the expansion ram to 1024 and it boots without errors now.
At first the HDD was not detected, but it would try to boot after I used basic to run Setup. Then it was giving errors, so I left it turned on for a while, rebooted with a DOS disk and the HDD was accessible. I did a LLF on the HDD since it was having issues and installed IBM DOS 3. The battery is shot, so I will probably have to run setup when I turn it on again, but it's nice that I can get it to boot without errors.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/360875534056?lpid=82

Hopefully this link works to my flickr set of the card.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/11812307@N03/sets/72157643355118265/
 
offensive_Jerk said:
My ultimate goal is to revert this back to stock as possible and remove the 386 card, and get the other Intel memory board working. Modem7, do you know which 286 variant this would have came with?
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It depends on the motherboard type: 1, 2 or 3. From what little that I can see of the motherboard in your photos, yours is either of type 2 or 3.
You should be able to determine which from the information that is [here].

A type 2 uses a 6 MHz 80286, and a type 3 uses an 8 MHz 80286.

There is a photo of the 8 MHz CPU in my type 3 at [here].
 
The Above Board card will have 4 banks of RAM, where each bank is 18 chips (16 data + 2 parity). The photo of the Above Board on eBay that you linked to has only one bank populated, and thus suggests (repeat: suggests) that the banks run from center to outer.

The banks on this card can be different sizes, and is determined by looking at the chip type used in a bank.

Bank 0 = 16 data chips of 64 Kbit = 1024 Kbit = 128 KB
Bank 1 = 16 data chips of 256 Kbit = 4096 Kbit = 512 KB
Bank 2 = 16 data chips of 256 Kbit = 4096 Kbit = 512 KB
Bank 3 = 16 data chips of 256 Kbit = 4096 Kbit = 512 KB

So, when you add the card to your 5170, I expect that the memory map will become what is [here].

That assumes that the card's starting address has been correctly set to the 2 MB address. But maybe someone got it wrong. It would be good to see the card's documentation in order to establish that, and the other assumption:
* Card configured to start at the 2 MB address
* Banks run from center to outer
 
modem7 said:
It depends on the motherboard type: 1, 2 or 3. From what little that I can see of the motherboard in your photos, yours is either of type 2 or 3.
You should be able to determine which from the information that is [here].

A type 2 uses a 6 MHz 80286, and a type 3 uses an 8 MHz 80286.

There is a photo of the 8 MHz CPU in my type 3 at [here].
Click to expand...

Thanks, Mine is a type 3 then, since it has a 16mhz crystal. Manufactured in 1986 per the speaker ribbon.
I finally got the courage to pull the ribbon plug connector in the 386 socket. I'll take some pics. I basically stripped the system down and cleaning it now.
 
Crap. I took it all apart to clean out the case and now she won't boot. No video, no beeps. Just the power LED. I hear the HDD spin up but that's it... The power cables are plugged into the mobo with blacks together and I put the cards in the same slots. Even reseated them. What did I do??
 
offensive_Jerk said:
Crap. I took it all apart to clean out the case and now she won't boot. No video, no beeps. Just the power LED. I hear the HDD spin up but that's it... The power cables are plugged into the mobo with blacks together and I put the cards in the same slots. Even reseated them. What did I do??
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Does the PSU/motherboard/videocard combination work outside of the case?
 
offensive_Jerk said:
I'm not sure I follow. What do you mean?
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You have reasembled the computer. If you take out the PSU, motherboard, and video card, and then power those up together, say on the kitchen table, does the motherboard power up then?
If it does, then I think you must have shorted something out to the case when you reassembled the computer.
If not, then we go down a different path.
 
modem7 said:
You have reasembled the computer. If you take out the PSU, motherboard, and video card, and then power those up together, say on the kitchen table, does the motherboard power up then?
If it does, then I think you must have shorted something out to the case when you reassembled the computer.
If not, then we go down a different path.
Click to expand...

Thank you for clarifying. I thought that's what you meant but wasn't sure. I'll give it a try
 
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