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Philips P3302 problem

xtmaniac

New Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2006
Messages
7
Hi,

I'm posting this in desperation because there's not much info on this machine and I checked out Terry Yagers website a partial result.Basically I have a
Philips/Magnavox/Headstart P3302 xt 386-16sx which has a Bios Checksum
error. The error message says "CMOS BATTERY/checksum error detected(test 4c)RUN SETUP!"
Then it says "F1" key to resume.When I do this I get no operating system
found.
I've replaced the CMOS battery but I need a manual to find out what the
jumper settings are on the motherboard (which is a P3300 with an Intel
chipset) The Bios states that it's a "philips P3300 Rom Bios 21/11/88 -1.58 /2".I would really like to know how to run setup or if there is a setup disk needed to get this bios problem sorted out. I've tried all sorts of key presses
to get into setup to no avail and I suspect I need to sort out the checksum
error first before I can go any further. Any help with this problem would be
greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

PS The system comes with a Miniscribe 6085 hard disk and a 720k 3.5"
floppy drive.The hard disk controller is a Winchester.
 
I have a website...???

Have you tried running a generic setup disk? Can you boot from a floppy? Your checksum problem will prolly go away after you run some kinda setup prog. Try googling for 'GSETUP' or similar.

--T
 
Philips p3302 bios problem

Philips p3302 bios problem

Thanks for the quick replies.Sorry about the mistake re website I was looking
at the post for the Philips NMS 9100 and went onto the website given there
(Kee's Computer Home). I did a google search for gsetup which didn't produce
any positive results. If I could get a user manual for this machine it would
help:D (any suggestions?) because then I could at least find out where the
jumpers are for the Bios.I'm puzzled but I'm going to keep trying. There must
be a setup disk for this machine somewhere!!

Xtmaniac:confused: :confused:
 
The error message suggests that a SETUP.EXE needs to be run, but just in case there's a built-in setup editor, you may want to try each of the following (found on the web).

Acer - CTL ALT ESC

AMI BIOS - DEL, F1 or F2

AST, Advantage, Award, Tandon - CTL ALT ESC

Award BIOS - DEL or CTL ALT ESC

Compaq - F10

DELL - F1 or DEL or CTL ALT ENTER

DTK BIOS - Esc

Gateway 2000 - F1

Hewlett Packard - F1

IBM
Older Models - In order to get into the configuration of the IBM setup screen CMOS screen you need to hold down both mouse buttons during bootup.
Aptiva - F1
PS/2 - CTL ALT INS after CTL ALT DEL
PS/2 with reference partition - INS

NEC - F2

Olivetti PC Pro - SHIFT CTL ALT Numpad DEL

Packard Bell - F1 or F2

Phoenix BIOS F1 or F2, or CTL ALT ESC or CTL ALT S or CTL S or CTL ALT INS

Sharp Laptop 9020 - F2

Sony - F3 at switchon, then F2 or F1

Tandon - CTL SHIFT ESC

Toshiba - ESC at switchon

Zenith - CTL ALT INS

Miscellaneous - CTL ESC or CTL ALT +
 
Philips p3302 problem

Philips p3302 problem

Thanks for all your replies I'm very grateful:p :p .I did find Gsetup as advised and I'm going to try that:D :D . BTW does anyone know if it is possible to get a manual which mentions what the jumper settings are about? I'll let everyone
know how I get on.Once again thankyou everyone for your help.

Regards

Xtmaniac
 
Philips p3302 problem

Philips p3302 problem

Thanks for the Link, no luck nothing like it.All I know is that the board\PC
was made by the Philips subsidiary Magnavox/Headstart in Canada.I found a
link to the website which is http:phibsia2.cam-colo.bbnplanet.com/philipsUSA/
index.html but that website seemed to be dead so I'm still looking:p .The guy
on Kees' computerhome garage seems to be my best bet as he appears to
have worked for Philips in the past.He seems a bit difficult to get hold of though:( .Anyway I'll keep trying.Once again thanks to you all for you suggestions and help.

Regards

Xtmaniac:D :D
 
P3302 problem -continued

P3302 problem -continued

Well,after a LOT of messing about I discovered that the floppy disc drive
(3.5") was defective and once I'd replaced it I managed to boot into Dos
despite the fact I was getting the Bios checksum error message.I did run
gsetup(thanks guys:D :D )and managed to get into setup.However I've
had mixed results with this.I managed to change time and date ok and I
managed to mount the 3.5" and 5.25" drives successfuly BUT I cannot
mount the hard disk at all. If I put in type 1,no CHS figures appear at all
and I also got a message at the start of running gsetup mentioning a
Bios ram problem.I did reboot the computer and the Bios checksum error
has now disappeared but as yet I still can't get the hard disk connected
to the controller card to be detected by the machine.I apologize for the previous garbled post. I found out why I wasn't able to send an email to
the guy on the website I mentioned so I'll try again in due course. Does
anyone why the Bios doesn't seem to have any harddisk CHS numbers
available.Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Xtmaniac:cool:
 
Does anyone why the Bios doesn't seem to have any harddisk CHS numbers available.
With the IBM AT and early AT clones, CHS figures never appeared on the screen.
Armed with the CHS figures (and other figures [e.g. WPC]) you would consult the technical manual for your computer.
That would give you a drive type number to enter via your SETUP.EXE

For the first 23 drive types, most clones emulated the 23 drive types defined in the IBM AT (that helped the clone makers to justify their "100% IBM compatible" statement).
Thus try using a drive type using the following IBM AT list:

Code:
The first version of the IBM/AT had a ROM BIOS that supported 15 drive types:

Type  Cyls  Hds   WPC         Ctrl  LZ    Sectors
-----------------------------------------------------------
1     306   4     128         00h   305   17    (10.2 Mb)
2     615   4     300         00h   615   17    (20.4 Mb)
3     615   6     300         00h   615   17    (30.6 Mb)
4     940   8     512         00h   940   17    (62.4 Mb)
5     940   6     512         00h   940   17    (46.8 Mb)
6     615   4     65535       00h   615   17    (20.4 Mb)
7     462   8     256         00h   511   17    (30.7 Mb)
8     733   5     65535       00h   733   17    (30.4 Mb)
9     900   15    65535       08h   901   17    (112 Mb)
10    820   3     65535       00h   820   17    (20.4 Mb)
11    855   5     65535       00h   855   17    (35.5 Mb)
12    855   7     65535       00h   855   17    (49.7 Mb)
13    306   8     128         00h   319   17    (20.3 Mb)
14    733   7     65535       00h   733   17    (42.6 Mb)
15    0     0     0           00h   0     0     (Reserved)

The second version of the IBM/AT extended the support to 22 different types:

16    612   4     0           00h   663   17    (20.3 Mb)
17    977   5     300         00h   977   17    (40.6 Mb)
18    977   7     65535       00h   977   17    (56.8 Mb)
19    1024  7     512         00h   1023  17    (59.5 Mb)
20    733   5     300         00h   732   17    (30.4 Mb)
21    733   7     300         00h   732   17    (42.6 Mb)
22    733   5     300         00h   733   17    (30.4 Mb)

The third and final version of the IBM/AT extended the support to 23 different types:

23    306   4     0           00h   336   17    (10.2 Mb)
 
Philips P3302 problem

Thankyou for that information, again really helpful:D :D .I'm trying to keep
things simple because I've found myself going down a number of blind alleys so I'll try this out asap.:cool:

Thanks:p :p
 
Philips P3302 problem

27th March 2007

I must apologise for the long absence with no reply.I would like to convey
my thanks and appreciation for the help I received it was very,very useful.
I DID manage to get the xt going finally and I made som progess with the
problem I was trying to solve.Getting the xt to work though was part of a much more difficult and involved situation involving RT-11 the operating
system for pdp 150 processors!!! All I can say is that I'm still trying to sort that one out and I will try and give some feedback on that because it might
well help someone else avoid the blind alleys I've gone down.

Thankyou all,this is a very valuable resource.:D :D
 
My philips doesn't turn on

My philips doesn't turn on

I also have a Philips p3302, but mine doesn't turn on after twenty years of "rest" in the attic.
When I switch it on, the green LED only lights up for less than a second and at the same time the fan lightly moves, and nothing else happens. So, I was wondering if you could help me figuring out this one, and help me find the solution. Thanks
 
I also have a Philips p3302, but mine doesn't turn on after twenty years of "rest" in the attic.
When I switch it on, the green LED only lights up for less than a second and at the same time the fan lightly moves, and nothing else happens. So, I was wondering if you could help me figuring out this one, and help me find the solution. Thanks
Welcome to these forums.
Please confirm that the computer was working before it went into storage.
 
Welcome to these forums.
Please confirm that the computer was working before it went into storage.

Thanks for the attention.
Well, the computer wasn't mine at the first place, it belonged to a uncle of mine that barely used it (I don't know if the Phillips was broken or he didn't know how to use it). So, when he gave it to me was after the 20 years in the storage and he doesn't remember how it was when he stored it.
 
Thanks for the attention.
Well, the computer wasn't mine at the first place, it belonged to a uncle of mine that barely used it (I don't know if the Phillips was broken or he didn't know how to use it). So, when he gave it to me was after the 20 years in the storage and he doesn't remember how it was when he stored it.
Tantalum Capacitors that go short circuit, overloading the power supply, are common in old computers. Those can be found on the motherboard, on expansion cards, and in drives.
Over time, aluminium electrolytic capacitors dry out. There could be some 'dry' capacitors in your power supply.
But there are other possibilities.

If you have not done so already, open up the computer and do a very good visual inspection. You may spot the problem's cause.

Also, try the following:
1. Remove all cards from the motherboard, then
2. With only the motherboard connected to the power supply, turn on the power supply.
If the green LED stays on, that suggests that a card or drive has a short circuit in it (which overloads the power supply).

Note that turning on the power supply when the supply has nothing connected to it is rarely valid to do. That is because power supplies in PCs usually require an adequate level of loading in order to start/operate. The motherboard is usually enough of a load.
 
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