Sharp PC-7200 Cant get any to bootdisk to work

[scottparkin]

can some body help a have a sharp pc-7200 but i cant seem to get any boot disk to work ive tried all the os's what are ment to be compatible but no joy could someone help me plz i think i maybe formating disks to wrong size could some one tell me what size thay are in this machine or give me help on the very strange bios

thanks

scott

 

[Thomas Hillebrandt]

The Sharp PC-7200 is an IBM-compatible "laptop", isn't it?

Try constructing a boot-disk, formatted to only 360 KB. This should run on any drive, provided it is an IBM-compatible (I believe it is - the Sharp PC 4600 certainly is!).

Formatting a disk to 360 KB, could be problematic if you use a new machine and OS...Windows doesn't allow it, I think. Maybe an older DOS version will. At any rate, if you're attempting with a High Density disk, tape over the High Density hole (opposite the write-protect lock) so your drive won't reckognize it as High Density. This might help!

I believe the Sharp PC-7200 uses 3.5" disks. If it uses 5.25", however, just try the same thing 8) only without taping over holes (as this would instead write-protect the disk)...

Anyway, I think (without having tried it, though) you should be able to format a disk in MS-DOS, selecting 360 KB capacity, and selecting to copy the system-files to the disk, thus making it bootable...

There, that's it...If I write any more, I'll either be repeating myself, or going off some key :roll: ...

Good luck! :wink:

 

[scottparkin]

hi
ive tryed all that still no look im a bit suspct it could be mine floppy drive or the sharps floppy drive or both (5.25 inch)but ive tryed two drives in my pc now and still no joy im assuming its the one in the sharp so ive got a controller card and im going to try to boot from another floppy drive

the bios has hardly any settings so it will be arwkerd

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=496 this is a link and the only link to the computer in question but mine is 2 models up mine has 20meg hard drive amd286 10mhz

see this could help you to help me find out some clues on this machine thanks

 

[barryp]

hi
ive tryed all that still no look im a bit suspct it could be mine floppy drive or the sharps floppy drive or both (5.25 inch)but ive tryed two drives in my pc now and still no joy im assuming its the one in the sharp so ive got a controller card and im going to try to boot from another floppy drive

Pardon my jumping in, (I'll jump back out if I'm wrong) but if I understand you correctly you have a functional computer in addition to the new problematic machine.

My suggestion is that you do the following on the functional machine:

1: Fire it up and get to a C:\ prompt,

2: Insert a blank disk in the A: drive.

3: Type the following:
format a:/s

That should do it. You should see the floppy drive LED come on and hear a motor turning and about 40 "clunks" as the computer proceeds to do its' thing.

When all seems quiet, type the following
chkdsk a:

The drive should come to life and you should see a report on the screen telling about files on the disk, total bytes, bytes used, bytes available, etc.

If chkdsk reports any bad sectors at all, trash that disk and try again with another.

 

[Thomas Hillebrandt]

ive tryed all that still no look im a bit suspct it could be mine floppy drive or the sharps floppy drive or both (5.25 inch)but ive tryed two drives in my pc now and still no joy im assuming its the one in the sharp so ive got a controller card and im going to try to boot from another floppy drive

Hmm...What does the Sharp do? I mean, what happens when you insert the disk and turn it on? Does it appear to try to read the disk? This is a must, of course 8) and if it doesn't you might have a problem with the power to the drives, or possibly something more serious ...

At any rate, if the machine tries to read the disks, but fails to boot, maybe it's something as simple as cleaning the drives. I don't know if you tried that yet? Get a 5.25" floppy-cleaner and some fluid and let them run in the drives. If you can't get to any of those, maybe you could take the disks apart and try with a q-tip and some alcohol. But BE CAREFULL - drive heads are very sensitive...
You might actually want to take apart the drives, to check if there could be other problems, such as lose wires, or poor drive-belts. If it drives use belts, and these aren't thigh enough, the drive won't spin fast or even enough, making the computer unable to read the disks. Check for gunk and goo while you're there. Dust can hurt also...

If it looks like the PC-7000 in the link you provided, it's a very compact machine for its day, which doesn't leave much room for mistakes. So dirt can be very harmful...

I hope my insane ramblings here are usefull...If not, I'm sure you'll let me know :lol: ...Good luck!

 

[jedwg]

Sharp PC-7200/7221 Floppy Problem

Sharp PC-7200/7221 Floppy Problem

Scott Parkin, et al....

I have a Sharp PC-7221 that had the same problem and the "fix" is pretty simple. I believe the problem is that the CMOS BIOS needs to be refreshed...perhaps due to a low battery, or just due to a long period of inactivity. You will need to get/use a copy of the old IBM 286AT Setup Diagnostics disk that can be obtained from most DOS FTP download sources. I believe I got mine from an old DOS Utility CDROM loaded with all kinds of old DOS utility files. I have used that Setup disk on a number of older 286 computers...works OK! Mine is on a 360Kb 5-1/4" Floppy Disk.

The IBM 286AT Setup Diagnostics Disk is a bootable disk, thus using it is easy....as follows:

1. Insert the IBM 286AT Setup Diagnostics Disk into the Sharp PC-7200 or PC-7221 A: Floppy Drive.

2. Turn the Sharp PC-7200/7221 Power switch ON...the computer will boot the Setup disk and the IBM Setup Diagnostics menu will appear on screen.

4. To perform the CMOS BIOS setup, key in the number 4 and then press the ENTER/RETURN key....this will start the Setup process.

5. Set the DATE...the TIME...etc and at the Systems summary screen, review the items that the Diagnostics Disk utility has found. If you disagree with any item on the summary, key in N and press the ENTER key to go individually thru each summary item.

NOTE: The BIOS allows 4 kinds of Floppy Drives...360Kb, 1.2Mb, 720Kb, 1.44Mb....and, ofcourse NONE. The PC-7200/7221 normally uses a 1.2Mb Floppy Disk.

6. If you agree with the summary listing found, key in Y and press the ENTER/RETURN key...the screen will pause actions.

7. Remove the IBM 286AT Setup Diagnostics disk from the A: drive and press the ENTER key [as prompted]...this will cause the computer to reboot.

If all is correct, the Sharp PC-7200/7221 will boot to the C: prompt without any screen error messages. From the C: prompt, you can test the functioning of the A: Floppy Drive by returning the IBM 286AT disk into the drive and keying in the DOS command DIR A:\ ....and a directory listing of the floppy disk should appear on screen....and your computer is now functional.

Sorry for the long post.....HTH.....John