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Zenith ZWX-248 Series (200458) Unknown Drive Type

H

Hal9000

Experienced Member
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Tucson, AZ
Hello,
I have a Zenith 248 series PC i obtained from a surplus source. Expecting it to be a 286, I open it up and (Suprise) it has an original Zenith 486SX-25 upgrade card on the back plane Coolio! :). Anyway, It is throwing up an error 200458 "Unknown drive type" "Please run configuration utility"
Unfortunately, I don't have the (ISA Utility?) I was wondering if anyone deep into Zeniths might happen to have it or a FTP link?
Thanks :)
 
What happens when you please Esc on start up? Are you presented with the rom monitor and -> prompt?
If so type ? and hit enter. You'll be presented with a list of options. Type SETUP and you'll enter the Bios setup routine. You can also type SETUP at the -> prompt.

Have a look at the hdd and see what type it is then enter the appropriate drive type.
 
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See post #2 in this thread for a link to the manual and software disc, Thanks goes to Chuckster_in_Jax for providing it.
 
Hi Caluser2000,
It doesn't allow for the prompt just the Monitor Program menu. If you hit Esc. after that, it reboots. I tried holding down esc. on power up..no effect. Ctrl-Esc also restarts it.



Caluser2000 said:
What happens when you please Esc on start up? Are you presented with the rom monitor and -> prompt?
If so type ? and hit enter. You'll be presented with a list of options. Type SETUP and you'll enter the Bios setup routine. You can also type SETUP at the -> prompt.

Have a look at the hdd and see what type it is then enter the appropriate drive type.
Click to expand...
 
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That's normal.

What's listed on the monitor menu? Is SETUP at the bottem of the list? Type SETUP and press enter.

ctrl-alt-ins should get up to the -> as well.

See page 1.16 of the owners manual.
 
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I'll try that.
Sorry, I wasn't clear enough I guess, It's now actually a Zenith 486SX-25 level CPU with an IDE drive. I need the Z-400+ HDD utility.
 
A revised bios/rom monitor may be incorporated on the upgrade card to cater for IDE.

Member Moondog might be able to add a bit of extra info as I believe he repaired these systems back in the day.

Neat find though. Is the cpu soldered on or socketed?
 
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Z486_Battery.jpg

Here are some Pics of the Card and HDD, CMOS battery:
 

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Sorry I can't help with those. My former team leader used to work on them. I was moved to a different team before I had a chance to work on them. I faintly recall a configuration floppy being needed.
 
Moondog said:
Sorry I can't help with those. My former team leader used to work on them. I was moved to a different team before I had a chance to work on them. I faintly recall a configuration floppy being needed.
Click to expand...

With some researching, I need the Zenith ZDS ISA Configuration Utility (ICU) (Z-400 Series).

File: 3344_1u.exe Approx. 390K

I found a person who has this and will be sending it to me. There is a chance it might not be for this exact model, but we'll see.
 
I received the file yesterday. Placing it in a folder and clicking on it or typing the file name in DOS unpacks the archive. It looks like it was originally meant to be a boot startup disk but it would have to be re-configured for your DOS version. Anyway, just starting the CF.EXE file brings up a nice Zenith splash screen and configuration menu. I looked around for drive parameters but it really doesn't need it.
You can set it to (Auto) for Drive 0 and it will query the drive parameters. You can choose some other standard floppy type and other stuff.
Anyway, it then will save it to your working floppy disk and I believe..NVRAM. Then it will have you restart. Well, It Worked! My drive booted up to Windows 3.1!
I wanted to thanks Nemesis from Vogons for providing this hard to find utility. :). These are quite like the older Compaqs. With a dead battery and without the configuration utility, there is no way to set them up.
I'll set up a Mediafire link to this fairly soon if anyone needs to get a Z-400 series started up. Oh and by the way, the special green and white 3.6V batteries are still available. :)
 
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Caluser2000 said:
Well done.
Click to expand...

Thanks :)
Zeniths were one of those Brands such as IBM, Digital (DEC), Sperry, Unisys etc. that were well built to Government, Industrial and Scientific standards for quality. Something you don't see as much now. And in this case, it would be a shame when people find these, to become frustrated as to how to restore the settings and they end up discarded. I want to do my bit for the preservation effort..and a little nostalgia thrown in ;). So, finding the right utility and making it available is a satisfying goal.

I ordered an appropriate Saft 3.6V battery (about $9.00) from a Las Vegas battery source so that will be arriving soon. Teh drive had some generic windows 3.1 and not much else with some "Lost Chains: on the drive. Went ahead and re-formatted it, reports no bad sectors. Now, if I can only find a I487SX math Co-processor..:)
 
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