Urgently need an old 486 PC

[dabean]

Thanks Howard for the pc. We are still trying to get the machine going. Using the 486 I got from Howard, it starts up but cannot read the hard drive. The board doesna't have an onboard connector, the hard drive connects through an interface card. Also if we try a P2 machine, it boots up and the program starts, but there is no communication between the various ports and the machine. Any help or ideas will be appreciated. BTW, if anyone still has a 486, please let me know.

Sounds like you'll have more chance getting the P2 going than the 486 IMO. It could be a resource conflict or blown ports. Do any cables from the machine plug into the motherboard or do they all go to interface cards from the previous PC?

If they all go into cards try disabling any unused onboard stuff in the P2's CMOS setup. Set COM1, COM2, LPT1, Game Port, Onboard Sound, LAN etc. to "Disabled" and try it then.

 

[ponder]

You still have not told us what the program you are used is called (manufacturer, name, version), same goes for the hardware interface card...

Help us to help you!

 

[seedat77]

Sounds like you'll have more chance getting the P2 going than the 486 IMO. It could be a resource conflict or blown ports. Do any cables from the machine plug into the motherboard or do they all go to interface cards from the previous PC?

If they all go into cards try disabling any unused onboard stuff in the P2's CMOS setup. Set COM1, COM2, LPT1, Game Port, Onboard Sound, LAN etc. to "Disabled" and try it then.

All the cables plug into interface cards.

 

[dabean]

Well then disable everything on the motherboard, DOS didn't have plug-and-play. Cards had jumpers on them (or configuration programs for later cards) to choose I/O ports and IRQ settings. If a card is set to use 0x3F8/IRQ4 for example, then COM1 on the motherboard will conflict with it and the card won't work.

We don't know how the cards are set up or what they even are, so just disable everything.