AT&T PC6300 not booting from hard drive \ VOGONS

AT&T PC6300 not booting from hard drive

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First post, by sliderider

Posted on 2011-08-18, 21:00

sliderider Offline

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I dug this old beast out of storage to see if it still worked and everything in the self test passed except for the clock battery (not unexpected), the floppy drive test passed then when it tried to boot from the hard drive the hard drive light flashed but then it gave a hard drive boot error. What should I be looking at as the cause of the hard drive not to boot?

Reply 1 of 6, by shspvr

Posted on 2011-08-18, 22:07

shspvr Offline

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sliderider wrote:
I dug this old beast out of storage to see if it still worked and everything in the self test passed except for the clock battery (not unexpected), the floppy drive test passed then when it tried to boot from the hard drive the hard drive light flashed but then it gave a hard drive boot error. What should I be looking at as the cause of the hard drive not to boot?

You should replace the cmos battery if it has one
See if this any help http://sites.google.com/site/att6300shrine/Home/

Reply 2 of 6, by Old Thrashbarg

Posted on 2011-08-18, 22:24

Old Thrashbarg Offline

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Location: Central FL

The clock battery shouldn't affect the hard drive, though, since the drive type is actually set by jumpers (assuming it's the original drive controller in there).

Speaking of which, since the info is a bit difficult to find, here's the various options:

1ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
2³                                                                ³
3³ AT&T PC6300 TECHNICAL BULLETIN                                 ³
4³                                                                ³
5³ SUBJECT: Hard Disk Drive Parameter Table (ROM 1.21 and 1.43)   ³
6³ PROVIDED BY:                                                   ³
7³                                                                ³
8ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
9
10                       ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
11                       ³ ROM BIOS 1.21 ³
12                       ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
13
14                                            DTC CONTROLLER
15                                          DRIVE #0  DRIVE #1
16    DRIVE TYPE                            12345678  12345678
17    ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ   ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ  ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
18 0. 5MB                                   ..CC..CC  CC..CC..
19 1. 24MB                                  ..OC..CC  OC..CC..
20 2. 15MB                                  ..CO..CC  CO..CC..
21 3. 10MB (default)                        ..OO..CC  OO..CC..
22 4. 5MB - Syquest SQ306                   ..CC..OC  CC..OC..
23 5. 30MB - CDC Wren I                     ..OC..OC  OC..OC..
24 6. 20MB - Seagate ST225, CMI 4426        ..CO..OC  CO..OC..
25 7. 20MB - Miniscribe 3425, OPE XM 5220   ..OO..OC  OO..OC..
26 8. 20MB - CMI 4426                       ..CC..CO  CC..CO..
27 9. NOT SPECIFIED                         ..OC..CO  OC..CO..
28 A. NOT SPECIFIED                         ..CO..CO  CO..CO..
29 B. NOT SPECIFIED                         ..OO..CO  OO..CO..
30 C. NOT SPECIFIED                         ..CC..OO  CC..OO..
31 D. NOT SPECIFIED                         ..OC..OO  OC..OO..
32 E. NOT SPECIFIED                         ..CO..OO  CO..OO..
33 F. NOT SPECIFIED                         ........  OO..OO..
34                                          C = CLOSED = ON
35                                          O = OPEN = OFF
36
37                       ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
38                       ³ ROM BIOS 1.43 ³
39                       ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ
40
41
42                                 DTC CONTROLLER        WD CONTROLLER
43                               DRIVE #0  DRIVE #1    DRIVE #0  DRIVE #1
44    DRIVE TYPE                 12345678  12345678    12345678  12345678
45    ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ  ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ  ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ    ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ  ÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ
46 0. 30MB - CDC Wren I          ..CC..CC  CC..CC..    ..CC..CC  CC..CC..
47 1. 20MB - Seagate ST225,
48           CMI 4426            ..OC..CC  OC..CC..    ..OC..CC  OC..CC..
49 2. 20MB - Tandon TM 262       ..CO..CC  CO..CC..    ..CO..CC  CO..CC..
50 3. 10MB (default)             ..OO..CC  OO..CC..    ..OO..CC  OO..CC..
51 4. 20MB - Miniscribe 3425,
52           OPE XM 5220         ..CC..OC  CC..OC..    ..CC..OC  CC..OC..
53 5. 30MB - CDC Wren I          ..OC..OC  OC..OC..    ..OC..OC  OC..OC..
54 6. 20MB - Seagate ST225,
55           CMI 4426            ..CO..OC  CO..OC..    ..CO..OC  CO..OC..
56 7. 20MB - Miniscribe 3425,
57           OPE XM 5220         ..OO..OC  OO..OC..    ..OO..OC  OO..OC..
58 8. 40MB - CMI 6426            ..CC..CO  CC..CO..    ..CC..CO  CC..CO..
59 9. 45MB - Miniscribe 6053     ..OC..CO  OC..CO..    ..OC..CO  OC..CO..
60 A. 40MB - Tandon TM 755       ..CO..CO  CO..CO..    ..CO..CO  CO..CO..

…Show last 9 lines

61 B. 51MB - CDC Wren II 94205   ..OO..CO  OO..CO..    ..OO..CO  OO..CO..
62 C. 67MB - CDC Wren II         ..CC..OO  CC..OO..    ..CC..OO  CC..OO..
63 D. 68MB - Micropolis 1325,
64           Miniscribe 6085,
65           Seagate 4085        ..OC..OO  OC..OO..    ..OC..OO  OC..OO..
66 E. 40MB - Seagate ST251       ..CO..OO  CO..OO..    ..CO..OO  CO..OO..
67 F. Drive #0 ONLY, no #1       ........  OO..OO..    ........  OO..OO..
68                               C = CLOSED = ON       C = JUMPER ON
69                               O = OPEN = OFF        O = JUMPER OFF

Reply 3 of 6, by sliderider

Posted on 2011-08-19, 00:11

sliderider Offline

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I ordered a bunch of 2032 coin cell batteries for other projects. I hope that's the same type this machine uses. I'll have to wait a few days for them to arrive then try again.

Reply 4 of 6, by shspvr

Posted on 2011-08-19, 03:05

shspvr Offline

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Joined: 2011-06-30, 16:45

sliderider wrote:
I ordered a bunch of 2032 coin cell batteries for other projects. I hope that's the same type this machine uses. I'll have to wait a few days for them to arrive then try again.

Old Thrashbarg Yup your rigth that really old hardset motherboard with dip switchs
By the way sliderider if it has 2 5.25 floppy drive then it didn't come with harddrive.
That will not do any good all thoses old 8086, 80286, 80386, 80486, and belive even 80586 didn't come with coin cell batteries and there a few that did but not the AT&T PC6300.
Here a list of image on ever type CMOS Battery and Clock & Battery Module
http://simondirect.com/blog/?p=1613

Reply 5 of 6, by Old Thrashbarg

Posted on 2011-08-19, 15:22

Old Thrashbarg Offline

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Posts: 1607
Joined: 2009-06-08, 14:30
Location: Central FL

No coin cells on this thing. It has a rechargeable barrel battery similar to the type normally found on 386/486 boards, though there's also unpopulated space on the board for a different, much larger battery, I'd guess probably a 14650 size or something...

Unless the battery is leaking, though, there's not much reason to replace it. It only holds settings for the clock and calendar, nothing more, and the calendar only goes up to 1991 anyway.

Reply 6 of 6, by Fdiskitup

Posted on 2022-08-14, 16:18

Fdiskitup Offline

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Posts: 21
Joined: 2021-12-18, 18:11

Mine had this battery on the board. Its a lithium thionyl chloride battery, non rechargable.
But not leaky either after 35 years. I dont see a diode to prevent charging a non rechargable, perhaps the connection points are different.

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