VOGONS


First post, by Amigaboy

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Hi everybody...

I was lurking here for quite some time , and now I finally decided to write something.

Anyhow, I haw problems with my UNISYS CWV40021-Z system , which I got for playing old Lucas arts adventures.

it is a 486 VL bus system , and now it is making strange post sounds. Like one long and three shorts beeps , and nothing is shown on screen.

it was long time ago upgraded to DX100 processor , 32 mb of ram and a standard isa AMD lan 10 mbit card (this one was originally built in it).

Reply 1 of 7, by iulianv

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Like this one? Looks nice, too bad there's no room for a CD drive...

http://sysadmin-vit.blogspot.ro/2011/02/unisys.html

Anyway, for AMI BIOSes 1long+3short beeps indicate a memory test failure, while for Award BIOSes the same beep sequence means video card or video RAM failure - I'd start with re-seating / contact-cleaning / replacing / removing some of the RAM SIMMs or video RAM chips.

Reply 2 of 7, by RacoonRider

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A very neat pc! Do you have any photos to share? I love the power button, with no annoying 220v cables inside the case that can kill you if you aren't careful enough!

Reply 3 of 7, by Amigaboy

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here are some pics, they are crappy becouse i took them witth my tablet, couse the batteries in my digital camera are empty xD

the system :

20130519_155635_zps5e2da7cb.jpg

20130519_155628_zps1b350aa9.jpg

20130519_155613_zps844a79b3.jpg

and this is what is meant to be played :

IMG_0223_zps0fab3e3f.jpg

but unfortunatlly , this system is giving me headache , so I got myself a nice dx100 proc , PCI board and a couple of PCI 3d graphic cards , so when I find an original grim fandango I shall play everything under win 9x. ... couse this unisys system has an option of a PCI RISER card , butr I didnt find it ANYWHERE...

Reply 5 of 7, by feipoa

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Sometimes the pins on the SIMM slots fail to make adequate contact over time. I noticed this one one 486 board I had. If I were to push the SIMM down really hard (as hard as I could, actually), and keep pressing it down while I turned on the computer, the system would turn on. If I let my hand go, the screen would go blank. Visually, I could not tell which pin was the problematic one, so I desoldered the whole SIMM and replaced it with another one and I've not had any problems since.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.

Reply 6 of 7, by sliderider

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feipoa wrote:

Sometimes the pins on the SIMM slots fail to make adequate contact over time. I noticed this one one 486 board I had. If I were to push the SIMM down really hard (as hard as I could, actually), and keep pressing it down while I turned on the computer, the system would turn on. If I let my hand go, the screen would go blank. Visually, I could not tell which pin was the problematic one, so I desoldered the whole SIMM and replaced it with another one and I've not had any problems since.

Have you tried laying down a trace of solder on the contacts like some people do with video cards that develop deep grooves in the gold fingers after being plugged and unplugged too many times?

Reply 7 of 7, by feipoa

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Nope. Perhaps if I knew which one or two pins were bad, this might work. To do it to all the pins would be pretty time consuming. I'd also be concerned that the RAM module would lay uneven, causing some pins not to touch, or some left-over flux causing a lack of connection.

Plan your life wisely, you'll be dead before you know it.