VOGONS


First post, by psicobra

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I have just been given this system it's amazingly clean. It has a Dallas RTC installed which is dead no leakage which is nice any way I pulled out the dead RTC and have ordered a replacement. Whilst waiting for the parts I powered it on without the RTC installed I get a message saying CPU= ??? ???MHz then it counts the 8mb of Ram and freezes do you think this is due to the lack of an RTC or something more seriou thanks.

Reply 1 of 4, by Strahssis

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Those Dallas chips are not only a battery, but they also contain some SRAM and/or ROM. Therefore it makes sense that the system doesn't function at all without it, so it is possible that the only problem your system has, is the absence of the Dallas chip. Aside from the Dallas chip, it isn't uncommon for very old systems to not boot without a CMOS battery. I believe the Olivetti Philos doesn't even turn on without a CMOS battery installed for example, if I recall correctly.

I would advice you to test the system before removing the old battery (unless you see leakage) in the future. That way you can know for sure what issues the system may or may not have.

Mimi: AMD K6-2/266, S3 Trio64, Diamond Monster 3D II, Sound Blaster CT2800, 32MB RAM
Satellite 220CS: Pentium 133, SVGA DSTN, Sound Blaster Pro, 64MB RAM
Contura 420CX: 486DX4 75, VGA TFT, Roland Serial MIDI, 16MB RAM

Reply 2 of 4, by psicobra

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Nice one thanks i knew it was dead and i was checking for bulging caps before i powered it on so just pulled it out but yeah you are right should have tested it first thanks.

Reply 3 of 4, by Strahssis

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You're welcome, and good luck! 😀

Mimi: AMD K6-2/266, S3 Trio64, Diamond Monster 3D II, Sound Blaster CT2800, 32MB RAM
Satellite 220CS: Pentium 133, SVGA DSTN, Sound Blaster Pro, 64MB RAM
Contura 420CX: 486DX4 75, VGA TFT, Roland Serial MIDI, 16MB RAM

Reply 4 of 4, by bems_909

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Those Dallas chips are not only a battery, but they also contain some SRAM and/or ROM. Therefore it makes sense that the system doesn't function at all without it, so it is possible that the only problem your system has, is the absence of the Dallas chip. Aside from the Dallas chip, it isn't uncommon for very old systems to not boot without a CMOS battery. I believe the Olivetti Philos doesn't even turn on without a CMOS battery installed for example, if I recall correctly.

I would advice you to test the system before removing the old battery (unless you see leakage) in the future. That way you can know for sure what issues the system may or may not have.
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Hi do you know where I would be able to find a systems battery for this type of computer?