DOS PC Not Booting After Installing Microsoft Flight Simulator \ VOGONS

DOS PC Not Booting After Installing Microsoft Flight Simulator

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First post, by MSDOSFan

Posted on 2022-11-19, 19:30

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Hello, I was playing around with my DOS PC, and I had some old 3.5" floppy disks for MS Flight Simulator 1. I installed them via the DOS prompt, and not long after, it would get stuck on the boot screen. It kept looping, so I hit reset, and now it's stuck on a black screen. I've tried using an MSDOS 5.0 disk to boot it, but it still wont leave the black screen. I've tested the monitor to make sure it wasn't that, and it is definitely the PC. It's a Packard Bell Legend 750 Supreme.

Reply 1 of 7, by rasz_pl

Posted on 2022-11-19, 20:35

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coincidence, pc died, needs repair

https://github.com/raszpl/sigrok-disk FM/MFM/RLL decoder
https://github.com/raszpl/FIC-486-GAC-2-Cache-Module (AT&T Globalyst)
https://github.com/raszpl/386RC-16 ram board
https://github.com/raszpl/440BX Reference Design adapted to Kicad

Reply 2 of 7, by Babasha

Posted on 2022-11-19, 20:50

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MBR virus?)))

Need help? Begin with photo and model of your hardware 😉

Reply 3 of 7, by MSDOSFan

Posted on 2022-11-20, 02:19

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Babasha wrote on 2022-11-19, 20:50:

MBR virus?)))

I don't recall it being infected though? The MS Flight Simulator disks were in their original booklet for years. They are the official Microsoft ones too, not a homemade copy.

Reply 4 of 7, by rasz_pl

Posted on 2022-11-20, 03:08

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just to be clear, black screen and nothing, or normal post screen followed by blank?

Reply 5 of 7, by MSDOSFan

Posted on 2022-11-20, 17:26

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rasz_pl wrote on 2022-11-20, 03:08:

just to be clear, black screen and nothing, or normal post screen followed by blank?

Yeah. It started offbeing stuck in the post screen in a loop, so I hit the reset button. Now it's stuck on a blank screen, and it constantly makes whirring noises from the floppy drive. The HDD was removed years prior, but it still would boot to DOS, now it's just a blank screen no matter what monitor I use.

Reply 6 of 7, by rasz_pl

Posted on 2022-11-20, 19:20

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That might be CIH wiping out part of the bios? and bios recovery trying to read floppy? But Im not aware of bios recovery being a thing in 486 era.

Reply 7 of 7, by mkarcher

Posted on 2022-11-20, 20:38

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rasz_pl wrote on 2022-11-20, 19:20:

That might be CIH wiping out part of the bios? and bios recovery trying to read floppy? But Im not aware of bios recovery being a thing in 486 era.

Late 486 boards (coincides approximately with the appearance of PCI slots) do have flash BIOS chips and often include boot-block based BIOS versions. The boot block doesn't include PCI initialization, so you likely need a ISA VGA card to see something.

If I remember correctly, the BIOS erasing code in the CIH virus specifically targets the Intel 430 series of chipsets, so I would be surprised if that virus was able to erase BIOS parts on a 486 mainboard.

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