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Compaq cds 524 - upgrade info [help]

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Reply 80 of 93, by Caluser2000

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All back together. Nothing damaged and running like the tramp it is. Remember folks if you are going to play around with a computer by removing/fitting parts and connector for goodness sake do disconnect power/power off and make sure you earth yourself out in some way. By either an earthing strap or touching the metal surround/casing. It'll save you a lot of grief in the long run.

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There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 81 of 93, by erniman

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Hello, excellent post for the Presario CDS 524. A friend of mine gave me one of these last week. The PC was full of dust so before I check if it was working I cleaned up just a little.
After that, I connect the power chord and it started but without image (CRT was off). The PC boot normally but no image was on the CRT. (after it boots I heard two long beeps and two short beeps)

If some one can help me with some experience so I can start digging this problem and try to fix it.
Thanks!!!

Reply 82 of 93, by Caluser2000

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My CDS 524 has finally died. Nothing I tried revived it so I've removed what can be reused and placed the rest in the shed. I'll put the P75 in the same form factor in service in a couple of months.

Last edited by Caluser2000 on 2021-06-11, 01:12. Edited 1 time in total.

There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 83 of 93, by devius

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erniman wrote on 2020-05-26, 00:16:

The PC boot normally but no image was on the CRT. (after it boots I heard two long beeps and two short beeps)

Could be RAM problems or some cable that is not seated correctly. You should try re-seating the RAM and all the cables.

Not sure how accurate this page is but may be worth checking: http://www.bioscentral.com/beepcodes/compaqbeep.htm

Reply 84 of 93, by NORTHERN WALLY

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Hi

Ive recently configured this computer (CDS524) with a IDE to CF card adapter. Ive mounted a 4GB card to it and struggle to configure it. Ive managed to setup the BIOS, so I can now load into Win95 or DOS, but everytime i start the computer I get this anoying message:

"The following configuration options were automatically updated:
Disk 65 Type:65
If you are running UNIX, you need to configure your system using the Compaq User Diagnostics diskette."

F1 Save Changes -> soft reboot happens and the disk error message. I then need to pull out CF card, reboot save changes, boot with diagnostics floppy and manually setup CF card.
F2 Ignore Changes -> leads me into loading OS and everything works smoothly, 2 partitions with 2GB each.
F10 Comupter Setup -> leads me back to bios setup with a message that storage has been configured

The anoying thing here is if I accidently push F1 at startup I'll have to open the case and resetup CF card.

Wow long message 😀 Hope somone has time and knowledge.
Regard Walter

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Reply 85 of 93, by NORTHERN WALLY

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Just to add:

I've check with another old Pentium computer what the disk geometry is , and also verifyed this on my Compaq with programs like "WHATIDE.EXE".

They read out:
Cylinders 8146
Head 16
Sectors 63
MB 4204

But in my Compaq Bios - Inspect function says:
Cylinders 1018
Head 128
Sectors 63
MB 4203

Still I manually override this in Bios setup and the disk works perfectly (except the startup-message).

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Reply 87 of 93, by NORTHERN WALLY

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pampilhoso wrote on 2019-06-10, 12:01:
By the way, as anyone ever noticed the WB/WT missing jumpers (P3)? I just bought an evergreen 5x86 133mhz that as a configurabl […]
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By the way, as anyone ever noticed the WB/WT missing jumpers (P3)? I just bought an evergreen 5x86 133mhz that as a configurable cache mode, WT / WB, but when I set to WB I cannot boot into the OS, totally expected since this motherboard only supports (officialy) the SX2/DX2 cpus. But this missing jumper opens the possibility that after all the motherboard may support WB L1 cache.

Can anyone confirm this?

h2rdZcr.png

Hi I recently bought a Kingston Turbochip 5x86 133Mhz. I've tried to boot but after counting RAM system stops. Did you manage to fix this somehow? With WB/WT?

Reply 88 of 93, by NORTHERN WALLY

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NORTHERN WALLY wrote on 2020-11-19, 22:11:
pampilhoso wrote on 2019-06-10, 12:01:
By the way, as anyone ever noticed the WB/WT missing jumpers (P3)? I just bought an evergreen 5x86 133mhz that as a configurabl […]
Show full quote

By the way, as anyone ever noticed the WB/WT missing jumpers (P3)? I just bought an evergreen 5x86 133mhz that as a configurable cache mode, WT / WB, but when I set to WB I cannot boot into the OS, totally expected since this motherboard only supports (officialy) the SX2/DX2 cpus. But this missing jumper opens the possibility that after all the motherboard may support WB L1 cache.

Can anyone confirm this?

h2rdZcr.png

Hi I recently bought a Kingston Turbochip 5x86 133Mhz. I've tried to boot but after counting RAM system stops. Did you manage to fix this somehow? With WB/WT?

I just tried soldering 3 pins on MB, tried several positions for a jumper with no luck. I mean I tried with 25/33Mhz + SX/noSX and WB/WT 😢

Reply 89 of 93, by pampilhoso

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NORTHERN WALLY wrote on 2020-11-20, 17:03:
NORTHERN WALLY wrote on 2020-11-19, 22:11:
pampilhoso wrote on 2019-06-10, 12:01:
By the way, as anyone ever noticed the WB/WT missing jumpers (P3)? I just bought an evergreen 5x86 133mhz that as a configurabl […]
Show full quote

By the way, as anyone ever noticed the WB/WT missing jumpers (P3)? I just bought an evergreen 5x86 133mhz that as a configurable cache mode, WT / WB, but when I set to WB I cannot boot into the OS, totally expected since this motherboard only supports (officialy) the SX2/DX2 cpus. But this missing jumper opens the possibility that after all the motherboard may support WB L1 cache.

Can anyone confirm this?

h2rdZcr.png

Hi I recently bought a Kingston Turbochip 5x86 133Mhz. I've tried to boot but after counting RAM system stops. Did you manage to fix this somehow? With WB/WT?

I just tried soldering 3 pins on MB, tried several positions for a jumper with no luck. I mean I tried with 25/33Mhz + SX/noSX and WB/WT 😢

Sorry for the reply! No luck aswell...does your kingston chip have a jumper to select between wb/wt cache mode?

BTW, I have just created a FB group for the Compaq Presario CDS 500 series, if anyone is interested feel free to join 😀

https://www.facebook.com/groups/compaqpresariocds500series/

Last edited by pampilhoso on 2021-06-14, 14:46. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 90 of 93, by Caluser2000

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Shivers, this thread brings back fond memorys. I had my CDS524 for a very long time.

There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 91 of 93, by pampilhoso

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Just wanted to share an amazing mod that i saw for the compaq cds 500 series model.

As you may or may not know, you cannot use the intel pentium overdrive since it's only compatible with socket 2 and 3. The Compaq has a cpu socket 1, but what I never noticed is that it actually has the missing socket 2/3 holes in the mainboard.

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So this user "FabFr" @ vcfed.org described his mod, where he was able to remove the original socket 1 and solder a socket 3 into the mainboard and managed to get a CDS 524 working propertly with a PODP5V83 cpu.
Not only that, he also managed to solder the missing pins into jumper P3 that is related with WT/WB cache selection. Would be really interesting knowing if L1 WB cache is really working. Maybe someone here can analyze the speedsys graph below.

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This is an awesome mod that allows any compaq presario cds 500 series model to be pushed to its limits.

I have also a PODP5V83 and a working spare CDS 524, so whenever I'm able to get my hands on a faulty socket 2/3 board I might end up executing this mod aswell.

Check it out:
https://www.vcfed.org/forum/forum/genres/late … at-do-you-think