Scandy wrote on 2021-06-12, 11:30:Hi! The Packard Bell is here!
It definitely suffered on the journey... […]
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Hi! The Packard Bell is here!
It definitely suffered on the journey...
Argh... did the seller package it decently? If not, I'd have a bone to pick with him...
Initially it didn't POST, but after I gradually disassembled and reassembled everything, I was able to get everything working correctly, even the CMOS battery with a new CR2032.
Phew 😀
I still have a couple of questions:
- I'd like to expand RAM (it actually has 4Mb) what kind it's suitable and what's the "best" size for DOS and Windows 3.1?
Are you sure it only has 4MB? 1MB 72p SIMMs are almost unheard of, and these systems were originally shipped with at least 8MB. I'm not totally sure, but the seller's pic with closeup of the SIMMs seems to show 16Mb chips, which with 8 chips on a SIMM would work out at 16MB per SIMM. So two of those would make at least 32MB. Assuming the other two are the original 8MB, I'd think this would have 40MB, not 4 😮
If it really does detect 4MB, something's very wrong with your RAM. I'd suggest removing all four SIMMs, cleaning the contacts with a rubber, and then testing them two-by-two in the first two slots. If they don't work, read the chip code from the SIMMs and post them here.
As for how much you need for DOS and Win3.1: 16MB should be fine, as would 32MB. Anything over that and you risk DOS programs not detecting it correctly and giving errors.
Incidentally, this board has the ancient and glacially slow i430NX chipset, which means two things:
1) it doesn't like EDO memory. You need FP SIMMs for it. Possibly that's the problem (EDO not FP)
2) unlike all but one later chipsets, i430NX supports lots of RAM (256MB) and can cache it all. Not that that makes any sense at all with DOS or Win3.1, but it can 😉
- I'd like to get an easy way to transfer "big"folders and files, but I'd like to keep also the original HDD with OS, drivers etc. I have got yet a SD card to IDE adapter, may I connect it as a "slave" on the same HDD channel?
SD? Consider that the BIOS of this old beast can probably only manage 2GB HDDs. How big are those SD cards? Using CF cards makes a lot more sense with a system this old. But it's still messy. Much better idea: hook it up to your LAN with a network card. Using mTCP you can get connectivity in DOS, including FTP, which is perfect for moving big stuff around. PCI cards offer theoretically better performance, but can be a pain in DOS. For compatibility and ease-of-use I can thoroughly recommend the ubiquitous 3Com 3C509B or C cards.
- It is worth to expand the Cirrus Logic GPU onboard memory?
For DOS: nope. There's basically no sw out there that uses modes unattainable with 1MB.
For Win3.1: yes. 1MB gives you 800x600@16bit colour or (ugly) 1024x768@8bit colour. 2MB gives you 800x600@24b colour or 1024x768@16b (which would be my suggestion with Win3.1).