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Olivetti M290 Setup disk - Solved!!!!!

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First post, by butjer1010

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Hi,
i just managed to find M290 in great condition, and it works. For last few days i was planing to buy compatible keyboard, but the sellers are totally out of mind with prices, so i made myself an adapter from PS2/M290, and it works.
Now the problem is much bigger than keyboard itself, 'cause i need BIOS setup disk for this beauty. All the links for downloading those disks are unavailable now, so i ask if someone has the disk, can it upload image here?
Thanks in advance

Last edited by butjer1010 on 2025-07-07, 09:38. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 1 of 22, by butjer1010

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Anyone please?

Reply 2 of 22, by chrismeyer6

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Have you checked archive.org? They tend to have stuff like this

Reply 3 of 22, by butjer1010

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chrismeyer6 wrote on 2025-06-27, 10:48:

Have you checked archive.org? They tend to have stuff like this

Hi, thanks for the answer. Yes, there is setup disk for M280, but no such for M290 🙁

Reply 4 of 22, by butjer1010

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chrismeyer6 wrote on 2025-06-27, 10:48:

Have you checked archive.org? They tend to have stuff like this

Wooow, i have found on archive.org - AT&T 6286 setup disk, and it says that this is a M290 Clone, and it should work with M290!!!!
I will try this and let You all know.
Thanks

Reply 5 of 22, by Horun

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Great ! Here is the AT&T archive for older systems: http://web.archive.org/web/20011119203834/htt … pc_library_63xx
There is a 6286el diag entry

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 6 of 22, by chrismeyer6

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butjer1010 wrote on 2025-06-27, 19:52:
Wooow, i have found on archive.org - AT&T 6286 setup disk, and it says that this is a M290 Clone, and it should work with M290!! […]
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chrismeyer6 wrote on 2025-06-27, 10:48:

Have you checked archive.org? They tend to have stuff like this

Wooow, i have found on archive.org - AT&T 6286 setup disk, and it says that this is a M290 Clone, and it should work with M290!!!!
I will try this and let You all know.
Thanks

Excellent news! Let us know how it all goes.

Reply 7 of 22, by butjer1010

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Hi to all,
So far, none of the above disks aren't working. 6286DISK.IMG has only few options, and the only one that works is vgamode. This other 6286el (link that Horun sent me), has a lot more options, but none of them is BIOS settings, to set hard disks options. There is some qreset.exe file, that suppose to reset quantum hard disk configuration to default, but it does nothing (don't know if this is the sign the disks are faulty or what?) Customer.exe does nothing also, it says that this is not at&t 286 pc.
I have asked that german dude that has all the disks for Olivetti, and i'm waiting for his answer. Maybe he is a good man, and maybe he will give me a setup disk image 😀

Reply 8 of 22, by butjer1010

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No, no response from olivrea.de, As i suspected!
Does anybody have anything for M290 so i can try to change bios settings? There are few topics about that here on Vogons, but as i stated before, all the links are gone (Olivetti M290 how to go into bios?)
Thanks

Reply 9 of 22, by butjer1010

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Gentleman from Germany did provide me with Config utility, and now i can set everything (thanks Heikko), but i have still problem with hard disk. There are actually two disks inside, Fujitsu M2227D2, and miniscribe (25MB according to writings on the hdd), but BIOS only sees Fujitsu disk. There are 33 presets, but whatever i tried, no luck - Fixed disk : 1790- disk 0 error!
Does anybody knows which type of disk i need to choose to finally see if the disk is good or faulty?
Thanks in advance

Reply 10 of 22, by Horun

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butjer1010 wrote on 2025-07-05, 09:26:

Gentleman from Germany did provide me with Config utility, and now i can set everything (thanks Heikko), but i have still problem with hard disk. There are actually two disks inside, Fujitsu M2227D2, and miniscribe (25MB according to writings on the hdd), but BIOS only sees Fujitsu disk. There are 33 presets, but whatever i tried, no luck - Fixed disk : 1790- disk 0 error!
Does anybody knows which type of disk i need to choose to finally see if the disk is good or faulty?
Thanks in advance

Can you please post the Config utility (zipped) ?
Need the exact model of the Miniscribe HD

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 11 of 22, by butjer1010

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Horun wrote on 2025-07-05, 15:29:
butjer1010 wrote on 2025-07-05, 09:26:

Gentleman from Germany did provide me with Config utility, and now i can set everything (thanks Heikko), but i have still problem with hard disk. There are actually two disks inside, Fujitsu M2227D2, and miniscribe (25MB according to writings on the hdd), but BIOS only sees Fujitsu disk. There are 33 presets, but whatever i tried, no luck - Fixed disk : 1790- disk 0 error!
Does anybody knows which type of disk i need to choose to finally see if the disk is good or faulty?
Thanks in advance

Can you please post the Config utility (zipped) ?
Need the exact model of the Miniscribe HD

Of course, there are 2 images, one for 5.25, one for 3.5 floppy.
On the pictures, there are both disks, fujitsu, the one that is shown in BIOS (no option for 2 disks), and the miniscribe which i can't even set. Fujitsu will be in next post, only 5 attachment allowed...

Reply 12 of 22, by butjer1010

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There is Fujitsu disk

Reply 13 of 22, by PC Hoarder Patrol

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butjer1010 wrote on 2025-07-05, 09:26:

Gentleman from Germany did provide me with Config utility, and now i can set everything (thanks Heikko), but i have still problem with hard disk. There are actually two disks inside, Fujitsu M2227D2, and miniscribe (25MB according to writings on the hdd), but BIOS only sees Fujitsu disk. There are 33 presets, but whatever i tried, no luck - Fixed disk : 1790- disk 0 error!
Does anybody knows which type of disk i need to choose to finally see if the disk is good or faulty?
Thanks in advance

Did you check settings with the tech manual...

The attachment Miniscribe_5.25_Inch_Half_Height_Tech_Support_Manual_Sep88.pdf is no longer available

Reply 14 of 22, by butjer1010

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PC Hoarder Patrol wrote on 2025-07-05, 17:08:
butjer1010 wrote on 2025-07-05, 09:26:

Gentleman from Germany did provide me with Config utility, and now i can set everything (thanks Heikko), but i have still problem with hard disk. There are actually two disks inside, Fujitsu M2227D2, and miniscribe (25MB according to writings on the hdd), but BIOS only sees Fujitsu disk. There are 33 presets, but whatever i tried, no luck - Fixed disk : 1790- disk 0 error!
Does anybody knows which type of disk i need to choose to finally see if the disk is good or faulty?
Thanks in advance

Did you check settings with the tech manual...

The attachment Miniscribe_5.25_Inch_Half_Height_Tech_Support_Manual_Sep88.pdf is no longer available

I didn't come to the miniscribe yet, i'm able to set only settings for Fujitsu. If i want to set Miniscribe, i need to unplug Fujitsu drive, and connect Miniscribe on end of the cable. But i'm focus right now on Fujitsu disk. I managed to set it on 51MB (it says 51MB unformatted, 43 Formatted), and for last 3 hours, Fujitsu is in process of formatting 😀 75% so far... Formatting with DOS 5.0 floppy.... If i manage to format Fujitsu, and maybe install DOS, i will disconnect it and try again with Miniscribe.

Reply 15 of 22, by Horun

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Nice and Thanks ! Miniscribe model 3425, C-H-S 615-4-17, wpc 128...formatted 20MB

Hate posting a reply and then have to edit it because it made no sense 😁 First computer was an IBM 3270 workstation with CGA monitor. Stuff: https://archive.org/details/@horun

Reply 16 of 22, by butjer1010

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Horun wrote on 2025-07-05, 17:55:

Nice and Thanks ! Miniscribe model 3425, C-H-S 615-4-17, wpc 128...formatted 20MB

Thanks, will let You know when i try 😀

Reply 17 of 22, by butjer1010

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After 12 hours of formatting (!!!) MFM Fujitsu Hard disk, everything works fantastic. I have installed DOS 5.0, and now i'm trying to install some sound card and mouse. Tried few sound cards from Creative, but they were all PnP, so when i launch CTCM it get stuck. Tried ALS100 and MED2000 (Adi sound chip), but i couldn't install them. Thinking about installing win 3.1, maybe the drivers for those sound cards will work then?!?

Biggest question for now is, how to connect mouse on this PC? There is 25pin port above keyboard port. Is this serial port for mouse (need 25 to 9pin adapter) or something else?
One more thing that concern me is that the system doesn't see more than 1MB of RAM? I pulled out older memory modules, inserted 2x1MB, but still, when i press mem, only 1MB is seen????
If someone knows the trick, please help me 😀
Thanks

Reply 18 of 22, by butjer1010

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When i installed windows 3.1, now the situation is worse 😀 0 KB available XMS memory
But still, only 1024KB seen, and 2x1MB inserted 🙁

Reply 19 of 22, by butjer1010

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Probably the 1MB is recognized is because i have only 3chips 1MB modules, and the original modules (both are faulty) were 5 chip modules. Need to buy the same, and i guess it will recognize 2MB 😀
Mouse problem solved, 25 to 9 pin adapter in connector above the keyboard connector, and it works!
When i buy memory modules, i will try to install sound card!

I have found the list of compatible hdds for M290, maybe this will help someone.... (see picture)