Hamby wrote:

How do I get into the bios now that the CMOS is battery-backed?

Disconnect the battery for 30 secs or so. (You can also get in via the test3.exe program but that only works if the system is booting OK.

Do you see the XTIDE bios banner at all?

Have you connected the CF card as well? If so did you remember that the IDE connector on one end of the IDE cable has been fitted backwards on both mine and vipersan's machines so may well be like that on yours (you have to get one end of the IDE cable to fit in the IDE header on the CF adapter backwards if that's the case either by cutting a slot in the shroud of the IDE connector on the CF card or by filing off the key bump on the CF end of the IDE cable)
Compare pin 1 on the motherboard with pin 1 on your CF adapter and make sure the same side of the cable is going to pin 1 at both ends

IanB wrote:

Disconnect the battery for 30 secs or so. (You can also get in via the test3.exe program but that only works if the system is bo […]
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Hamby wrote:

How do I get into the bios now that the CMOS is battery-backed?

Disconnect the battery for 30 secs or so. (You can also get in via the test3.exe program but that only works if the system is booting OK.

Do you see the XTIDE bios banner at all?

Have you connected the CF card as well? If so did you remember that the IDE connector on one end of the IDE cable has been fitted backwards on both mine and vipersan's machines so may well be like that on yours (you have to get one end of the IDE cable to fit in the IDE header on the CF adapter backwards if that's the case either by cutting a slot in the shroud of the IDE connector on the CF card or by filing off the key bump on the CF end of the IDE cable)
Compare pin 1 on the motherboard with pin 1 on your CF adapter and make sure the same side of the cable is going to pin 1 at both ends

It flashes something about Toshiba Advanced Video... and then goes to the memory test. After the memory test finishes, it just sits there.

If I crtl-alt-del, it flashes that about the Toshiba Advanced Video again... then just the underline cursor.

I used another cable I had (much longer) for the CF card because I didn't want to modify the existing cable or the CF card adapter.
I'll disconnect the CF card and see what happens.

A techinal question for you Ian ..
scuse my ignorance ..but it occurred to me that it might be possible to have 2 x plug an play 16 bit slots instead of 1 8 bit and one 16 bit ISA .
?
Since the ISA > pcmcia card is so short both length and height wise ..and not actually needing to be mounted in the normal way ..ie by anchoring to the slot brackets ..
..this could be removed an leave it effectively floating.
This would leave the 16 bit socket free ..but of course I still need to take care of the missing *(unconnected) isa slot pins on the pcmcia card ..
It physically fits in most all of the 8 bit slot ..with pins hanging over into empty space..
Could these simply be paralleled to the existing 16 bit ISA ..and does this apply to all the connections ?
What I'm trying to say is ..can I simply duplicate the 16 bit slot ..wiring the isa card in paralell ?
hope I'm making sense here..
rgds
VS

Vipersan wrote:

Could these simply be paralleled to the existing 16 bit ISA ..and does this apply to all the connections ?
What I'm trying to say is ..can I simply duplicate the 16 bit slot ..wiring the isa card in paralell ?

Yes, you can duplicate the 16 bit extension on the 8 bit slot and it will work as a 16 bit slot. That's effectively what I did when I connected 2 extra cards except that I had to duplicate the whole connector, not just the 16 bit extension.

Thanks Ian ..
This is what I came up with so far ..
So as not to damage a good card by soldering directly to it.. I needed a 16 bit slot on a vertical riser ..
..so hacked up an old multi slot ISA Riser card which has the sockets at right angles to the original socket.
No use to me like that ..so removed the socket ..cut the riser board ..
Filed a gap at the 8bit 16 bit divider then mounted the salvaged ISA 16 slot atop the cut card edge ..
only needed to the extend the many connections on one side or the socket as the other side will connect directly into the vacated holes ..
You will notice from the images that the thin pcmcia card is higher now ..but I dont need the end steel mount bracket ..
This I can discard...or better still cut and bend at the required height to achieve anchorage/card stability.
And the the only connections that need hand wiring to the exposed pins on the Toshiba ISA pcb are the extra pins still hanging in mid air ..
The 16 bit sound card is fitted behind the modded 8 bit slot.
Hope you like my solution Ian ..and more to the point..
Hope it all works ..
..and gives me 2x 16 bit ISA slots.
rgds
VS

Hamby wrote:

Okay, I opened up my T5200... […]
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Okay, I opened up my T5200...

The battery is a Toshiba, but it has some kind of a resistor attached to it.
I'll be replacing it with a single 2032 button battery.

inside01.jpg

The reason they did that is because the original batteries used for these computers were very long lasting non-rechargeables and they were protected against low backcurrents (against being slightly "charged", as the system would slightly charge them when it's turned on)

In order for normal non-rechargeable batteries to be protected they put a small resi/diode in the circuit to negate these very low backcurrents.

This is the reason why I used three NiMH rechargeables, that way I can be sure that charging currents won't matter. I put them into the modem compartment 😁 (see photo)

But even without protection, with a standard CR2032 non-rechargeable you should be fine. These very low backcurrents will only degrade the capacity of your battery on a very, very, very low level.

So ..I will admit this was a mammoth task ...and there were days when I honestly thought about chucking in the towel.
But thanks to all the help from other T5200 owners and in particular Ian ..
All the current mods were done..
Modified bios ...which made ALL the following possible..
Faster CPU 386 > 486
Flush mod..
More memory 2mb > 12 mb
Larger hard drive .. 20gb 15gb C: & 5 gb D:
Windows 95
8 bit ISA to 16 bit ISA ..
Non proprietory Floppy Drive
Added PCMCIA ports x 2
Rebuilt Keyboard with new key switches.
Have I left anything out ???
hope not
Regrets non ...disappointments few ...but these would include ..no external Keyboard ...limited to 640 x 480 external VGA
..and this units inability to correctly use 2 x 16 bit ISA slots.
Here are some pics with it mostly reassembled for the first time since it was taken apart months ago.

but I can now add a soundblaster ISA
..and pcmcia Network card plus a CD drive
cool !!
😉

..and working..
..sorry about pic 4 ..and the flash..
rgds
VS

Quick question for those of you with T3200SX machines who have replaced/removed the hard drive: does it make a big difference to the noise?

I'd like to make my T3200SX quieter with a CF-IDE mod, also for easy transfer of data, OS swaps, etc. But noise is a big reason. I can't tell how loud the system fan is compared to the hard drive, but I'm assuming the hard drive is the loudest component. Is that true? Thanks.

From experience, the fans are much louder than the idle sounds of the drive. The T3200SX has two 40x40x15 fans built in that run at full power all the time, making this one of the louder luggables from 1989 out there.

Thanks, that's useful to know. I may try disconnecting the fans briefly first before deciding on further mods.

The left fan is used for the cooling of the internal power supply (outward blower). This one could be replaced by a modern equivalent which would surely give enough airflow even at lower speeds, resulting in a quieter experience.

The right fan is used for general airflow out of the case as well, almost directly under it sits the 386SX16 which gets rather hot after 30 minutes of use. But this heat could easily be taken by a small, yet high heatsink (the same side lengths of the CPU die, albeit let say... 4-5 times higher than the whole CPU itself, there is enough space.)

The problem might be that there are more elements inside the case besides the PSU part and the CPU itself which benefit from the airflow generated from the two fans, which suck the hot air out of the case over time. So I would rather try to replace the existing fans with something more modern and quieter. The fans that were originally built into the T-series were not of the quiet variety.

Very helpful, thanks. I'm now thinking that the best investment might be a pair of ear-plugs. CF-IDE would be handy but not essential for data transfer (I can use serial for that) and my main reason for that upgrade was for noise reduction. I think I may leave this machine as it is, at least until the 120MB hard drive finally dies. Thanks again for the information.

Hi all, I also wanted to get the noise level down on my T3200's, so just got 2pcs of this fan from Ali.
I haven't got around to install them yet, so I'll do that as soon as I get home from this oilrig. I'll report back then with a db measurement before and after.

tomdegerth wrote on 2024-08-11, 16:47:

Hi all, I also wanted to get the noise level down on my T3200's, so just got 2pcs of this fan from Ali.
I haven't got around to install them yet, so I'll do that as soon as I get home from this oilrig. I'll report back then with a db measurement before and after.

Let us know some time!