CMOS errors - (again)

[Healey]

Hi All. I've just purchased a used Eztrak DX of (I am told) 1996 vintage and have also been told has a 486 mother board. This is for DIY use to help me build my dream - a 4 1/2" Burrell Traction engine. Delivered, installed, wired in (runnning on a whopping rotary converter) and started up. Then my problems started. I get the error messages on the screen as follows :-

CMOS System options not set
CMOS Display type mismatch

No amount of coaxing the keys could urge it further.

I phoned Bridgeport technical services here in the UK and basically they told me 'tough, it's the mother board and we can't do anything with it'. A great help.

Then I phoned the guys I bought the machine from and they said just to change the battery on the mother board. Simple.
But who to believe ?. So I started to dig around on the www and came across this wonderful, wonderful site of yours. Had a quick look through and found some answers to some questions but I just want to make sure.....

I must say first I AM NOT A COMPUTER PERSON AND I HATE ELECTRICS WITH A PASSION. I know how to switch it on and I know how to use it but what goes on in that box at the back,,,!!!??? so any help or answers should be in very plain English that a kid could understand - thanks in advance.

Firstly - The battery on the mother board needs replacing from what I understand of it. I've done a search and cannot find a direct replacement, The original has printed on it Varta 3.6v 60ma 3/v60B anybody know where I could get one ?. Looks to be 3 cells joined and in blue shrink wrap stuff.

Secondly - I've read some archive posts and Ni-Mh batteries are mentioned, can I fit one of these as a direct replacement ?. Will the machines charging system cope with this ?. or am I stuck with the NiCad ?.

Third - When I do this, would it be a better idea to put the new battery on a flying lead so if it happens again I won't have to dismantle the guts of the cabinet. I'm going to remove the old battery as suggested.

Nearly there - I have no disc(s) with the machine so where do I get a copy and how do I find out what I actually need ?.

Lastly, but for me the most daunting, When I have a the battery, the discs, the keyboard and a bit of dutch courage - how easy is it to do whatever I am going to have to do ?. Will it become obvious as I progress ?.

ANY help or info is going to be very very welcome and, once again, thankyou in advance.

[HuFlungDung]

As far as I know, the cmos settings can always be recalled from an onboard BIOS chip, even if the battery dies. The only problem with this is that you have to know a bit about making the correct settings for all the features you need for your computer and operating system to work correctly.

The battery only provides a trickle of power to the CMOS chips to retain the settings you have selected.

There is usually one keystroke required to get into BIOS setup which you see if your monitor is on (and warmed up) and there will be an instruction on one of the early screens about what key that would be.

If you can get into BIOS then, you could get a competent computer tech to help you make the settings, or follow the instructions in the motherboard manual if you have one.

The point of doing all this is simply to prove that the computer is operational enough to allow you to do all of this. It should then be possible to boot to an operating system.

If you cannot do this, then replacing the battery may be of no help to you.

Oh, if the cmos settings are there, but corrupted, you may have to clear them out on purpose in order to restart the computer and install the correct settings again. This can be done by shutting the computer down, unplugging it, and removing the battery for a half an hour or so. There is also an onboard jumoer, often located near the battery, which has a 'clear cmos' setting. This will be a three post contact, with a two-post jumper in the normal "save cmos" setting. With the computer off, battery removed, you can move the jumper temporarily to the other possible position to clear cmos (for a few seconds) then put the jumper back to where it was, put the battery back in, and boot up again, go into BIOS setup, redo the settings to be saved in CMOS and so on.

Clear?

AFAIK, the onboard battery is not recharged. That is why they die every so many years.

[NC Cams]

Sounds like CMOS is losing its memorty due to low battery. Fix is simple. Replace the battery with another of an equivalent type and voltage.

Simply unsolder it an replace it with another making sure that you observe proper polarity. Don't mess with NiMh - just reinstall an equivalent to what you have.

NiCd's cells are pretty much all 1.2volts per cell fully charged and perhaps 0.7 per cell when near dead. Thus, any equivalent cell of a comparable package offered by any NiCd supplier would readily replace the Varta's. There are outfits who can weld cells together into "packs" in any config you want/need.

If you don't want to change the battery, install a keyboard and hit the DEL key and reset the CMOS each time you boot. THis is a PITA but it should get you going until you get TOTALLY fed up doing it and change the battery.

Might try to do an EZTRAK search on this m/b. The replacment of the CMOS battery and the reprogramming of the CMOS has been discussed multiple times before by Machinetek and/or myself.

You don't have to be a computer geek to fix it - find a kid or semi-retired computer person who knows how to mess around with DOS computers, they can probably do it in their sleep.

If you're lucky, you can use AUTODETECT to have the board find what it wants to run at as far as floppy's, hard drives and the like. Otherwise, you may need a bit of help and/or some experimentation to get the CMOS reset.

If there is an option to "install optimum settings to CMOS", try using that as it will install a generic set that may get you going. Don't get fancy - these were simple DOS machines.

I can tell you that the LBA option needs to be OFF.

Also, the "Write cache to HDD" option needs to be on.

Yes, if you want to charge lots of money for a replacement board (what BPT service thrives on), you do NOT merely replace the battery - you replace the whole board.

If you want to save some money and fix it, you unsolder and resolder the old NiCd and reprogram the CMOS and rock on.

If you are going to get involved with CNC, you really need to upgrade your tolerance of computers and electronics skills just a teeny, tiny bit above where you are. Fear and loathing of DOS based PC's will not serve you well if you have a DX32 based Eztrak.

Unless you learn a bit about it, you'll spend LOTS OF MONEY paying BPT service and/or others to do stuff that you can EASILY do yourself. Changing the NiCd is definitely a DIY calibre project.

Or, go find a used PC from the thrift store (486 or Pentium but NO FASTER THAN 133mhz) and replace the whole board. If you do that, you'll still have to reprogram the CMOS so you might as well learn how or get some computer geek in to show you how - education well learned. Just make sure it is an ISA based computer or else you wasted your money and time. The BMDC controller card in the Extrak needs an ISA slot to function.

[Healey]

Guys. A BIG THANKYOU. You've got me up and running. Not changed the battery yet but I had a chum, who is a wizard with DOS, come over and he understood all you said, showed me what to do - hey presto. Not as difficult as I was led to believe and now have a bit more confidence in the operating system and my ability to problem solve.

Once again......a big thanks. I'll know where to come if I have any more troubles and I'll definately be a regular visitor to this site.

[NC Cams]

The sad thing about computer instructions are that they make absolutely NO sense when you read them.

Have someone show you how to do it or if you somehow do figure it out, the damn instructions will then make perfect sense.

Have your DOS friend show you how to install and use DOSSHELL. It will make file maintenance a LOT easier as it is sort of WYSIWYG for DOS and as close to Windows as you can get.

Helps if you learn how to use DOSSHELL w/o using a mouse as a mouse may confuse the Extrak program which essentially takes over operation of the DOS machine. Use it ONLY for file maintenance. DON'T be tempted to install Windows for same reason - Extrak wants control of WHOLE machine.

Your friend can set up DEFRAG to run in DOSSHELL and you should run it once every so often to keep stuff from getting fragmented.

There is a way to create a system backup disk (criticial if you do not have one!!!!) of your machine O/S. I'll have to research how to do it. In the mean time, have your friend show you how to create a bootable "SYSTEM" disk - you'll need it for the backup.