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View Full Version : RTC/CMOS failure in an old 386


showlow
01-06-2004, 01:53 PM
I have an old Northgate 386. Recently I got a "CMOS battery low, run setup" message. I ran the BIOS setup and entered what I believed was the correct configuration. Now the BIOS does not see the hard drive. I can boot up DOS from the floppy but I still can't access the C: hard drive.

The hard drive is a Microscience HH-1060 65M. Since both Northgate and Microscience are out of business, there's no tech support.

The RTC/CMOS is a DALLAS DS1287 on the mb. It's no longer available but is replaced by the DS12887.

The Dallas web site indicated that mother boards that used the DS1287 could, in some cases, have a memory conflict using the DS12887 as a replacement.

My thought is that there is something malfunctioning in the RTC/CMOS that is preventing the system from recognizing the hard drive.

I was wondering if any one had any thoughts or suggestions before I bought a new DS12887 and installed it.

mjc
01-06-2004, 02:32 PM
My thought is that there is something malfunctioning in the RTC/CMOS that is preventing the system from recognizing the hard drive.

Yeah....the battery is dead.

The default config is most likely not autodetect, and since the battery is dead you are not keeping any saved changes.