486sx: cleaned machine now "fixed disk controller failure"

[sean12309]

Hello,

Here is the situation: I bought this old 486sx computer yesterday and it was so filthy that I had to immediately set out and clean it. First I hooked it up and it booted up great...just understandably slowly. I took out everything and cleaned it all up (I did not ground anything which I just read should be done when doing work inside the machine.) http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif I hooked everything back up the way I thought but then it wouldn't boot up, just a black screen.
Today I brought it to a computer store and they hooked up the cables how they should be and tried to boot it up and even tried another hard drive to test if the hard drive needed replacing. Unfortunately he wasn't succesful and I didn't want to pay any money for him to roam for the problem.
At any rate, now the first screen pops up: "Packard Bell...Testing Memory...done...," then it pauses forever and finally says: "Fixed disk controller failure; press F1 to retry boot (which does nothing,) or F2 to run setup utility." I don't know exactly what to do in the setup utility or further inside the machine and so that brings me to right now and right here.
I hope there is someone who nows what to do here, I would really appreciate it and be much obliged.

Thanks again!

~Sean

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"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
[T.S. Eliot]

[Dinosaur]

First try booting from a diskette. If you can do that you will know that the motherboard itself is okay.

From what you say, the next step is to buy a new hard disk or a new computer.

I think Packard Bell systems had some proprietary motherboard and/or BIOS circuits, whihc might make it difficult to troubleshoot.

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Gouverneur, the Dinosaur from pre-compter era.
Eschew Obfuscation!
If one hundred million people believe a foolish idea, it is still a foolish idea.

[Jumby]

Not to be a smart ass, but unless you're just doing this to learn (and even that is questionable with a Pack Bell), don't spend any money on that computer. I hope you didn't pay more than $50.00 for it. Hard disk failure could be just that, bad hard drive. Or it could be cables are hooked up wrong. Or a few other things. If you took it to a reputable computer place and they couldn't fix it....hhmmmmm. Here I go again with my retail background question...what is your budget for a computer? Answer that first.

[sean12309]

1) I paid $10 for the computer and it worked perfect with windows 3.11 and Dos 5 installed and a 5.25, 3.5 floppy and 4x Creative cd-rom. The hard drive had over 500 megs. Great buy. I just wanted it to play my precious old games on like Wizardry VII: Crusaders of the Dark Savant.

2) I tried booting from a 3.5 floppy (I don't have any 5.25 floppys period,) and it didn't even read it but the lights on both floppy drives and cd-rom go on.

Any further suggestions? I appreciate it.

~Sean

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"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
[T.S. Eliot]

[mjc]

In all likelyhood it is set for the 5.25" disk as A...in order to boot you need to go into BIOS and fin the swap floppy option...and swap the drives...so the 3.5" will now be A:...

Also depending on the setup the harddrive may need to have the geometry reset...it should be on a label on the drive, compare what is on the label with the actual seetings in BIOS. I did a similar thing on an old 486....and it turned out to be the cable on the drive end was not making good contact...just push the connector on more firmly...

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mjc
Links list:Computer Links (http://www.dreamwater.org/tech/mjc/index.htm)

Celts are the men that heaven made mad, For all their battles are merry and their songs are all sad.

[sean12309]

I checked all the cables. They are all on tight. I also checked the geometry on the actual drive and matched it with drive type 48, it still said "fixed drive controller failure," and type 49 and nothing different. I made sure that drive A was 3.5 and tried variations after that didn't work.
Do you know if my memory base and extended should be 640 & 7168, respectively, or 7040?
Also, at the beginning of boot it says "reference ID 09," I don't know if this has anything to do with it. You?
Also, The hard disk is obviously newer than the computer because it has over 500mb but under the second hard disk on the setup screen it says "Not installed." Should there be two (e.g. the card that connects to the 500mb drive?) Or should I move the parameters to the second hard disk slot on the setup screen and make the first one say "Not Installed?"

Thanks again!

~Sean

------------------
"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
[T.S. Eliot]

[Jumby]

If you're using two hard drives, try taking one out. Actually, try getting to just a basic system --- one hard drive, floppy, cd, video card. See what happens.

[sean12309]

Unfortunately, I don't know anything about hooking up "just the basics." That's what got me where I am now. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/frown.gif

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"We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
[T.S. Eliot]

[bassman]

Seems to me this machine is telling you that your hard disk Controller is bad and not the hard disk. You might try to find another controller card and give that a shot.
Since you said you did not ground anything http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/eek.gif , there could be a number of things effected by ESD.
One more thing to try before spending more money. You said the machine was filthy. You may have some light corrosion in the card slots. Try cleaning the contacts on the cards reseating the cards a few times and see if that helps.

Good luck http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/cool.gif

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Waiting patiently for the future to arrive. Frank's Place (http://dreamwater.net/tech/frankscomp/)