AMIGAZ

I know this isn't Amiga related but I will give it a go anyway since I know alot of huys here have alot of general computer knowledge

I was given two old 486 CPU based PC's this weekend for free which I inted to use for old DOS games, one of them is a Compaq Deskpro 466 and I want to stuff a cd-rom in to it's non occupied 5 1/4 inch holder but I seem to miss the drive rails, does anyone know what type that fits or is it some Compaq special made one's?

Have attached a pic

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Jope

IIRC that kind of Compaq has screw holes on one side and drive rails on the other.

Just screw the drive in on one side..

I always hated that generation of Compaq.. I mean come on, BIOS Setup partition?! Whoever thought it was a good idea to load BIOS Setup from the hard disk?

Hewitson

Wtf? What happens if you replace the disk or if something goes wrong with it?

adolescent

The drive rails are pretty common. They were also used on the Proliant server models (1500-7000). Unfortunately we got rid of all our Compaq stuff around 2000.

Jope

You can boot into BIOS setup from a floppy. The same floppy also contains tools for rebuilding the BIOS setup partition.

I know, you don't visit setup that often, but still it's a pain.

AMIGAZ

Lol, I just wondered "how the hell do I access the BIOS SETUP"

Think I saw that stuff when I browsed the drivers for this model at HP's website

I'm pretty pleased with this machine for what I intend to use it for, it has a built in Cirrus Logic gfx chip and lots of room for expansion cards

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AMIGAZ

Thanks, gonna keep a look out for them

I did some scouting on Ebay today but didn't see anything that could work....but not sure yet what they should look like..if they are attached with screws at the front like the floppy drive cassette or stuff in from the back with rails which look like Dell's drive rails which are spring loaded

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Merlin

@ AMIGAZ

At my works they are scrapping some old Compaq Celeron machines, mostly 633s through to 866s.

I'll take a look at one tomorrow and get you some drive rails, I can't guarantee they will fit but hey....

BTW, F10 gets you into the Compaq bios on most machines. Just be aware that some save BIOS information on a small partition on the hard drive, it's worth getting the disks from the HP website if they are still there.

Merlin

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AMIGAZ

Very kind of you

PM me with what you find, please

F10? going to try that, thanks

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adolescent

The ones in the servers are similar to these. (Although, the original Compaq rails aren't adjustable, and don't have the gold finish...)

http://www.gementerprises.com/rails.htm

Jope

Some only react to F10 from a cold boot, so .. cycle power and start tapping F10. :-)

IIRC it complains if the setup partition is missing.

Merlin

@ Jope

Yes, spot on, which is why I mentioned the partition above.

@ AMIGAZ

If the machine has two sticks of memory, take one out and switch it on, the machine will register the change and they usually show this message:-

"System has changed - press F1 to continue or F10 to setup"

Sometimes they have a tamper switch and opening the case registers a change.

/me needs to get out more

LOL

Merlin

AMIGAZ

Aye

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AMIGAZ

I noticed that after removing all the tiny simm's in it and upgrading it with two 32mb sticks to take here up to 57mb RAM (?)
Dunno why it registers the SIMM's as 57mb when it also has I think 4mb soldered on the mobo

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Jope

Not enough address lines in the SIMM sockets.

Such is life with old hardware.. It could also be a BIOS limitation, but I doubt that.

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AMIGAZ

It's suppose to take 136mb ram according to the specs

http://www.upgradecomputermemory.com...s/Deskpro-466/

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Merlin

My guess is that 57Mb is left after 8Mb will have been used for the video memory, Compaq's are prone to having onboard graphics cards.

2 x 32768k = 65536k total memory - 8192k graphics memory = 57344k, am I right?

Put in a graphics card and you will get the 8Mb back. These are old skool PCs and you have to know this stuff

Sorry, all of the Deskpros and Deskpro ENs being scrapped at work had spring loaded clips inside, not the side rails you need.

Merlin

Jope

Sometimes the modules you're using have chips that are too large in capacity and the machine can't make full use of all the RAM.

Merlin

@ AMIGAZ

136 is a very odd number, 128Mb would report as 131072k. Mind you, these days you may struggle to get 128Mb, 72 pin memory.

You also get very weird results if you add Fast Page (FPM) memory to a machine which needs Extended Data Output (EDO) memory. Earlier Compaq machines were very fussy about memory and a killing was made by selling custom Compaq memory to companies.

Sometimes, this site is more retro than I thought....

Merlin

AMIGAZ

np, thanks for looking

Guess I'll grab a pair of those adolescent recommended

About it stealing 8mb for gfx...hmm....I think there's 4mb or more soldered on the mobo so it must steal more then?

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