Where can I get help for DOS and WIN3.1x.

Old hard drive = 200MB, new hard drive = 600MB. 8 ISA slots, 7 are 16 bit & 1 is 8 bit. NO PCI.

I tried the XCOPY again with the same results Invalid switch -h .

I am booting from the old drive and Win 3.1 loads successfully.

Yes the video, mouse CDrom and sound all work.

New drive shows up, works good.

I installed Win 3.1 as Express every time I loaded it.

Was not given any choice for video driver.

Would consider running 2 hard drives if I can't get the newer drive to accept windows.

If I run 2 drives then I could install the Apollo drivers on the slave.

Are those commands suppose to work? I am not familiar with .WRI commands.

Yes I have both the DOS and Windows books as well as a book called Crutchfield Computer Systems.

Where do I want to go today? To boldly go where no one has gone before.

Pepse.

 

Hi Pepse, thanks for answering my questions.

It seems to me that you have the best situation right now, running two drives.

I don't understand what's filling up your 200 MB hard disk. A 486 machine running Windows 3.1 often shipped with a 40MB HD. If you install your apps on the slave and save your files there, you should be able to defrag the 200MB drive and improve performance by putting the swap file on the second drive.

Before Wordpad, there was a word processing program called Windows Write that saved its files with the .WRI extension. In Program Manager, in the Accessories Group, you will see an Icon labelled Write. That opens the program. However, if you double click on the file, e.g. readme.wri, the Write program will open and display the file. The files I listed should all be in the C:\Windows directory.

My suggestion is that you read those .WRI files, also look for and read the .TXT files, especially SETUP.TXT

Then hit those books of yours and learn to use Windows 3.1 while you have it running. Make a bootable rescue diskette and save the key environment files like AUTOEXEC.BAT, CONFIG.SYS, SYSTEM.INI and WIN.INI to a diskette so that you will have a back-up copy. Don't try to install Windows again until you feel you thoroughly understand how those environment files work and the choices you will face in SETUP.

Get your Apollo printer installed on the slave drive and print out a Microsoft System Diagnostics (MSD) report.

Learn to use the Microsoft Backup program and save a backup of the master hard drive to the slave.

Then, if you decide you want to try reinstalling Windows 3.1, next time choose the CUSTOM option. That is where you get to tell Windows exactly what driver to use, instead of relying on the detection process.

There is a specific choice for the Logitech mouse (you did read that Microsoft Knowledge Base article, right?) which will install LMOUSE.COM and there is a choice in each section to ignore all the Microsoft drivers and instead "require a manufacturer's disk." That's where you insert your floppies and install the drivers furnished by Crutchfield.

You have all the materials you need. The only task remaining is to learn to use them.

The one knotty problem is the real time clock. There is a battery inside the little black Dallas module. You might try leaving the computer running for 24 hours and see if it picks up a charge. My experience buying replacements is poor. It's always old stock and the replacements don't work. Whether in the computer or on the shelf, they are obsolete. It's possible you could find an old IBM XT vintage ISA add in AST memory board with a clock module on it. Those had replaceable coin type batteries. If you find a board it's worthless if it doesn't come with drivers and programs diskette.

That's about all I have to offer. I leave you with two bits of wisdom:

"You have to study a great deal to learn a little" (Montesquieu)

"That which we do not understand we do not possess" (Goethe)

 

You know, I have no idea why I didn't think to just slave the 600MB. Oh that's right I didn't know as to whether the CDrom would cause problems being connected. Like I said earlier I really don't know much about SCSI. Although I should've thought something since the SCSI board is part of the sound card.

Yeah, I'll hit those books. Kinda strange tho, I never picked up and read anything pertaining to an operating system. Just taught myself. Gettin' old. And of course I have this topic to review for good reference.

As for the battery it is stone cold dead. I left the machine running for 2 days early on and no luck. BUT, I was scrounging around my storage area and found another RTC that holds a charge. First to say what I have in my tower is a Twin Head RTC TH1287. The other RTC is a Twin Head, also. But the number is TH6887A. I did some Googling on these and found a web site called www.resource800.com . On their main page they list Dallas RTC's and mention basically what they are the same as. Well I learned that there is a difference between the TH1287 and TH126887A. The "A" means it has a CMOS reset capability. Which is where I have a problem. When I installed that RTC in my Crutchfield and went to CMOS the time and date were right (scary since that tower hasn't been turned on in about 3 years, and that was only for about 2 hours), but the Type 47 hard drive (C) was different, nothing for "D" drive and "A" drive was for a 3 1/2 floppy instead of the 5 1/4 floppy that is my "A "; and nothing for "B ". So, I put in all the right info saved it and when it was booting it just hung up. As for taking the RTC apart I am not sure about the 2 Twin Heads, if it can be done they are pretty tight. I also have a socket 7 board with a Houston Tech RTC but it has a HT12888A but it has more pins that the 2 Twin Heads. But it did come apart and I see it has a button battery soldered on it. Comparing the HT with the TW's it looks like the TW's are glued. So it might be harder to separate. I thought of snipping some pins off the HT but I have the problem of it being an "A" series. If I can figure out how to get an "A" serise to work in my tower I'll be in business.

Thanks for all your help. I will let you know somehow my progress.

Like I said "I'm having fun ".

Pepse.

 

I have a fondness for old computers, and feel sorrow when they die. May fortune favor you, Pepse, in all your adventures.

 

Thank you. I know when I see an old computer at a thrift store I just want to buy it. Like today, I seen an old AST with Win 3.1. Complete $20.00; it was tempting. But no, I gotta have fun with the one I have.

Speaking of which I kept getting the BSOD and cured the problem by removing the 600 meg slave drive. As for why it caused that I am not real sure. But last night while I was trying to research the Real Time Clock batteries I read this long FAQ and it was mentioned that like in my case of having 2 hard drives a CDrom drive a 5 1/4 drive and a 3 1/2 drive I should be running a 300 watt power supply. I only have a 250 watt. Not sure if that is right but for whatever reason it is back to normal. I have wondered too if it is possible that because I have a dead RTC that it might be causing some of my grief? From what I think it does more than keep the clock and the rest of the CMOS right.

Later. Pepse.

 

Why not just boot off the original HDD and add the 2nd as a storage?

 

That is where we were at. I was going to use the 600 meg as a slave but by having it slaved it caused the blue screen of death on any program I tried to launch, whether it was from a floppy or CDrom or the master hdd. I am think also that maybe I can't run the SCSI CDrom and the 600meg hdd. Even though the 600 went to "E" this old computer might not like it.

Later. Pepse.