PLEASE NEED HELP WITH PACKARD BELL
REH
I need some help with a Packard Bell Computer. Model # PB 441 A. On the
front of the computer it says PB 2555CD. When starting up it says: BIOS=
PhoenixBIOS A486 Version 1.01.E 1985-1993 Reference ID= 07
640K Base Memory 03200K Extended 256 Shadow RAM Area.
This computer belongs to Come-Unity Cooperative Care (CCC), a non-profit
organization here in London, Kentucky. It had Windows 95 on it. Windows
95 went flakey, and someone deleted it. I have tried an EBD (Emergency
Boob Disk) from Windows 98SE. It tries, but cannot detect the CD. I then
downloaded a file from BootDisk.com. That didn't work either. Cannot
detect CD. This computer has a sound card & modem. What can I do to make
it detect the CD so I can install Windows 98SE, or Windows 95? I know that
there has to be someway around this. I have thought of copying all files
from the Windows 98SE to the hard drive, and go from there. There has to
be an easier way to do this. Can someone please help me?
Thank you very much for your time, and consideration!!!
Robert,
London, Kentucky
Remove bluegrass to contact me by e-mail
Ben Myers
Sorry, but the cobwebs in my brain are getting in the way of remembering exactly
what's inside the PB 441 A. Here's a start. The CD-ROM drive is an older
non-standard one which has its controller on the sound card inside the computer.
If I recall correctly, Sony, Panasonic, and Mitsumi produced these drives, and
the drive is one of the three brands. Open up the chassis and either examine
the sound card or the CD-ROM drive. The brand of CD-ROM drive will tell you
which type of driver is needed. So will the small label next to the connector
where the CD-ROM drive cable is attached. From this info, you'll be able to
find a DOS-mode driver for the CD-ROM, copy the driver to the boot disk, then
edit CONFIG.SYS of the boot disk to reference the required driver. Messy work,
but doable... Ben Myers
REH
On 17 Feb 2003, you wrote in alt.sys.pc-clone.packardbell:
> Robert,
>
> Sorry, but the cobwebs in my brain are getting in the way of
> remembering exactly what's inside the PB 441 A. Here's a start. The
> CD-ROM drive is an older non-standard one which has its controller on
> the sound card inside the computer. If I recall correctly, Sony,
> Panasonic, and Mitsumi produced these drives, and the drive is one of
> the three brands. Open up the chassis and either examine the sound
> card or the CD-ROM drive. The brand of CD-ROM drive will tell you
> which type of driver is needed. So will the small label next to the
> connector where the CD-ROM drive cable is attached. From this info,
> you'll be able to find a DOS-mode driver for the CD-ROM, copy the
> driver to the boot disk, then edit CONFIG.SYS of the boot disk to
> reference the required driver. Messy work, but doable... Ben Myers
>
> On Mon, 17 Feb 2003 17:19:14 GMT, REH
> <bluegrass...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Hello Ben Myers,
I found that it is a Panasonic CD-563-B. However can not locate it on the
search sites. Would you know where I might find it? Also. I forget how
to incorporate it. I think I need to edit the autoexec.bat, and
config.sys. Need to use mscdex.exe in some way. Where can I find info on
this. One more thing. You may know. Will I have more problems if I
install Windows 98SE on this Packard Bell? How do I get into the BIOS on a
Packard Bell?
Thank you for your kindness and help...
Robert,
London, Kentucky
Velix
REH a écrit :
Try an original PB restore boot disk made with files 141233.exe or 141357.exe.
It should have a driver for Panasonic CR-5XX drives.
Download it from
http://web.archive.org/web/20010429231242/www.pb-user.com/archived_files/restdisks/index.html
Insert a formatted disk and run the app to create the boot disk.
Once you let it boot, hit escape until you get an A prompt.
Then look for your CD to be set as D, Y or Q. If not, try all the letters left.
Good luck
Velix
REH
<donotrep...@nospamformeireallydontcaretodobusinesswithspammers.com>
wrote in
news:3E51989D.544165E0@nospamformeireallydontcaretodobusinesswithspammers
.com:
> Try an original PB restore boot disk made with files 141233.exe or
> 141357.exe. It should have a driver for Panasonic CR-5XX drives.
> Download it from
>
> http://web.archive.org/web/20010429231242/www.pb-user.com/archived_file
> s/restdisks/index.html
>
> Insert a formatted disk and run the app to create the boot disk.
> Once you let it boot, hit escape until you get an A prompt.
> Then look for your CD to be set as D, Y or Q. If not, try all the
> letters left.
>
> Good luck
> Velix
I tried your suggestion, and it worked. The Packard Bell will now boot
with CD ROM support. Unforunately Windows 95 will not install on it. Says
that it needs 2,816,000 bytes of extended memory. Error reads "Not enough
free extended/XMS to run setup. Setup needs approximately 2816000
extended/XMS memory to run setup.
This Packard Bell had Windows 95 on it to begin with! Can anyone PLEASE
tell me what to do to get Windows 95 OS back on this rickety, blankety,
blank, blank computer? Any information will most certainly be appreciated.
Thanks for all of the help so far on this.
Robert,
London, Kentucky
Ben Myers
The original message you posted stated that the BIOS showed "640K Base Memory
03200K Extended 256 Shadow RAM Area". That all adds up to 4MB of memory on the
motherboard, hardly enough to do much of anything. The next step would be to
find some more memory to install in however many 72-pin SIMM sockets there are.
You will need fast-page mode memory with parity. I'm not absolutely certain
about the requirement for parity. It may be possible to disable parity checking
on the motherboard. The motherboard is of the vintage that probably accepts
only 4MB and 16MB capacities. Try for at least a couple of 16MB SIMMs, taking
the total system memory to at least 32MB, enough to run a fairly basic Windows
95. (I have an old IBM 486 ThinkPad color notebook with 40MB, and it loads and
runs Windows 95, word processor, web browser, essentially one program at a
time.) ... Ben Myers
Velix
Ben Myers a écrit :
Try to download file 142589-03.exe instead to create a boot disk. It is made to
startup Win95 and contains the drivers for your cd drive. Maybe your Win95
installation problem was caused because the other two disks were made for Win3.11
since you already had Win95 on the system before. Same procedure as before to create
the disk, let it boot and hit escape until you get the A prompt, look for the cd
drive to be set up has Y.
Good luck
Velix
REH
<donotrep...@nospamformeireallydontcaretodobusinesswithspammers.com>
wrote in
news:3E52E5C3.5FC0CA92@nospamformeireallydontcaretodobusinesswithspammers
.com:
>
> Try to download file 142589-03.exe instead to create a boot disk. It
> is made to startup Win95 and contains the drivers for your cd drive.
> Maybe your Win95 installation problem was caused because the other two
> disks were made for Win3.11 since you already had Win95 on the system
> before. Same procedure as before to create the disk, let it boot and
> hit escape until you get the A prompt, look for the cd drive to be set
> up has Y.
>
> Good luck
> Velix
Did that. Changed a line in CONFIG.SYS from DEVICE=A:\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
I=B000-B7FF to DEVICE=A:\EMM386.EXE RAM. Hoping to get the needed
EXPANDED memory. Got an error message that stated:
Windows Expanded Memory Version 4.95
Copyright 1988-1995
Invalid parameter specified.
This machine has 03200k expanded memory available. Windows wants 2816000
Extended/XMS memory. How do I specify the correct parameter?
Again, many THANKS for any, and all replies.
Robert,
London, Kentucky
Ben Myers
To repeat the previous message I posted. The only way to change the memory
parameter is to add more physical memory to the system. It presently has only
4MB, and you can't do squat any more with only 4MB ! Get your hands on some
72-pin fast-page mode parity SIMM memory, 16MB in capacity and 70 ns or faster.
THEN and only then will you be able to install windows... Ben Myers
Ben Myers
Spirit of Performance, Inc.
73 Westcott Road
Harvard, MA 01451
tel: 978-456-3889
eFax: 810-963-0412
PayPal, MC, VISA, AMEX accepted.
Velix
Do not change any lines in the boot disk that is created by files
142589-03.exe if you only want to install win95. You should be able to
install win95 with only 4MB of memory.
Here are the minimum system requirements to install Win95 from the
microsoft.com site
System requirements for installing Windows 95:
* Personal computer with a 386DX or higher processor (486 recommended)
* 4 megabytes (MB) of memory (8 MB recommended)
* Typical hard disk space required to upgrade to Windows 95: 35-40 MB The
actual requirement varies depending on the features you choose to install.
* Typical hard disk space required to install Windows 95 on a clean
system: 50-55 MB The actual requirement varies depending on the features you
choose to install.
* One 3.5-inch high-density floppy disk drive
* VGA or higher resolution (256-color SVGA recommended)
Although Win95 can be installed with 4MB RAM, I do agree with Ben, seriouly
consider upping the RAM memory to run today's current software. I recommend
at least 64MB myself, but you can get by with 16, 32 or 48 MB. With 4MB
you'll be stuck running outdated applications. You can't create RAM by
playing with files. It has to be added physically. Search on eBay for used
RAM if you wish.
Velix
A. Grayson Walker III
Elector
"A. Grayson Walker III" <agw...@fdn.com> wrote in message
news:WDT4a.61579$842....@news1.fdn.com...
Robert:
You have a hardware issue. You need more memory (RAM) or that thing will run so slowly
that you won't be able to determine if it is, in fact, running. 72 pin SIMMS are cheap,
but even if you max this thing out, don't expect a rocket.
Hey "A":
Can you not post in HTML it is bad form and causes folks that use PINE and other text
based news readers a load of trouble, the RFC on this is quite clear. Its like your top
posting that is also a No No. Not my rules my friend but good nettiquite.
Yeah I love the blue and cyan you posted in before and a few of my news readers enjoy it
as well, but if you want to be heard on your merits and not as a person to be blocked due
to folks not being able to see your replies that decision is totally in your hands.
BTW a few folks here "I have shit canned" due to top posting as to not see their questions
or replies. Its just to tiresome scrolling up and down to see the original questions or
the other answers. It makes good sense to bottom post. That is only my own opinion and I
am not speaking for anyone other than me. (No it does not include you KC, Velix or Ben ha
ha)
Elector
Drydem
> > Try to download file 142589-03.exe instead to create a boot disk. It
> > is made to startup Win95 and contains the drivers for your cd drive.
> > Maybe your Win95 installation problem was caused because the other two
> > disks were made for Win3.11 since you already had Win95 on the system
> > before. Same procedure as before to create the disk, let it boot and
> > hit escape until you get the A prompt, look for the cd drive to be set
> > up has Y.
> >
> > Good luck
> > Velix
>
>
> Did that. Changed a line in CONFIG.SYS from DEVICE=A:\EMM386.EXE NOEMS
> I=B000-B7FF to DEVICE=A:\EMM386.EXE RAM. Hoping to get the needed
> EXPANDED memory. Got an error message that stated:
>
> Windows Expanded Memory Version 4.95
> Copyright 1988-1995
>
> Invalid parameter specified.
>
> This machine has 03200k expanded memory available. Windows wants 2816000
> Extended/XMS memory. How do I specify the correct parameter?
the emm386.exe option "RAM=mmmm-nnnn" specifies a
range of memory addresses than be use as upper
memory blocks. If no range is specified, EMM386.exe
uses whatever addresses are available.
The "noems" option stops extended memory(XMS) from
being used for expanded memory (EMS) and therefore
maximizes XMS memory. XMS is the RAM above 1Mbyte.
The easiest way to maximize the extended memory(XMS)
in DOS 6.xx is to use the utility memmaker.exe
>
> Again, many THANKS for any, and all replies.
>
> Robert,
> London, Kentucky
On your Dos Boot disk, along with the microsoft cd extension
(MSCDEX.EXE) in the Autoexec.bat and the CD-ROM device driver
in your config.sys file - check to see if your boot disk has
a file name "himem.sys" and that your config.sys text file
has the following parameters.
device=himem.sys
device=emm386.exe noems verbose
dos=high,umb
if you are using MS-DOS 6.xx press F4 as the computer
is booting up to do a step-by-step confirmation that
"himem.sys" loads. At the command prompt do a
"mem /c /p" command to check for free conventional
and xms memory to see if the system sees the memory,
i.e. are your memory modules ok/working, what modules
are loaded in XMS? Windows 95 needs 420K of conventional
memory and 3MB of XMS. If the installation fails,
check the SETUPLOG.TXT or DETLOG.TXT files for error
messages. You can reduce
Myers is correct in assessing that Windows 95 won't
do much with only 4Mb. Windows 95 might install
with 4mb of memory but its more useful with 16mb
of memory. 32mb is recommended when Windows 95
must do graphics or database applications.
REH
Am now looking for memory for this machine.
Robert,
London, Kentucky
mbaude...@gmail.com
metronid
Easy peasy
METRONID
metronid
Answer is on ELECTORS SITE.
I PUBLISHED A WORK AROUND.
metronid
From metronid.
I can fix any problem if I have my hands on u it.
95 does not like 4mb
When I modified floppies for Packard bells I did so that it would load for any cdrom.If driver did not load than it kept defaulting to it found correct one or I usually just inserted right driver.
Windows 95 will easily upgrade from Win311 but you really need 16mb but himen is already taken cars of because 311 has does 6.
I no longer mess with these units.
Most or many floppies were on ELECTORS SITE plus instructions for modifying floppy.
Also unless CDRom was changed the boot floppy was on OEM CD.
I also wrote a bios for the 450mb with 486 processor to see HD up to about 3gb.
In any case get 311 or dos 6 on and 95 install is a snap.
I am now into Amateur Radio with the highest license.
I have written packet software for communication by radio waves.
I have written programs for digital communications.
Of course I never placed a patent of copyright and others used it.
I am now a recent survivor and cured from aggressive prostate cancer.
I am also recently cured from shrapnel in eye from Takata air bag.