i have a problem with my old 286.when i boot him, after ram check he beeps, displays 161,163 and then in the bottom side of the sreen a row with the cells with F keys.the F1 blinks, and if i press this PC boots where he stopped before.when i run the programs which display time, a saw that after booting(even with Alt-Ctrl-Del), the sistem time runs from 00:00:00. i wrote some time ago some C programs which use time diplay routines (sunday,21.03), but then everithing was ok(i didn't noticed nothing inusual at booting).the week beyond were problems with the electrical suply network because of ugly weather, but i didn't used the PC.when i've turned on the computer(friday, 26.03), the problem appeared.even more, sistem date said: wed,24.03.2004.what's the problem ? it's because the C program, power suplly network,or the battery incorporated which keeps the time when PC is turned off is consummed? sorry for my bad english.

Error 161 means system battery failure, which explains Error 163...Time and Date Not Set. Try changing your CMOS battery.

Yep sounds like a flat CMOS Battery...On 286's they mainly had soldered batteries with a spare socket beside it to take a replacement plugin battery. Or you can add the lines DATE TIME to your autoexec.bat and enter Date/Time each time you start computer. PowerLoad Home Page Please reply with a message to let us all know we are on the right track with you

i saw near the processor a ic called DS1287 with a clock picture on upper side.this must be replaced ? also, with the specific software i saw that my PC does not recognize network card(with BNC jack, it's old problem), but the jumpers are set to :300h I/O and DC000h MEMORY. What that means and how this problem can be solved?