Hi all, I have a slight problem with my dad's old laptop. It's a 486DX professional notebook (pre 2000) with Windows 3.1 installed on it. I've had a look through some of the topics and tried out some of the tips but nothing seems to work. I just keep getting this error message about "Non-system disk or disk error" it tells me to replace it. Disk 1 is working with 69MB and the following spec. CYLS.925 HEADS 9 SECTORS 17 PRECOMP NONE (i couldn't manage to get it to anything else) LANDZ. 926 I knew that LANDZ. should be one more value than CYLS. , and the same for PRECOMP although as I've said i can't get PRECOMP to any value. Because the date on the computer is from 1980-99 it won't register that it's still existing after the turn of the millenium. Anything to resolve this either? If you have any suggestions please contact me through my e-mail: freako_kitteh@hotmail.com I may have just missed something in another thread, but if someone could just confirm what I'm meant to be doing it would be much appreciated. Thanks. Hazard.

You need to provide a little better information in order to get any good help with this. 1) The notebook is referred to as a IBM/486DX. IBM notebooks are usually referred to by model numbers. For example, I have a IBM 486DX, it's a "Thinkpad 755c", and that provides a LOT more information to someone who might be able to help you. 2) You say that "Disk 1 is working...", but also seem to be saying that the laptop won't boot from that disk. How do you know the disk is "working"? It's a pretty old hard drive, it wouldn't be unusual that it has simply reached it's "end of life", so to speak. 3) The 755c I own has a floppy disk drive, and this was pretty much universally standard for IBM/486DX laptops. Does your laptop have a floppy drive and have you tried to boot the laptop from a DOS boot floppy?

Like pyro said, we need to know what we're dealing with. For example, my 755C is a Type 9545-F0E The model and type numbers will get us started on a solution. Skip

Sorry about that. I didn't know quite how much information to put down. The first screen says 486DX Modular BIOS V3.20-D, Notebook 3500. It gets to the first screen and comes up with the check list. TESTING INTERRUPT CONTROLLER #1 PASS TESTING INTERRUPT CONTROLLER #2 PASS TESTING CMIS BATTERY PASS TESTING CMOCC CHECKSUM FAIL SIZING SYSTEM MEMORY 640K FOUND TESTING SYSTEM MEMORY 640K PASS CHECKING UNEXPECTED INTERRUPTS AND STUCK NMI PASS TESTING PROTECTED MODE PASS SIZING EXTENDED MEMORY 033072K FOUND TESTING MEMORY IN PROTECTED MODE 03712K PASS TESTING PROCESSOR EXCEPTION INTERRUPTS PASS BIOS SHADOW RAM DISABLED VIDEO SHADOW RAM DISABLED CMOS RAM ERROR The laptop has a floppy drive, but I don't have a boot disc for it. My dad managed to lose that a while back. I was thinking of trying to find boot file online and work it round that way but a friend advised me against it.

Nothing to apologize about, just wanted you to know that you weren't going to get any help without people understanding what your asking about. I do not believe that you have an IBM laptop. I don't know of any 486DX laptops sold by IBM with the designation "Notebook 3500". IBM started from the beginning calling their laptops "Thinkpads". Maybe there is some kind of designation on it to confirm it as "IBM compatible" (that was a VERY BIG issue back in them days...), but IBM used it's own BIOS and I've never seen the kind of BIOS test screen you report on an IBM laptop. From the test screen info you provided it is clear that the unit has a CMOS ram failure, I believe that the "CMOCC Checksum" is the same thing. It most probably just means that the CMOS battery (usually a 3-6VDC lithium battery somewhere in the laptop) is dead and that the BIOS is just loading the basic defaults. Do you know how to access the BIOS "setup" on this laptop? In your first post you implied that you had tried to setup the hard drive parameters in this laptop but didn't seem real confident that those parameters were correct. If you post the make and model of the hard drive I might be able to find the specs for that drive for you. Also, you won't hurt the laptop by getting a DOS boot disk from bootdisk.com and trying to boot the computer from the floppy, but all that will do is enable you to farther check out the laptop's operation, it won't get the hard drive working unless you also put some special utilites on the boot disk.

That didn't help me. No numbers or labels on the bottom of the notebook? You might also find a basic model number just under the screen. Any error codes or beep codes? You can grab a boot disk online at http://www.bootdisk.com/ Click on the Read1st link at the top right of the page for instructions is you haven't made a boot disk from an image before. I notice you list a Type 23 hdd/119Mb under cpu/ram heading and then say 96mb in your post. Something is odd there. With the proper model number we might find the IBM setup disk for that machine. Skip

Yep, definitely need a new CMOS Battery as it appears to have set BIOS to Factory Defaults. It is quite likely you need a Setup Diskette (not a boot diskette) to be able to configure the BIOS. Make and Model is a must!!