gateway2000 4dx2-66v Issues.

[maxwell91]

Hi Guys, im new to this forum, so please dont ignore me because of that. I have an old Gateway2000 4dx2-66v. It has been in my basement for some time, and i would like to recover files on it/ use it along with my computer using shared mouse/ keyboard. I know it isnt that powerful.

My issue is that when i attempt to boot it i get 2 system beeps, and nothing else happens. I would LOVE any help you could offer.

It is using a;
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar 2635
Video Card: ATI mach 32
Sound Card: ESS AudioDrive W/ 3D SOUND
Network Card: Intel LAN Adapter
Processor: It doesnt say exactly, but its a Pentium socket 3 apparently.
There is also another card that i have never seen, It has 2 circular inputs like the old satelite TV cable, an input that looks like a network cable slot, but it isnt, and its labeled T4760 C Wang'88

It appears to be in working condition, but i have no idea what the problem is.

 

[kmcferrin]

If the PC is a 4dx2-66v, then it sounds like it is a 486DX2 CPU at 66 MHz, unless you have had it upgraded at some point. The Socket 3 was for 486 processors.

The peculiar card that you described is likely another network adapter. Back in the day there were several different, competing, media standards for ethernet. One was the UTP with an RJ45 connector on the end (which is nowdays the most common variety). There was also a coaxial media standard, that looks like standard coaxial cable used for cable TV/antennas, and since it was used in a ring topology there was usually a T-connector on the back of the video card that had two coaxial plus on it.

The two beeps are actually an error code that lets you know what the problem is. Unfortunately, the meaning of two beeps varies depending on who manufactured the BIOS on the motherboard (AMI, Award, or Phoenix usually), and whether the beeps are "long beeps" or "short beeps".

There are a couple of references here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-on_self-test

http://forums.devshed.com/motherboards-106/boot-problem-2-beeps-at-post-187734.html

 

[edfair]

I would suspect that with a computer that old that the battery is history and the CMOS settings are default, not what is needed. You generally find the battery near the keyboard connector and they are usually about 1/2" diameter and 3/4" inch long soldered into the board and at the age probably covered with corrosion at the connectors.
The replacement batteries use velcro to stick to the case and have a 4 pin molex to fit on matching pins near the battery. Require you to pull a jumper to put the molex on. Jumper is for internal batter use.
No telling what the CMOS setup entry key combo is.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[maxwell91]

cool, i have it running now, but i have a new issue, it will not accept the hard drive altho it shows up in the bios. I tried to use a floppy with F-Disk to reformat the drive, but it would not recognize there was a floppy in the drive to boot from. I am getting ready to give up completely on this computer.

 

[kmcferrin]

I suspect that it's an issue with the disk size. Older PCs (back in the days of the 486) weren't able to address hard disks over a certain size (seems to be it was 32 GB?) unless they supported LBA in the BIOS. So if it is a new drive on an old system, that could be the problem. I didn't see your OS listed, but earlier versions of Windows also had similar limitations (actually it was a limitation of the old 16-bit FAT file system. If you were using FAT32 or NTFS then it could manage larger disks.

 

[satrow]

Does the hard drive size that shows in the BIOS match the size on the hard disk? It may be that it was setup originally with a different translation of CHS than the one beingg used by the BIOS.

What hard drive is it, the original? Model number?

Is the machine set (in the BIOS) to boot from hard drive or floppy first? What error message do you get - exactly, please?

Re the hard disk limitation in a machine and OS of this age, it's likely to be 500Mb, 2Gb or less likely 8.4Gb, from what I recall.

 

[edfair]

Did the floppy do anything. Light during POST?
You probably need to change CMOS. Default at that time was probably 1.2.
There probably are 4 places needing setup. FDC , drive size, drive active, seek on POST.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[Freestone]

When did 1.44MB floppies appear? Perhaps the diskette drive only reads/writes 720KB disks?

 

[LWComputingMVP]

Easiest thing is going to be to remove the hard drive from it and put it in either an external enclosure OR a system directly.

 

[kmcferrin]

1.44 MB floppies have been around since the days of the 386. I recall buying a 386sx 20 MHz system right after 486 CPUs were released, and it had a 1.44 drive in it. By the time that they were making 486DX2 CPUs the 1.44 was standard and the 5 1/4 inch variety (1.2?) was all but gone.

 

[LWComputingMVP]

My Speedy 286 12 MHz TURBO had a 3.5" floppy - that was in 1989. My 486DX2-66 Gateway 2000 system (PCI not VESA version) had a combo drive of a 1.2 and 1.44 in a 5.25 form factor. But these are not important. Take the drive out, put it in an enclosure/system directly, and access your data.

 

[maxwell91]

satrow (TechnicalUser)
1 Oct 06 6:44
Does the hard drive size that shows in the BIOS match the size on the hard disk? It may be that it was setup originally with a different translation of CHS than the one beingg used by the BIOS.

What hard drive is it, the original? Model number?

Is the machine set (in the BIOS) to boot from hard drive or floppy first? What error message do you get - exactly, please?

Re the hard disk limitation in a machine and OS of this age, it's likely to be 500Mb, 2Gb or less likely 8.4Gb, from what I recall."

The hard drive is a new one, but i picked it out for this computer.

Part # 99.004190-003
CAVIAR 2635 640MB IDE HDD

It asks me several things and i dotn know what to put for 3 of them. Pre LZ Sec are the settings, its neumerical input, so i can select any number up to 999999.

How do i get it to boot off a floppy on the Phoenix BIOS thingy?

"edfair (TechnicalUser)
1 Oct 06 12:27
Did the floppy do anything. Light during POST?
You probably need to change CMOS. Default at that time was probably 1.2.
There probably are 4 places needing setup. FDC , drive size, drive active, seek on POST.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions."

What exactly is the CMOS? How do i access it? The settings that must be set up as far as the hard drive are Cycle (Cyl) which is 1240, Head (Hd) which is 16, and the three that i dont know what mean, Pre LZ Sec.

"lwcomputing (IS/IT--Management)
1 Oct 06 22:50
My Speedy 286 12 MHz TURBO had a 3.5" floppy - that was in 1989. My 486DX2-66 Gateway 2000 system (PCI not VESA version) had a combo drive of a 1.2 and 1.44 in a 5.25 form factor. But these are not important. Take the drive out, put it in an enclosure/system directly, and access your data."

I cant put it in my computer, it is under my minimum size limit of 2 gigs i believe. I have stopped caring for the data. I just want the computer to boot fully.


I apologise for my somewhat stupid questions, im only 15 so dont think me to be stupid, im just young.

 

[LWComputingMVP]

What are you talking about - there's no "minimum size limit" Any new computer with an IDE/ATA connector on the mainboard (all but perhaps the NEWEST computers - and even MOST of the newest computers) should be able to fully access the drive.

 

[maxwell91]

my computer wont accept anything lower than 2gb. I dont know the exact term that limits that, but i have tried the drive, i dont understand why it wont read under 2gb. Its a dell dimension 4550 with alot of replaced parts, but the motherboard is still the same. anyway, it wont take small drives.

 

[edfair]

Later machines allow you to set boot order. Earlier machines limited you to floppy and hard drive. I suspect that yours is one that will boot off the floppy if there is one inserted and things are working right.
Try a google search for "western digital cavier drive specs" and see if one of the hits is the WD spec sheets with your CHS requirements.
Your questions: Pre stands for pre-compensation, LZ stands for landing zone, and sec stands for sectors. Your drive will not need percomp use 1240, same for LZ, and sectors=17. This is a guess for now.
Systems at the age of this one should have no problem with 640mb. They probably have drive types 1 to 47 which get down to 10mb if I recall correctly.
CMOS is a battery powered memoty chip that holds setup information that is used by the BIOS to talk to the hardware.
First your computer was a Gateway, now it is a Dell. You understand that people will quit helping you if you are this confused or are switching problems or machines in the same thread. It is difficult to keep track of what has been suggested when you change things.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[gbaughma]

maxwell91:

Question for you.

Your original post said that you wanted to recover files from this old 486.

Yet in a later post, you said you tried to use a floppy and FDisk to reformat the drive?

The wang card *sounds* like it might be maybe a 5250 emulator or similar "terminal" card.

So, what exactly are you trying to do?



Just my 2¢

"In order to start solving a problem, one must first identify its owner." --Me
--Greg

http://parallel.tzo.com

 

[maxwell91]

yes, gbaughma, i am not sure what is on the drive, but its being too much of a pain, at first i wanted to get the information, but i eventually gave up hope. now i just want to do something to get it running.

is the terminal card nessicary for the computer to run?

 

[edfair]

No