Re: Loss of CMOS settings on a 1600

[renne]

I have a Proliant 1600 which is continuing to give me 172 and 162 error messages. I reconfigure and reboot and it's fine. - until the next cold boot. This problem started intermittently and has since become a daily problem. The first item to be replaced was, of course, the battery - nothing got any better. The CPU cage and the I/O cage were next. The first time I booted up after replacing the I/O cage, the 172/162 error messages had disappeared, but instead I got a 'non-system disk' message after the post instead of the 'F10" message - but there was no disk in the drive and I could go no further. Now I still get the 172, 172-1 and 162 and, unless I hit the F10 and reconfigure, I get the 'non-system disk' message every time. I have checked the controller order and my raid array is set to 1st. Any advice appreciated. Thanks. Diane

 

[TheLad]

If memory serves, on some Proliant models there is a dip switch on the motherboard which allows either the use of the battery or an external power source. Hopefully, there should be schematics on the lid so you can check that this switch (if it exists on the PL1600 series) is set to the battery option.
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"It's true, its damn true!"
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[renne]

No, sorry to say, the battery option jumpers are set to the correct setting for an external battery - posts 2 and 3 instead of 1 and 2. This is one that really has me stumped. I'm going to backup, reformat, reinstall the OS on a bare bones machine and add stuff back on piece by piece. After that, if I need to, I'm going to take it up with Compaq. Thanks.

Diane

 

[mwalter98]

We noticed the 168 and 172 errors following a system erase and memory upgrade. After that,,,, we couldn't get into the system configuration utility on CD to tell it about it's memory. We can't boot from the CD. We did make floppy system configuration diskettes, and that solved the 168 and 172 errors. Unfortunately, we still can't boot from the CD. Did you have any luck with the Compaq support?
Thx,,,

 

[renne]

No, Compaq support wasn't helpful. I got tired of replacing things. They are hearing hoofbeats and looking for horses and I need to find a zebra :>

Memory upgrade, hm? I guess that's next. I did add a 256k chip not too long ago... I keep telling myself I'm going to pull everything out and startup bare bones and add until I get a problem, but I DON'T WANT TO! I wouldn't care except I can't use my tablet unless I reconfigure. I have just been leaving the machine on - that solves the problem for the short run. I have to have the right frame of mind to dump the hard drive and start over. I haven't reached it yet.

I don't have a problem booting from the Smartstart CD and I do have the utilities on the partition, so that's not a problem.

Let me know if you come up with anything creative. Thanks.

Diane

 

[renne]

Well, I have no idea... but when I replaced the floppy drive ( I was getting intermittent error messages when I ran the diagnostics ) all my problems were solved. I don't get it, but I am extremely grateful to the Compaq gods. All that hair-pulling and it was a stupid floppy drive! In the 16 years I have been beating up on computers, I have NEVER had a bad floppy. Everything else, of course, but not that.

Diane