Reviving old Deskpro 286

[mdklassen]

> The system is asking for a setup disk and will not boot from HD, says no bootable disk found.

Either the disk-drive is "empty", or the disk-disk has failed.

> I think this is an upgraded 8086 to a 80286.

Not likely.  The motherboard was designed solely for the 286 CPU, and 287 processor.

> The setup disk sets the CMOS to recognise the hard drive and other drivers too.

No, in this case, a "setup" disk installs an operating system (MS DOS, PC DOS, or FreeDOS) to the hard-drive.

If you enter BIOS SETUP, does it show that it has detected the disk-drive?

> I am having trouble getting FreeDOS. It appears it needs a CD or USB port. I have neither.

The FreeDOS pages show three targets for installation media: USB, CD, and floppy-disks.

Does the "current-generation" computer that you are using to post to this forum have an external USB 3.5-inch device, or an internal 3.5-inch "stiffy" device?

Example: Syba SY-USB-FDD - Disk drive - floppy disk ( 1.44 MB ) - external - black

Hopefully, your COMPAQ 3.5-inch disk-drive will be able to read the HD ("high-density") 1.44 MB media, in addition to the older 720KB media.

If you have such a device, you can download FreeDOS on your "current-generation" computer, and write floppy-disks that can be "sneaker-netted" over to the COMPAQ, for usage.

[wment]

> The system is asking for a setup disk and will not boot from HD, says no bootable disk found.

Either the disk-drive is "empty", or the disk-disk has failed.

There are not drivers to recognise devices like the HD so a Setup disk is needed.

> I think this is an upgraded 8086 to a 80286.

Not likely.  The motherboard was designed solely for the 286 CPU, and 287 processor.

Since the case doen not show 286 the motherboard has been changed. Please look at the assy #s I posted to verify.

> The setup disk sets the CMOS to recognise the hard drive and other drivers too.

No, in this case, a "setup" disk installs an operating system (MS DOS, PC DOS, or FreeDOS) to the hard-drive.

Free dos only has a basic bootable disk. The balance of FreeDos is on CDs or by .USB Without CMOS setup I can not access the HD

If you enter BIOS SETUP, does it show that it has detected the disk-drive?

CMOS is set from a floppy

> I am having trouble getting FreeDOS. It appears it needs a CD or USB port. I have neither.

The FreeDOS pages show three targets for installation media: USB, CD, and floppy-disks.

FreeDos has a boot disk that then requires a CD drive or USB to load FreeDos. DOS is not setting CMOS.

Does the "current-generation" computer that you are using to post to this forum have an external USB 3.5-inch device, or an internal 3.5-inch "stiffy" device?

No, it does not, not even a floppy port on the motherboard which is the reason I am having trouble making a floppy with the file Paul pointed me to.

Please read previous posts since I feel Paul has solved the problem.

I just need to put the file on a formatted floppy.

Thanks for your time.

[mdklassen]

>> Either the disk-drive is "empty", or the disk-disk has failed.

> There are not drivers to recognise devices like the HD so a Setup disk is needed.

On the 286 that I owned, entering BIOS SETUP allowed me to choose the "geometry" (# of cylinders & heads & sectors) from a list of 40 choices, or to chose "custom" values, to define to the BIOS how to interact with the disk-drive.

The necessary "device-driver" for a disk-drive was included in the DOS software -- not in the BIOS.

>> I think this is an upgraded 8086 to a 80286.

> Since the case doen not show 286 the motherboard has been changed.

You opened this thread by stating that it was a 286.

You did not state whether you found external labelling to that effect, or if you inspected the CPU/motherboard.

> FreeDOS only has a basic bootable disk. The balance of FreeDos is on CDs or by .USB

> Without CMOS setup I can not access the HD

Yes, the page: http://www.freedos.org/download/

does indicate that a "boot floppy" can be used, along with a CD-ROM for the rest of the files.

The same web-page also mentions that FreeDOS requires a 386 CPU -- not your 286/287.  Sigh.

>> Does the "current-generation" computer that you are using to post to this forum have an external USB 3.5-inch device, or an internal 3.5-inch "stiffy" device?

> No, it does not, not even a floppy port on the motherboard ...

That's why I mentioned an external floppy-drive, with a USB connection to your "current" computer.

Example: Bytecc BT-144 - Disk drive - floppy disk - USB - external - (BT-144)

> which is the reason I am having trouble making a floppy with the file Paul pointed me to.

Maybe, it's time to bypass FreeDOS, and find a copy of "PC DOS" or "MS DOS", which have no dependencies on a CD-ROM.

[mdklassen]

See: http://www.bootdisk.com/bootdisk.htm

for various "boot-disks" for MS DOS.