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How do you tell the BIOS version of an ALR computer?

How do you access the setup programon an ALR computer?

My EISA machine gives me a "configuration error for slot 16." I didn't think I had sixteen slots.

I have an 850-megabyte hard drive. When I enter my hard drive parameters into setup and then try to partition the drive, it comes back as less 300 megabytes. Am I going nuts?

Windows 3.x gives me an error message about the 32-bit disk access driver whenever it loads. How can I correct this?

How can I tell if my machine will support a Pentium Overdrive chip?

Which ALR machines support the Intel Pentium Overdrive?

I have a PCI-based machine with a non-plug-and-play BIOS (prior to 4.05.x) and I'm adding a PCI SCSI adapter. All my SCSI ID's and termination are correct but the BIOS on the SCSI adapter always fails to load. What am I missing?

I just added or removed a card from my machine, now the operating system is acting strangely or giving me hardware conflicts.

The power light on my machine is now blinking yellow.

Q: How do you tell the BIOS version of an ALR computer?

The BIOS version is one of the first things your computer displays when it boots up. Sometimes the video card will display it's information first, but the BIOS version will usually follow the name "Phoenix." Some ALR machines (Express and Optima) will use an American Megatrends (AMI) BIOS.

Q: How do you access the setup program on an ALR computer?

On a machine that does not have a PCI bus, press the CTRL, ALT and ESC keys all at the same time. If that fails to take your machine into the setup program, try rebooting without loading your AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS. There are two ways to do this:

1. If you are running DOS 6 or higher, when the machine gives you the "Starting MS-DOS" message, hit the F5 key.
2. If you are running DOS 5 or earlier, format a floppy with this command: "FORMAT A:/S" and boot from that disk.

On a PCI-based machine, you will be prompted to hit the F2 key while the machine is booting up. If you do not hit the key in time you will have to reboot the machine to access the setup.

Q: My EISA-based machine gives me a "configuration error for slot 16." I didn't think it had sixteen slots.

This is a minor quirk of EISA-based machines. It isn't serious and there is nothing wrong with your machine. You only need to run your EISA Configuration utility once to get rid of the message.

Q: I have an 850-megabyte hard drive. When I enter my hard drive parameters into setup and then try to partition the drive, it comes back as less 300 megabytes. Am I going nuts?

No. (Or if you are, this is not one of the symptoms&)

First of all, if your machine is capable of automatically sensing hard drives, set the drive type to either "Auto Sense" or "Type 1." If the machine also has a setting for "HD Translation Mode" or "Large Disk DOS Compatibility," make sure it is "ENABLED."

This may not work all the time. If it doesn't, select a user-defined drive type (Type 48 or 49 on a non-PCI machine). Before you enter the parameters, take the number of cylinders given in the instructions and divide by four (rounding down). Enter the number of heads as 64 instead of 16. Enter the sectors as 63 as usual. If auto-sensing does not work, this always will.

Please note that some older machines (Powerflex, Flexcache, etc.) are not capable of using hard drives larger than 528 megabytes.

Q: Windows 3.x gives me an error message about the 32-bit disk access driver whenever it loads. How can I correct this?

The standard Windows 3.x driver for 32-Bit Disk Access was designed to be compatible with an older Western Digital controller standard. IDE drives larger than 528MB are not compatible with this driver.

To enable 32-Bit Disk Access with a larger drives requires a driver written by the manufacturer of the drive. For 32-Bit drivers for hard drives installed on ALR systems, you should contact, Western Digital, Conner Peripherals or Maxtor.

SCSI controllers are also incompatible. Some offer drivers that emulate compatibility.

Q: How can I tell if my machine will support a Pentium Overdrive chip?

The Pentium Overdrive requires a Zero-Insertion Force socket (you know, the ones with the little lever on the side) that is larger than the one required by a 486. There is an extra row of holes sockets. If the socket is larger than your 486 chip than it probably can support the Pentium Overdrive. If the socket is just the right size for the existing CPU, then it definitely cannot.

Q: Which ALR machines supports the Intel Pentium Overdrive?

Among 80486-based machines, the Evolution IV series, Flyer VL and ProVeisa LT all support this upgrade. Some versions of the Express series will also support it. Only the earliest versions of this machine (serial numbers before 060xxxx) are questionable.

Our Pentium 60 and 66MHz machines (Evolution V, Evolution VQ and the early versions of the Evolution V ST) are upgradeable to 120 and 133MHz respectively, using the Intel 120/130 MHz Pentium Overdrive.

Other Pentium machines in the Evolution and Optima series are now upgradeable to Pentium 180MHz and 200MHz with MMX using the newest Intel Overdrives (75MHz machines will run at 150MHz).  The newest versions of these machines are upgradeable to this level without the use of Overdrive CPU's.  Call us at 800-257-1230 or if you have questions about which version you have.

Q: I have a PCI-based machine with a non-plug-and-play BIOS (prior to 4.05.x) and I'm adding a PCI SCSI adapter. All my SCSI ID's and termination are correct but the BIOS on the SCSI adapter always fails to load. What am I missing?

Power up the machine and press F2 to enter the CMOS set-up program. Go to the Advanced Menu and select PCI Devices. Page down until you find the settings for the slot that contains the SCSI adapter. If the "IRQ Level" is set to "None," change it to read "11." Save the new configuration and reboot.

Q: I just added or removed a card from my machine, now the operating system is acting strangely or giving me hardware conflicts.

After making any hardware change to a Plug'n'Play PCI machine, you need to go into the BIOS setup and on the Advanced Menu, set Reset Configuration Data or Reset Resource Assignments to Yes.  Then save the new setup and reboot the machine.

Q: The power light on my machine is now blinking yellow.

This means that the ECC circuitry has correceted a single-bit memory error.  No data has been lost.  If this only happens occasionally, these errors are probably software-related and nothing to be concerned about.  If it happens frequently, it may be a sign of a problem with the system RAM.