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"flan" <weft2@rogers.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:9fbdb2d9.0307241006.610ec97b@posting.google.com...
> Disk Controller Failure 1782.
Typically, it might be that the controller card is not plugged in correctly.
M300's cases are very weak, and, at times, it is just enough to lift it for
a while to move the riser card and/or some isa card from its slot. Check the
cables as well.

>I've tried entering random numbers by hitting the space bar, and putting
> the same number in the second setting. I then hit enter twice, and the

If you don't have two Hard-disks, ignore the second setting (select "Not
Installed"). If not, try to remove the second hard disk, which may be
causing the problems, and try to boot with one drive only.

> I'm wondering if it's the battery that's causing the HD to hang/losing
> the settings, and what I can do about it. And/or, if it's just the
> wrong settings that I'm entering, how would I ever get the right ones
> in there?
Open the case an check which drive you have. A list of compatible drives is
found on the M300-10 manual, to be downloaded from
http://www.peteweb.com/ftp/webhq/manuals/olivetti/systems1/cap19.pdf

> In the end, I only want to get this pc up and running long enough to
> get a pile of text files off the HD, and then my relative will likely
> not use the machine anymore if it's becoming this unreliable (though
> he's quite attached to it). But the 1st need is to get at the HD

The HD must be (if it had not been replaced) an IDE-type, so you can connect
it to almost any modern PC (as a second unit), and you may get it working
easily.

Marco

On Fri, 25 Jul 2003 15:32:46 +0200, "Lurker" <lurker@threshold.it>
wrote:

>> I'm wondering if it's the battery that's causing the HD to hang/losing
>> the settings, and what I can do about it. And/or, if it's just the
>> wrong settings that I'm entering, how would I ever get the right ones
>> in there?

>Open the case an check which drive you have. A list of compatible drives is
>found on the M300-10 manual, to be downloaded from
>http://www.peteweb.com/ftp/webhq/manuals/olivetti/systems1/cap19.pdf

If the main board battery has failed, then the system will lose the
disk specifications and you won't be able to boot from the hard drive.
This is typical with older systems before drive auto-detect was
common.

As Lurker suggested, open the case and identify the drive. Then input
the correct parameters as provided in the manual or listed on the hard
drive case. This will allow you to boot up (assuming that nothing else
has failed), but the settings will be lost after the power is turned
off. Replacing battery will repair the problem permanently.

- -
Gary L.
Reply to the Newsgroup for the benefit of all

I can't tell you what's wrong with your Olivetti, because I'm not
experienced with old PCs, but if you aren't going to use that machine
anymore, maybe putting its hard drive into another modern pc and then
retrieve the data you need is the easiest solution.

On 24 Jul 2003 23:28:40 -0700, weft2@rogers.com (flan) wrote:
>Hi, I have an old (currently well used by a relative) Olivetti m300-10
>(bumped up to a 486, I think) which has suddenly started hanging at
>Fixed Disk startup.  When you turn the pc on, it beeps 4 times, then
>hangs at Fixed Disk,then quickly flashes Disk Controller Failure 1782.

Sounds like the CMOS battery has gone.  CMOS batteries usually only
last for about 5 years, after that they no longer keep power to the
CMOS and it forgets all the settings.

Most computer stores should have replacement batteries, it's just a
question of which type of battery you need.  Open up the case and look
for either a small, flat silver battery (sort of like a watch battery
only bigger), or alternatively a set of 3 pins for an external battery
(hopefully it will have something like "Ext bat" silk-screened on the
motherboard).

FWIW you should be able to find the hard disk settings written right
on the hard disk itself.  Otherwise the disk manufacturer may have
them listed on their website, or a google search might turn up the
settings.

Tony Hill <hilla@uoguelph.ca> wrote in message news:<1734iv4ab0s29uma1bpl5mr01mlnp7a97k@4ax.com>...
> On 24 Jul 2003 23:28:40 -0700, weft2@rogers.com (flan) wrote:
> >Hi, I have an old (currently well used by a relative) Olivetti m300-10
> >(bumped up to a 486, I think) which has suddenly started hanging at
> >Fixed Disk startup.  When you turn the pc on, it beeps 4 times, then
> >hangs at Fixed Disk,then quickly flashes Disk Controller Failure 1782.
> 
> Sounds like the CMOS battery has gone.  CMOS batteries usually only
> last for about 5 years, after that they no longer keep power to the
> CMOS and it forgets all the settings.
> 
> Most computer stores should have replacement batteries, it's just a
> question of which type of battery you need.  Open up the case and look
> for either a small, flat silver battery (sort of like a watch battery
> only bigger), or alternatively a set of 3 pins for an external battery
> (hopefully it will have something like "Ext bat" silk-screened on the
> motherboard).
> 
> FWIW you should be able to find the hard disk settings written right
> on the hard disk itself.  Otherwise the disk manufacturer may have
> them listed on their website, or a google search might turn up the
> settings.

Thanks for all the feedback from everybody. I did open the machine,
and on the HD metal brace is printed: 36 40mb- but this is scratched
out with pen, and in place is written: 40 116.  It's a Maxtor HD
7120AT/HDA 22A/PCBA 66A/Unique 30A/Z,D,B. I hooked the pc up with the
cover still off & powered it up, and tried reentering the HDU settings
using the info on the HD metal brace. It made no difference. Though,
there's no option in the 2nd HDU requester to put in a blank or "none
installed"; the only option is to put in the 2 numbers. And as far as
I can see there clearly is NO 2nd HD in the pc. The pc still makes the
initial 4 beeps with the cover off AND WITH the battery disconnected,
and it definitely sounds like the beeps are still coming from the HD.

Re: the battery I disconnected, all I could see (no watch type
batteries) on the pc (and that's the areas not covered by the power
supply, and the drives, which I assume isn't MB area) was the battery
I disconnected: a ~3" x 2" square battery that says: Computer clock
battery 844/Rayovac 4.5 volts." It was attached to the MB just behind
the HD with a small 4 pin black connector. The battery has the usual
red & white wires coming out (+ extra wire spliced by the techie, I
assume, to make up the distance), and I tested it and it's reading 3.3
v.  Well below the 4.5 v, but is that enough to be considered dead/the
possible cause of the problems, if it is even the battery?

Thanks again for any more help offered. I'm not a techie, so I'm
proceeding kind of slowly here (new territory for me) and appreciate
your patience. I'm really just trying to fix this pc for a relative so
he can gather his text files (a ton of them) and possibly get him
hooked up to it again, as he's attached to this particular pc.

"flan" <weft2@rogers.com> wrote in message
news:9fbdb2d9.0307261213.363ab532@posting.google.com...
> Tony Hill <hilla@uoguelph.ca> wrote in message
news:<1734iv4ab0s29uma1bpl5mr01mlnp7a97k@4ax.com>...
> > On 24 Jul 2003 23:28:40 -0700, weft2@rogers.com (flan) wrote:

>
> Thanks for all the feedback from everybody. I did open the machine,
> and on the HD metal brace is printed: 36 40mb- but this is scratched
> out with pen, and in place is written: 40 116.  It's a Maxtor HD
> 7120AT/HDA 22A/PCBA 66A/Unique 30A/Z,D,B. I hooked the pc up with the
> cover still off & powered it up, and tried reentering the HDU settings
> using the info on the HD metal brace. It made no difference. Though,
> there's no option in the 2nd HDU requester to put in a blank or "none
> installed"; the only option is to put in the 2 numbers. And as far as
> I can see there clearly is NO 2nd HD in the pc. The pc still makes the
> initial 4 beeps with the cover off AND WITH the battery disconnected,
> and it definitely sounds like the beeps are still coming from the HD.
>
> Re: the battery I disconnected, all I could see (no watch type
> batteries) on the pc (and that's the areas not covered by the power
> supply, and the drives, which I assume isn't MB area) was the battery
> I disconnected: a ~3" x 2" square battery that says: Computer clock
> battery 844/Rayovac 4.5 volts." It was attached to the MB just behind
> the HD with a small 4 pin black connector. The battery has the usual
> red & white wires coming out (+ extra wire spliced by the techie, I
> assume, to make up the distance), and I tested it and it's reading 3.3
> v.  Well below the 4.5 v, but is that enough to be considered dead/the
> possible cause of the problems, if it is even the battery?
More questions.
Was the computer used after the upgrade?If not, replace the 386,and the
battery.
Did the computer originally have a Windows OS?
I think some Olivetti computers were dedicated as word processors only and
used
the CP/M Operating system.???May not have used the Intel CPU.
Some AT&T diag. diskettes would boot some Olivettis but they may have been
unix
machines.
This old machine had a disk controller card(I think).Did you check it for
for a battery?
Some controller cards had switches or jumpers that let you set boot
options,such as
"Boot from server" etc.
The IBM&Compatible failure code 1782 indicated "No IPL from hardfile".Is
this ROM
on the motherboard or the disk controller card?
     Good Luck,
           D J




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In article <9fbdb2d9.0307241006.610ec97b@posting.google.com>, flan
<weft2@rogers.com> writes
 
>Hi, I have an old (currently well used by a relative) Olivetti m300-10
>(bumped up to a 486, I think) which has suddenly started hanging at
>Fixed Disk startup.  When you turn the pc on, it beeps 4 times, then
>hangs at Fixed Disk,then quickly flashes Disk Controller Failure 1782.

1782 is secondary hard disk controller failure.  This is because you've
configured the CMOS setup with two drives when only one is present.  The
first disk is probably working OK, otherwise you would receive a 1780 or
1790 error too.

Try setting the second disk to type 0 (same as Not Present.)

>I'm wondering if it's the battery that's causing the HD to hang/losing
>the settings, and what I can do about it.

As per your later posts, you have a 4.5v CMOS battery reading 3.3v.  You
should replace it.

> And/or, if it's just the
>wrong settings that I'm entering, how would I ever get the right ones
>in there? (There are probably 250 permutations/combos of numbers to
>enter at the F3 prompt).

Therein lies a tale.  If you can read off the make and model number for
the drive, I may be able to suggest a few CMOS drive types you can try.

>In the end, I only want to get this pc up and running long enough to
>get a pile of text files off the HD, and then my relative will likely
>not use the machine anymore

Your best bet then would be to connect it to the secondary IDE
controller of a newer machine, set the drive type to Auto to allow the
BIOS to derive the settings from the partition table, boot, and copy the
files your relative wants to keep elsewhere.

Hope that helps.

> Thanks for all the feedback from everybody. I did open the machine,
> and on the HD metal brace is printed: 36 40mb- but this is scratched
> out with pen, and in place is written: 40 116.  It's a Maxtor HD
> 7120AT/HDA 22A/PCBA 66A/Unique 30A/Z,D,B.
  This hard drive is a 120 Mb model. What is written on the metal tray (36
40Mb) most likely refers to a previous model. Probably you should try to use
the other value (type 40 - 116 Mb). This configuration, according to the
manual, should work with a Conner CP30124 120Mb drive.
Your Maxtor drive uses a different configuration (Heads/Cylinders/Tracks)
but, according to Maxtor's datasheet, it would accept the same configuration
than the mentioned Conner drive.
  In any case, you may connect your Maxtor drive, which is a standard
IDE-type, to almost any modern PC. It should be automatically reckoned. If
not, enter your BIOS Setup, and manually enter the following values:
Heads: 14, Cylinders: 1024, Sectors: 17
Remember that if you install it as a second unit you have to move the jumper
from the position "Master" to "Slave" (according to Maxtor's datasheet, you
need only to remove Jumper J20).

> there's no option in the 2nd HDU requester to put in a blank or "none
> installed"; the only option is to put in the 2 numbers. And as far as
> I can see there clearly is NO 2nd HD in the pc.
  Uhm. The built-in BIOS believes there is a second drive. This may indicate
a problem with the BIOS itself.
Have you checked the cables? try to press them firmly into the connectors.
You may also try to press the BIOS chip, if it's not soldered (it is located
close to the memory SIMMs).
An M300-10 User Test diskette may help you. Get it here:
http://www.ics-finmek.com/ihdes/enduser2.asp
(Desktop line, towards the end).

> the battery ... I tested it and it's reading 3.3 v.
  It should work fine.

Greetings,
Marco.

On 26 Jul 2003 13:13:33 -0700, weft2@rogers.com (flan) wrote:
>Thanks for all the feedback from everybody. I did open the machine,
>and on the HD metal brace is printed: 36 40mb- but this is scratched
>out with pen, and in place is written: 40 116.  It's a Maxtor HD
>7120AT/HDA 22A/PCBA 66A/Unique 30A/Z,D,B. I hooked the pc up with the

The spec sheet for the Maxtor 7120AT hard drive is available here:

http://www.maxtor.com/en/documentation/quick_specs/quick_specs_7000_3524.pdf

>cover still off & powered it up, and tried reentering the HDU settings
>using the info on the HD metal brace. It made no difference. Though,
>there's no option in the 2nd HDU requester to put in a blank or "none
>installed"; the only option is to put in the 2 numbers. And as far as

Hmm.. just what are the two number fields labeled as?  Typically a
BIOS looks for the number of heads, cylinders and sectors for a drive,
so I would expect there to be three spaces.  Perhaps this is looking
for something totally different?  Is it just two digits?  If that's
the case, try entering type 47, which is the old number for a
user-defined hard drive, which hopefully then should ask you for the
heads, cylinders and sectors as listed in the above document.

>I can see there clearly is NO 2nd HD in the pc. The pc still makes the
>initial 4 beeps with the cover off AND WITH the battery disconnected,
>and it definitely sounds like the beeps are still coming from the HD.

Beeps are probably coming from a speaker stuck underneath the HD, I've
never heard a hard drive beep before! :>

>Re: the battery I disconnected, all I could see (no watch type
>batteries) on the pc (and that's the areas not covered by the power
>supply, and the drives, which I assume isn't MB area) was the battery
>I disconnected: a ~3" x 2" square battery that says: Computer clock
>battery 844/Rayovac 4.5 volts." It was attached to the MB just behind
>the HD with a small 4 pin black connector. The battery has the usual
>red & white wires coming out (+ extra wire spliced by the techie, I
>assume, to make up the distance), and I tested it and it's reading 3.3
>v.  Well below the 4.5 v, but is that enough to be considered dead/the
>possible cause of the problems, if it is even the battery?

Yup, that's probably the reason for all your troubles.  Bring the
battery into a computer store and see if they can get you a
replacement, it'll probably only cost about $5.