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Question

An old Packard Bell PC

Mar 24, 2016 7:28PM PDT

Hello,
I have an old Packard Bell Legend 402CD that just got a new-used motherboard. It boots to the bios screen just fine, but as soon as it detects the hard drive and floppy drive, it gets stuck and says "please wait" and never continues booting. I have tried to boot off an MS-DOS boot floppy and it was just stuck on this screen. This motherboard has these DIP switches that I think are supposed to be adjusted, but I don't know for sure. If anybody has any information on the issue I am having, or information on these DIP switches, I would greatly appreciate any help.

Thank you,
Tanner

Discussion is locked

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Answer
how large is this hard drive?
Mar 24, 2016 8:30PM PDT
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The Hard drive
Mar 25, 2016 9:34AM PDT

Hello,
Unfortunately, I do not have the manual to this computer, so I am not sure as to what the maximum supported hard drive is. The hard drive I am using is about 1.8 gigabytes and it is detected when the computer boots. One more thing I noticed is that when the computer boots, it says that the CPU is 100mhz, but on the side of the processor there is a sticker that says 75mgz. I think that the DIP switches can also control that, but I don't know for sure. I have attached a picture that shows the "please wait" screen and the processor speed HERE

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It all looks fine
Mar 25, 2016 10:14AM PDT

Just needs an operating system installed on it. Windows 95 and windows 98 would run on it. Hard drives on some then were limited to 500 MB in size, but then moved to 2GB allowed. I think you are OK on the hard drive size. For Linux you'd use DSL (damn small linux)

Minimum Requirements for DSL with X-window

486dx or 100% compatible processor
16mb ram (24mb recommended)
dual-speed CDROM (quad-speed or better recommended)
1.44mb floppy drive (for boot floppy, if needed)
VGA monitor and video card
a mouse (serial, ps/2, usb)
and a higher level of computer processor

http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/

Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2

Buy
http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/cd.html
or can download a free ISO file and "burn image" to a CD and use that to install to the hard drive. I think the other syslink version allows you to boot to a win98se floppy disk and then install the DSL from the CD, just like done in windows 95 and windows 98 days.

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Stuck on BIOS
Mar 25, 2016 10:46AM PDT

Hi James and Thank you for all the help.
I'm not sure if I made it clear that the computer gets stuck on this screen and does not continue to boot off an MS-DOS boot floppy I have. I have the BIOS set to first boot off the floppy then the hard drive. I have left it on this screen for over 20 minutes and it still does not continue to boot. Any suggestions?

Thank you!
Tanner

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BIOS hanging up?
Mar 25, 2016 12:23PM PDT

Find a jumper, may be called Jumper 1 on older motherboard, but may also be labeled CMOS jumper or BIOS jumper. You can short the jumper to clear the BIOS settings and make it go back to default. Make sure you have a currently good coin battery in it too (CR2032). Try to boot again after that, or enter the BIOS program and set to floppy for boot, since that may not be the default.

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I've seen that screen
Mar 25, 2016 12:27PM PDT

Back then you may or may not have a boot order selection in the BIOS so for a test, unplug the data cable from the HDD and try the floppy disc boot again.

Now many folk don't have good boot diskettes so it must be a tested boot diskette.

PS. If you are unsure. Google up LOAF LINUX ON A FLOPPY since I can make those on today's PCs since I have the USB Floppy Drive in my collection.

Post was last edited on March 25, 2016 12:28 PM PDT

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Good news
Mar 26, 2016 9:30PM PDT

I tried unplugging the hard drive and booting off an MS-DOS floppy, and I was successfully able to do so. So next I tried this with the hard drive connected, and it still booted off the floppy. I then ran fdisk from the floppy to format the hard drive. After rebooting, the computer said "error loading operating system" when it tried to boot the hard drive instead of getting stuck at the BIOS. Tomorrow, I will try installing Windows 95 on this hard drive and I will see how it goes.

Thanks for all your help,
Tanner