Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!sdd.hp.com!ucsd!usc!apple!rutgers!psuvax1!psuvm!cunyvm!ndsuvm1!mtus5!tomiii From: TOMIII@MTUS5.BITNET (Thomas Dwyer III) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: battery and MCGA. Message-ID: <90152.033616TOMIII@MTUS5.BITNET> Date: 1 Jun 90 08:36:16 GMT References: <7970@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu> Organization: Computing Technology Services, Michigan Technological Univ. Lines: 59 Hi there. I have tried many times to e-mail a response for this, but keep getting my mail returned due to some error. The following is the returned mail: From: MAILER-DAEMON@uhccux.BITNET Date: Thu, 31 May 90 21:13:22 -1000 Subject: Returned mail: User unknown Message-Id: <9006010713.AA02464@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu> To: TOMIII@MTUS5.BITNET ----- Transcript of session follows ----- 550 cs421s05... User unknown ----- Unsent message follows ----- Received: by uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu (5.61/Ultrix3.1) id AA02462; Thu, 31 May 90 21:13:22 -1000 Received: by MTUS5 (Mailer R2.03B) id 1299; Fri, 01 Jun 90 03:13:30 EST Date: Fri, 01 Jun 90 03:00:43 EST From: Thomas Dwyer III Subject: Re: battery and MCGA. To: cs421s05@uhccux.uhcc.Hawaii.Edu Hi there. The IBM monitor you have (if it's the standard model that comes with the PS/2) is a VGA monitor. The MCGA, however, is a slight upgrade from CGA. It has all the features of CGA, with an added hi-res screen (480 x 200, I think). The hi-res screen is black and white only. Now, about the battery clock - does a little box picture of a clock show up on your screen with a "161" (or "162") error? If so, this may not be the fault of the battery. We have several PS/2 model 30's here (about 100+) and they have this problem once in a while. It is caused by programs going crazy and stomping over the date & time in the clock. The error is not because the time is wrong, but rather because there is an invalid date or time stored there (such as 05/42/90, etc). The fix is simple - use the SET REAL TIME CLOCK (or whatever it's called) from the setup disk that you got with the computer. The problem should then go away. Only if the problem persists after several tries with the setup disk can you blame the problem on the battery. Hope this helps. By the way, if you can't find your system disk (we lost most of ours) let me know - I wrote a C program that does the same thing, but easier. My program just takes the date and time from DOS (which you must enter after you press F1 and boot) and sticks it in the battery clock. One more interesting point I should mention is that the DOS DATE and TIME commands normally do set the date and time in the battery clocks on the PS/2 machines, however when you get the clock error on powerup, DOS thinks there is no clock, and does not attempt to correct the problem - you must do it with a program. Thomas Dwyer III TOMIII @ MTUS5.BITNET Computing Technology Services DWYERIII @ MTUS5.BITNET Michigan Technological University --------------------------------------------------- Dear Aunty Emme, Hate Kansas, hate you. Taking the dog. Signed, Dorothy. ---------------------------------------------------