Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!umd5!purdue!i.cc.purdue.edu!j.cc.purdue.edu!pur-ee!iuvax!silver!creps
From: creps@silver.bacs.indiana.edu (Steve Creps)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: PC diagnostic numbers and/or hardware help
Keywords: XT clone, Seagate 20Mb
Message-ID: <579@silver.bacs.indiana.edu>
Date: 25 Dec 87 06:34:13 GMT
Reply-To: creps@silver.UUCP (Steve Creps)
Distribution: na
Organization: Indiana University Computer Science Department
Lines: 34


   Does anyone have a list of what the error numbers mean when you
run the hardware diagnostics disk included with the Guide to Operations
for the IBM PC? I've been looking for something like this for quite a
while, and it seems now I have a specific use for it.
   Here's my problem: after doing a full backup of my 20M hard disk 
yesterday, I reformatted the hard disk (as usual) to make sure I didn't
have any bad sectors, and to eliminate fragmentation. Then I restored
everything to the disk. (By the way, this changed the time it took to
do a chkdsk from 24 seconds to 9 seconds.) It looked OK for a while,
then when I went back and tried to reboot again, it wouldn't. Instead,
the C: drive lit up for a split second, and then the A: drive came on
and stayed on. I had to power down. When I tried to reboot with a floppy,
it worked fine. My C: drive looked intact (datawise). I got out the
diagnostics disk, and went through those routines. Right after a
successful keyboard test, it gave me a "system error 501" message.
Anyone know what that is? I formatted the disk again. After this it
booted, then after doing some more stuff, and trying to reboot again,
the same problem happened. Finally, today I decided to do a low-level
format (debug, jump to c800:5), and see what happened. Well, after all
the reloading today, it seems to be working. I've been able to reboot
successfully a few times on it. Trouble is, it still gives me the error
message when I run the diagnostics, and I know it didn't used to.
I have to hold my breath every time I try to reboot. Any clues?
   By the way, my machine is an XT clone. I picked up the Guide to
Operations manual secondhand. Shouldn't make a difference in the
diagnostics, though. All the manual says about this error message is
to take the machine to a repair center. I'd rather fix it myself.
Thanks for any help.

-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Steve Creps on the VAX 8650 running Ultrix 2.0-1 at Indiana University.
	creps@silver.bacs.indiana.edu
"F-14 Tomcat! There IS no substitute."