From: James H. E. Maugham (CaptJHEM_at_waterw.com)
Date: Wed Jul 25 2001 - 10:06:51 EDT
Nial,
nials_at_britain.agilent.com [mailto:nials_at_britain.agilent.com] wrote:
> On comp.arch.embedded someone posted a URL to a routine
> which checks through all the com ports in a system and
> reports any problems. I tried this and got reports that
> there were IRQ conflicts and that COM1 was using IRQ9
> (it's normally 4).
That would be normal as the internal MODEM is assigned to COM1 by default
and, as it's a multi-function DSP card, it resides on IRQ9.
> Everything is set up properly for COM1 in Win98, it's
> at the right address and is using IRQ4 (according to
> 98).
By default, the 600E's serial port is turned OFF and the IR port is ON. With
W98 you need to download and install the "Configuration Utility for Windows
95/98/Me/2000" from: http://www.pc.ibm.com/qtechinfo/DSHY-3XZMX3.html
Run the utility from within W98 and turn OFF the following devices, MODEM,
IR and SERIAL ports. Re-boot and run the utility again and turn ON the
SERIAL port ONLY. It will be assigned IRQ4 and be COM1.
> _QUESTION 1_: Are there known problems with using DOS based
> software that directly drives the serial ports and uses
> serial port interrupts? If so is there a 'standard' fix?
Only problems I'm aware of result from running some DOS programs from within
a W98 DOS prompt window.
> The BIOS installed is IBET22WW which from the driver
> matrix for my machine looks like a _very_ early 600 BIOS,
> not 600E. My machine type is a 2645-8A0 which according
> to the support page is a pentiumII 366, but the BIOS
> only reports a 266. It does however report the correct
> machine type and serial number.
Download and run the "Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility" from
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/FrequencyID/FreqID.htm
which will give you the best indicator of your actual CPU. As this is a used
machine, there's a possibility that someone's been at work under the bonnet.
The correct BIOS for this machine type is INET34WW.
A quick and dirty check to see if everything is as it should be on your
machine WRT the processor is to check the L2 cache. If it's 256KB, then you
at least have the correct 600E MB in the machine. If it's 512KB, then
there's a distinct possibility that your MB has been swapped with one for a
600.
There were only two PII 266MHz 600s, neither of which is an E model. As your
BIOS is IBET22WW, I suspect your machine is actually a 600, not a 600E.
> I downloaded the latest 600E BIOS and created the disk for
> my machine. When I booted with it in A I got through
> to the splash screen correctly, but then got a box saying
> that the upgrade wouldn't work on my system, it was
> locked and to press ctrl-alt-del to continue.
At this point I would strongly suggest you contact the seller of this
machine to resolve the question of whether or not you bought a pig in a
poke. Consider sending it in to EZServe for a checkup. You should definitely
have some warranty left (it stays with the machine, not the original owner)
and you can go here: http://www.pc.ibm.com/support and click on Warranty
Lookup on the lefthand toolbar. But, if the machine's innards don't match
the type and serial numbers, you could wind up with a very large bill.
> _QUESTIONS 2_:
>
> Can a thinkpad 600E be loaded with a 600 BIOS?
> If so how do I upgrade to the 600E BIOS?
No, you can't put a 600E BIOS on a 600 machine or vice versa as the upgrade
utility checks the machine type.
Regards,
James
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