On Thu, Jul 19, 2001 at 10:23:32AM -0500, Bill Layer wrote: > On Thu, 19 Jul 2001 08:44:13 -0500 > "Jim Crumley" <crumley at belka.space.umn.edu> wrote: > > > My Pentium 200 MMX at home seems to be dying. The first warning was > > that I got an error message about a possible IO conflict on 2F8 > > (IRQ 3?) while boot, > > First thing that comes to mind, especially in light of the machine's age, > is a bad CMOS battery. If the battery failed, the machine would tend to > reset the CMOS parameters to default - which would in turn enable both > serial ports and create the IO conflict you are seeing. The settings could > also simply have been corrupted by a marginal battery, with some > parameters such that the system doesn't want to boot (RAM wait states, > etc). > > Test the CMOS battery with a voltmeter - it should be 3 volts or so. If > not, replace it, reset the CMOS to the 'most compatible' defaults, and see > how things go. Bill, you nailed it! The CMOS battery was completely dead - no deflection whatsoever on the old volt meter. Popped in a new one, fiddled with the CMOS settings a little, and now all is well (as well as can be expected on a Pentium 200 ). Thanks to all who replied. -- Jim Crumley | crumley at fields.space.umn.edu | Work: 612 624-6804 or -0378 |