OT: Toshiba T4400C laptop questions

From: Christian Fandt <cfandt_at_netsync.net>
Date: Wed Jul 28 16:16:12 1999

Hi folks, this is not really on topic as the machine in question doesn't
fit the ten year rule. But the list is a way to make first contact with
this query though. Reply off-list if you please.

Assuming one or more of you on the list are well-versed or even expert with
the T4400C, I pose a question to a problem I would like some advice on. The
machine belongs to my uncle and I'm helping him solve the problem.

As you may know this is a 1992 vintage machine: 486DX, 25 MHz, 12 Mb RAM,
120 Mb hdd, VGA color LCD display plus a Toshiba Desk Station IV docking
station. He installed Windows 95 and a sound card and CD-ROM drive into the
Desk Sta. IV.

He got the laptop second-hand and of course the manual was missing. The
D.S. IV was new, fresh outta the box and has a manual. The sound card and
CD-ROM is a Reveal SC400 package he scrounged from an old machine. Driver
disks came with it at least.

Problem is that the CD-ROM drive is not interested in working with the
system. W95 does not see it.

The sound card has the IDE interface meant for the Panasonic CD-ROM (which
is model CR-563-B) and the CD drive is plugged into that. So, BIOS setup
for setting a second IDE device does not work in this case. Looks like
there's no provision in the BIOS for a second IDE (slave) device anyway.

Apparently (and be aware that this is the very first time I've ever fiddled
with a sound card/CD-ROM combination) the drivers for the CD-ROM are part
of the sound card drivers. Well, the drivers predate the release of W95 by
a couple of years and Windows 3.1 and DOS are of course the only operating
systems mentioned in the installation. One of the attempts at installation
seemed to let W95 know there's a CDROM and sound card but the CDROM was not
accessable and the "undocked" mode caused W95 to try to fuss with the
drivers, etc. to get itself running. The CDROM was correctly set to be
present in "docked" mode and not present in "undocked" mode. Same for the
sound card.

Has anybody installed a CDROM and sound card set into their Desk Station IV
and gotten it running okay under W95?

Has anyone even installed W95 onto their T4400C? Results?

Thanks for your experiences.

Regards, Chris
-- --
Christian Fandt, Electronic/Electrical Historian
Jamestown, NY USA cfandt_at_netsync.net
Member of Antique Wireless Association
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Received on Wed Jul 28 1999 - 16:16:12 BST

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