OK, now on to my _other_, less successful GRiD find yesterday...
I picked up a GRiDCASE "1500 Series" computer. It looks very similar to
the Compass that I'm typing on, but with a larger screen, 3.5" floppy
drive on the right hand side, standard PC ports, and mushy keyboard.
Anyway, when I turn it on, the *fantastically beautiful* 10.5" (diagonal)
display reads:
Phoenix 80286 ROM BIOS Version 3.06
<blah blah blah copyright>
GRiD Systems Corporation 3/17/88
640K Base Memory, 00384K EMS Memory
Time-of-day clock stopped - please set current time
A green LED comes on, next to the label reading "Lower/External disk in
use".
It sits there for a while, then beeps with the message:
Hard Disk Diagnosic Failure
Strike the F1 key to coninue
OK, so this looks like a clock battery gone dead, making the machine
forget the setup.
I tried booting up with a 720K MS-DOS floppy, but that didn't work. There
was a slight noise, and the "Upper disk in use" light came on momentarily,
but it didn't boot. It went back to the other light and evntually
complained about the hard drive again.
Unless this thing uses some kind of Stealth Hard Drive, there doesn't seem
to be a hard drive in there at all. No HD noises.
Also, there is a lift-up trapdoor above the keyboard. Opening it reveals
two empty 32-pin sockets.
So, how the heck to I crack the case on this thing? The only screws I
could find with a cursory inspection were the four screws under the
carrying handle. How do I get to the suspected dead battery?
--
Doug Spence
ds_spenc_at_alcor.concordia.ca
http://alcor.concordia.ca/~ds_spenc/
Received on Fri May 14 1999 - 07:31:35 BST