Found the system model! Was Re: Need BIOS setup utility

[Chuck Guzis]

On 12/18/2005 at 5:29 PM Marvin Johnston wrote:

>Hmmm, I thought that the need for an external utility to set up the CMOS
>went away with the 286. IIRC, Cntl/Alt/Ins was used on the/some Phoenix
>BIOS chipset(s) to gain access to the CMOS setup routines. There were
>several other such keystroke sequences but the only other one that comes
>to mind was Cntl/Alt/S. Also, I *think* that the IBM Diagnostics will
>also work and might be enough to take away the boot error (excepting
>that it doesn't support the 47 HD types used in most of the later
>BIOSs.)

Well, it's certainly worth trying all of the combinations:

Del 	AMI, AWARD
ESC 	Toshiba
F1 	Toshiba, Phoenix and later models from Late model PS/1 Value Point and
330s
F2 	NEC, Dell
F10 	Compaq
Ins 	IBM PS/2s
Alt+Return 	Dell
Alt+"?" 	some PS/2-Models
Ctrl+Esc 	General
Ctrl+Ins 	some PS/2-Models
Ctrl+Alt+Esc 	AST Advantage, Award, Tandon
Ctrl+Alt+"+" 	General
Ctrl+Alt+S 	Phoenix
Ctrl+Alt+Ins 	Zenith, Phoenix
Ctrl+S 	Phoenix
Ctrl+Shift+Esc 	Tandon 386er
Ctrl+Shift+Alt +Del(num.Keypad) 	Olivetti PC Pro

But I've also had a 386 with setup diskette--I remember keeping a copy of
it taped to the inside of the case (a good place for MB jumper settings and
other nicities, too).

Cheers,
Chuck