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baslinux - Re: [BL] BL3 loop won't install on laptop 386 sx-20 Ultra

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  • From: sindi keesan <keesan AT sdf.lonestar.org>
  • To: baslinux AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [BL] BL3 loop won't install on laptop 386 sx-20 Ultra
  • Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2004 20:43:09 +0000 (UTC)

My partner is putting back together a 386 laptop with broken backlight and 5M (or perhaps 4.7M) RAM, and we will try to transfer fs.img to it via serial cable (llpro - can't figure out Kermit yet). Or download it.

The backlight bulb is broken.

I looked up how to switch to external monitors. Northgate is not listed at a site that had many suggestions for other brands:
Ctrl-Alt-End or Setup < Ins 6 S Tab ESC Shift-C Command
Ctrl-Shift-D or M
A switch
In setup
ALTVID
TSetup
FN and an F key. (All but F11 are used by someone) or FN and END

Ever since we took it apart to look at the broken backlight bulb, he internal keyboard is not working either so we can't use FN - is there
some equivalent to FN on a desktop keyboard?

We can see the screen with a bright light shining on it and are using an external keyboard.

Running memtest, #12 crashed the same way as on the other 386.
This has the same memory setup with 640K and 4M extended.
Trying to load BL3 from floppy disk (just as a test, we know it will not be enough RAM):

do_try-to_free-pages failed for swapper.. many lines of this messages
indicating not enough RAM but we do NOT get the black screen and crash.
It just keeps trying. The other one went black but kept blinking the HD light. No blinking on this one but we are not accessing the HD, just the floppy disk.

This is probably what was happening on the other one that went black so I still think it is a video problem not a RAM problem. The RAM acts the same in memtest on both of them.

This laptop has a 41MB drive and may work for loop BL3 only.
Not terribly convenient to carry around a keyboard though. I hope this one can be made to work again.

We will attempt to transfer fs.img via serial cable and llpro.

More soon.
Sindi




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