Getting DOS into a 486

billy7834 · Post by **billy7834** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 1:42 am

I may be picking up a Toshiba 486 laptop with no OS installed. How difficult is it to load it up with DOS 6.22 ? What do I need and where do I get it? Thanks. Bill

Motoman · Post by **Motoman** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:06 am

you'll need to get a boot disk for the computer. When u boot cause it has no OS it will the boot disk's OS and u can usually run it from there.

njh621 · Post by **njh621** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 5:11 am

Check your pms.

Post by **wavetar** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 5:53 am

You have a few options. You can simply use a DOS 6.22 boot disk, which you can find at http://www.bootdisk.com . You then need the disk to be in the floppy drive whenever you boot up.

Once the computer is booted with the disk, you can make the hard drive bootable by typing in "format c: /s" (without the quotation marks). This will format the hard drive & install the needed system files in order to boot the computer without the floppy disk.

You could go the whole 9 yards & type in "DOS622.zip" in Google, which rumour has it will bring up several sites to download the entire 3-disk DOS 6.22 install set

. While you're at it, try typing in "Win311.zip" as well & you might be able to find the 6-disk Windows 3.11 install set & really set-up that 486 bad boy.

Google is everyone's best friend...

Todd

Cowthief · Post by **Cowthief** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 7:13 am

Hello.

For DOS you may want the drivers for the pointing device.
Windows 3.1 NEEDS the drivers for video and pointing device (mouse), before the hardware search.
Windows 3.1 is also not set up for plug and play devices, your toshiba SHOULD have legacy IRQ and DMA.
Some machines simply can not run legacy mode, usually the same stuff thst has no serial port.
Do not connect a cardbus device to the machine while running 3.1, (32 bit).
PCMCIA cards can only be inserted/removed on powerup.

kb0nly · Post by **kb0nly** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:46 am

That should be:

Format C: /s

To make the hard drive bootable. The previous poster put the /s before the drive designation.

I have an original copy of Dos 6.22, its the four disk set, the fourth disk is all the optional software like MS-DOSSHELL which is what i use on my programming laptop. Since most of the RSS likes pure old dos compared to Win 3.11 and a dos window.

Post by **wavetar** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:31 am

kb0nly wrote:That should be:

Format C: /s

Quite correct, my mistake. I have edited the post.

Todd

billy7834 · Post by **billy7834** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 12:07 pm

Thanks all.....Whats the difference between installing the 3 disk set and using the boot disk and the Format C: /s command? Thanks again. Bill

kb0nly · Post by **kb0nly** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 1:02 pm

If you use the three disk set and install dos to the hard drive then you have the full compliment of tools.

Scandisk, Defrag, and all the other command prompt items you might ever need to keep the computer running top notch.

With the Format C: /s all your doing is writing a boot sector to the hard drive and transferring the command.com and a few other files. You won't even have the format command available if you ever needed to format a floppy disc, or to defrag the hard drive, etc.

thebigphish · Post by **thebigphish** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 1:10 pm

the format C: /s thing will JUST copy the system files to the drive being formatted, but it will NOT install the full version of the disk operating system...the three disk system is a little much for a 486 install of dos 6.22, don't go beating yourself up over it.

your best bet (tried and true method) is to go and get a boot disk off "bootdisk.com"...set-up, and format the HD, and then install the bootdisk TO the hard drive, so now your hard disk has a bootable copy of the OS.

1) download and create boot disk on other computer
2) boot 486 from bootdisk.
3) format the hard drive ("format C: /s")
4) unlock all the files on the bootdisk ("attrib -s -h -r a:\*.*")
5) copy all the files from the boot disk to the freshly formatted HD ("copy a:\*.* c:\"
6) **optional** you can relock the hidden and system files by using the attrib command, but you don't have to. ("attrib +s +h +r c:\XXXXXXX.XXX" - replace the Xs with "io.sys" then "msdos.sys")

now, you can remove the boot disk from the 486 and restart it.

I'm not going to tell you that you can't install the 3 disk set, but in the time it takes you to get a full set of the disks, and then install them, you can have a fully functional OS, running off a bootdisk copied to the HD.

it works, i've done it. if you can't get anywhere with that, email me.

Cowthief · Post by **Cowthief** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:24 pm

Hello.

Has anybody tried freeDOS for the moto' apps?
http://www.freedos.org/

EKLB · Post by **EKLB** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 2:42 pm

Outa here

Post by **wavetar** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 4:35 pm

thebigphish wrote:
1) download and create boot disk on other computer
2) boot 486 from bootdisk.
3) format the hard drive ("format C: /s")
4) unlock all the files on the bootdisk ("attrib -s -h -r a:\*.*")
5) copy all the files from the boot disk to the freshly formatted HD ("copy a:\*.* c:\"
6) **optional** you can relock the hidden and system files by using the attrib command, but you don't have to. ("attrib +s +h +r c:\XXXXXXX.XXX" - replace the Xs with "io.sys" then "msdos.sys")

it works, i've done it. if you can't get anywhere with that, email me.

I have also done this, but it seemed a bit much to explain to someone who may not be DOS literate. One question though, since the drive has already been formatted with the system files in your example, why would one need to go through the bother of changing the hidden system file attributes & recopying them yet again? You should only need to do a regular "copy a:\*.* c:\" to copy the rest of the files onto the HD. No messing with attrib commands that way.

Todd

EKLB · Post by **EKLB** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 5:50 pm

Outa here

billy7834 · Post by **billy7834** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:13 pm

Thanks again....Believe me, I am printing all this out and will go over it carefully. The Toshiba deal fell through....got outbid on Ebay. I'm looking to replace my programming comp. which I no longer have access to. It was a 266 mhz which I booted using the MS-DOS Mode for Games with EMS and XMS support. (Wavetar, you helped me out with that about a year ago....worked great.) So, I'm still looking for a replacement. Posted in WTB/For Sale section here on Batlabs. Also, scanning Ebay daily. Appreciate all the help. Keep it coming if you have anything to add or if you see or know of a possible replacement comp. for me. Thanks. Bill

thebigphish · Post by **thebigphish** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 8:15 pm

formatting drives with the format C: /s merely installs the io.sys & msdos.sys binaries and does NOT make the drive bootable. formatting a drive with /s makes it command interpreter capable, but there is no bootable command interpreter for DOS to run with the /sys flag set...i can't think of a single time i've run /s as a flag that has made that disk bootable to a C:\ prompt.

am i just losing my mind? or can anyone else corroborate this?

billy7834 · Post by **billy7834** » Sun Oct 24, 2004 9:45 pm

Just browsing Ebay. Think this would do the trick assuming it is functional??

Description

Item Specifics - PC Laptops
Brand: Epson
Hard Drive Capacity: 0.2 GB
Chip Type: Cyrix 486SX
Screen Size: 8 inches
Operating System Included: Yes
Processor Speed: 50 MHz
Primary Drive: 3.5" Floppy Drive
Memory (RAM): 8 MB

Epson ActionNote 500C Cyrix 486SX 50mhz 8.4" Passive scan color screen. 8megs of ram, 170meg hard drive. Runs Windows95 decently. Includes MS Word97 and Excel97. Does not have PCMCIA slots, modem, ethernet, or pointing device. You must attach ps/2 (included) mouse to use it. Had battery at one time, but it stopped charging and now I have no idea what I did with it. Includes carrying case. Great for someone who is short on space and only need to do wordprocessing or spreadsheets. Laptop itself is only about 5-6lbs.

Post by **wavetar** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 4:22 am

thebigphish wrote:formatting drives with the format C: /s merely installs the io.sys & msdos.sys binaries and does NOT make the drive bootable. formatting a drive with /s makes it command interpreter capable, but there is no bootable command interpreter for DOS to run with the /sys flag set...i can't think of a single time i've run /s as a flag that has made that disk bootable to a C:\ prompt.

am i just losing my mind? or can anyone else corroborate this?

Yes, it will make the drive bootable. I've done it many times to wipe a hard drive in preparation for installing Windows. If you type in "format c: /s" in Google, you'll get a ton of hits with exactly what the command does. Here's one just for information's sake:

http://www.sightsea.com/pghpchd/pages/formatC.html

It's the only reason I've ever used the /s flag.

Todd

Post by **wavetar** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 4:24 am

billy7834 wrote:Just browsing Ebay. Think this would do the trick assuming it is functional??

Description

Item Specifics - PC Laptops
Brand: Epson
Hard Drive Capacity: 0.2 GB
Chip Type: Cyrix 486SX
Screen Size: 8 inches
Operating System Included: Yes
Processor Speed: 50 MHz
Primary Drive: 3.5" Floppy Drive
Memory (RAM): 8 MB

Epson ActionNote 500C Cyrix 486SX 50mhz 8.4" Passive scan color screen. 8megs of ram, 170meg hard drive. Runs Windows95 decently. Includes MS Word97 and Excel97. Does not have PCMCIA slots, modem, ethernet, or pointing device. You must attach ps/2 (included) mouse to use it. Had battery at one time, but it stopped charging and now I have no idea what I did with it. Includes carrying case. Great for someone who is short on space and only need to do wordprocessing or spreadsheets. Laptop itself is only about 5-6lbs.

The specs look fine enough. Can't say I'd be crazy about the screen size, and I'd prefer a larger Hard Drive, but it would certainly to the job.

Todd

billy7834 · Post by **billy7834** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 8:01 am

Well, I have the above described comp. on the way to me. Looks like it has Win 95 installed. Todd....Can you do the MS-DOS Mode for Games with EMS and XMS thing with Win 95 like you can with Win 98?? If so, I could go that way rather than install the DOS? Thanks. Bill

Post by **wavetar** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:00 pm

billy7834 wrote:Well, I have the above described comp. on the way to me. Looks like it has Win 95 installed. Todd....Can you do the MS-DOS Mode for Games with EMS and XMS thing with Win 95 like you can with Win 98?? If so, I could go that way rather than install the DOS? Thanks. Bill

Yes, the easiest way is to copy the shortcut over on a floppy from a Win98 computer, since it doesn't install by default in Win95.

Todd

KG6EAQ · Post by **KG6EAQ** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 12:43 pm

billy7834 just to make you feel better about your purchase. I used that exact model/spec laptop to do all my programming for two years. I finally had to dump it because the screen went a bit nutty. That laptop programmed every radio except my x9000. Not too bad!

If you want one for parts, it has a bad screen, eh battery, and no hard drive let me know you can have it for the cost of shipping.

billy7834 · Post by **billy7834** » Mon Oct 25, 2004 5:26 pm

Thanks Todd....I will try that.

Thanks Robert....Good to know.

Bill

Getting DOS into a 486

Getting DOS into a 486

Win drivers.

FreeDOS.