DeskPro 2000

I just rescued a DeskPro 2000 from a skip and it appears to be working
fine except for a problem which occurred when I tried to add some cards
to the machine. Basically as long as only the three slots (2 x ISA and
one ISA/PCI) on the outside of the riser are used all is well. If either
of the PCI slots on the inner side of the riser are occupied the machine
refuses to start up, in fact it does absolutely nothing and the screen
remains blank.

Any suggestion appreciated.

Alec

 

Yep, DP 2000's and 4000's, people would call me all the time after opening
them up and putting them back together and I would tell them to smack the
case right where the riser card is, they would laugh and I would tell them
I was serious so they would set the phone down, a few seconds later I would
hear a bang then a few seconds later the beep beep from a successful post
and they would come back on the phone laughing even harder.

 

The risers in those units were problematical. Are you sure it is really
seated? It should make a noticeable SNAP sound when you push it in.
HH

 

Thanks for the reply. Yes it's fully home in the slot but I will try
reseating in view of your comment just in case.

Regards,

Alec

 

move it and clear cmos, maybe some PnP settings are getting confused.

 

Sadly neither reseating the card nor a thump has had any effect. I'm
beginning to think the riser card must have problems as the machine
works fine with cards in both ISA slots and a PCI card in the PCI/ISA
slot. If the PCI card is then moved to one of the PCI slots on the other
side it refuses to start. Move the PCI card back and it starts straight away.

Regards,

Alec

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but on the older machines, weren't some
slots shared? You could use most of them, but not all, at the same time?
Try removing all of them and then adding them back in one at a time to see
what might be shared with what. A bit time consuming, but as a last
resort...

KC

 

Kevin,
I seem to remember that being the case on those older 2000s, 4000s and
6000s.
HH

 

So my memory isn't that bad, thanks for confirming that. Now if I could
just recall which ones were shared. That would probably Alec a bit of time
finding out through trial and error. Would you know or as always could you
post the link to the exact answer at the Compaq Web site?

BTW, this is not a Compaq unique issue. A lot of older machines had
sharing of ISA/PCI/??? slots. The only ones I don't recall any sharing with
was MicroChannel, but that design/technology didn't really make it
commercially. Still just when you think they are all dead and gone some one
hauls one in and ask you to work on it.

KC

 

I've now cleared the CMOS with no change. Have also removed all cards
and just put one PCI card in one of the inboard slots and the machine
failed to boot, Put the card back in the combine PCI/ISA slot and it
works.

As this machine was pulled out of a skip I'm beginning to wonder if this
problem is why it was in there in the first place!

Regards,

Alec

 

The "shared PCI/ISA" slot designation typically applies only to the ISA and PCI
slots which are immediately next to one another. The slot is shared because it
is either-or. Either an ISA card can be instaled or a PCI card, but not both.
Two cards cannot occupy the same physical slot space, where the "slot" refers to
the opening on the back panel of the computer..

Before the computer industry declared the ISA slot obsolete (after over 20 years
of life), the large majority of motherboards and riser cards has a shared slot.

Rather than considering the potential issues with a shared slot, I would believe
that somethng is quite wrong with the riser card hardware, from the symptoms
described... Ben Myers

 

Ben probably is right on this, from the sound of it. Since it was from
a skip(?) I assume that means it was being scraped, do what you can with it
and just accept that you have a system that has few hardware capabilities
that it's peers. What cards do you need to add to it? Perhaps you can use
a combo card?

KC

 

The cards I wanted to use were modem, network, sound and video. The
latter as it only has the standard 1Mb of VRAM and I have a 4Mb
Millennium laying around. I'll use an external modem which will solve
the problem. and forget about the two PCI slots.

A skip is a large tank like steel container used to remove large
quantities of rubbish, delivered and removed by lorry.

Thanks to all who responded, much appreciated.

Regards,

Alec

 

There are Modem-LAN Card Combos, I don't know of any for sound and video
other than PBs and those were a proprietary oddity at best. There is the
option of going with USB as well for the modem and LAN.

Gee and I know of a skip as radio propagation, a small unit/group
leader, ships captain, and my brothers nick name. Who say's you can't learn
anything new about language. Thanks.

KC

 

You're welcome. Isn't there a saying about two nations separated by a
common language?

Regards,

Alec