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IBM PS/1 Boot Up Error

A

Aristotle

Member
Joined
May 10, 2013
Messages
14
Location
England
Hi - I have an old PS/1 (dates back to early 1990s), which has not been used for about 20 years. Turned it on - and after the memory check I get the following three error codes:

301
162
163

What's wrong and is there anyway to fix it? I would really appreciate some help - otherwise this vintage machine will be heading for the dump.
 
Error code 162 and 163 typically mean that the internal battery has gone bad and needs to be replaced. If you are lucky, you have a model with a CR2032 coin cell and the switch is easy. If you have one of those evil Dallas clock/battery bricks soldered to the motherboard, it will take a lot more effort.

Error code 301 suggests keyboard problem. Double check the keyboard is installed in the correct port. Clean the keyboard. Unfortunately, if the storage area was damp, the keyboard may have corroded. If you have a different PS/2 keyboard, use that instead. If the second keyboard also fails, make sure that the port hasn't pulled loose from the motherboard.
 
These machines usually present two common isues:
-Dead Keyboard capacitors: The keyboard microcontroller fails to initiate and this makes the computer to beep constantly. Error 301 is shown.
-Dead battery: The CMOS configuration can't be retained and errors 162 & 163 are shown.

In this case, the user can't continue boot process pressing F1 as requested because the keyboard is not working.
 
krebizfan said:
Error code 162 and 163 typically mean that the internal battery has gone bad and needs to be replaced. If you are lucky, you have a model with a CR2032 coin cell and the switch is easy. If you have one of those evil Dallas clock/battery bricks soldered to the motherboard, it will take a lot more effort.

Error code 301 suggests keyboard problem. Double check the keyboard is installed in the correct port. Clean the keyboard. Unfortunately, if the storage area was damp, the keyboard may have corroded. If you have a different PS/2 keyboard, use that instead. If the second keyboard also fails, make sure that the port hasn't pulled loose from the motherboard.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I will check later... fingers crossed it's CR2032!
 
It was a CR2032 - changed battery, cleaned machine, check keyboard port. Turned on. No 301 error - but 162 and 163 came up. Hit PF1 and Windows 3.1 booted! Magic. Thanks for your help. I will check to see if the 162 and 163 errors come up next time I boot. If they do, what would that signify?
 
Aristotle said:
It was a CR2032 - changed battery, cleaned machine, check keyboard port. Turned on. No 301 error - but 162 and 163 came up. Hit PF1 and Windows 3.1 booted! Magic. Thanks for your help. I will check to see if the 162 and 163 errors come up next time I boot. If they do, what would that signify?
Click to expand...
Usually, after replacing a bad battery, a machine's SETUP (configuration) needs to be run.
 
The setup program in PS/1 is called "configur.exe" and it is usually placed in C:\DOS. Run it, press enter and the boot errors 16X should disappear.
 
nestor said:
The setup program in PS/1 is called "configur.exe" and it is usually placed in C:\DOS. Run it, press enter and the boot errors 16X should disappear.
Click to expand...

I searched the whole C drive - there is no executable file of the that name anywhere. Perhaps it was on a disk (which I don't have)? There is a setup.exe in C:\Windows - but I think this is for loading Windows.
 
My PS/1 TYPE 2121 boots to a four quadrant screen which I can use to enter a DOS Shell. That has an option to configure hardware. I had to replace the battery. My keyboard is dead so I just used a modern keyboard. It came with DOS 4.0 and Windows 3.0.

There is a utility to restore the 4 quadrant screen after upgrading the dos. I don't know if it will work on another pc
 
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