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How do I get into bios?

I have a Twinhead laptop with the following markings: Slimnote 486SLC.
The bios information that comes up on boot is as follows:

CL-G6410VGA Bios Version 2.10C
Copyright 1992 Cirrus Logic Inc, All Rights Reserved
Copyright 1987-1990 Quadtel Corp, All rights reserved

Phoenix Bios (TM) A386 Version 1.01
Copyright (C) 1985-1991 Phoenix Technologies LTD
All rights reserved

Phoenix Bios for VLSI 82C310/82C312
80486LC Bios version 1.1, 11/22/93 All rights reserved
THAPM bios for VLSI 82C310/312 Version 1.20

Doing a system info using "Checkit" shows that the Rom bios is Phoenix
and the date is 4/19/90
The processor is identified as a 80386AT machine (A20 active),
(Protected)
Note: The diagnostic program I used, (Checkit) is rather old so it
could be mistakenly identifying this machine as a 386 when it is in
fact a 486 but that is not my concern. The machine has a VGA accessory
jack in the back so that I'm assuming you can connnect a VGA monitor to
it. I never tried to do this until today and found that it will not
work. You do see some raster changes taking place on the monitor during
bootup but you never get a display. I was thinking that perhaps I might
have to go into bios and tell the machine that it is outputing to an
external display rather than the LCD one? If so that calls for two
questions. Should I be able to get a simultaneous display on the laptop
as well as the external monitor? And then if not how do I get into
bios? (I would like to know this anyway). I have tried Delete, Alt,
Cont Z , C, F1 every combination that I could think of and nothing
works. You see, I need to connect up a video projector that came in for
repair to this laptop and need to determine that it will produce a
normal display on a VGA monitor first. Any assistance with this problem
will be greatly appreciated.
Lenny Stein, Barlen Electronics
 
W

Wayne Tiffany

Jan 1, 1970
0
To enter the CMOS, try F2. If that doesn't work, you might try holding F2 &
booting.

Most laptops that I have seen use (FN)F5 to 3-way toggle the LCD, external,
or both.

WT
 
S

Shawn D'Alimonte

Jan 1, 1970
0
And then if not how do I get into bios? (I would like to know this anyway).

Try holding down any key during boot. Many BIOSs will see that as a
keyboard failure and may offer to enter setup.
 
T

Tom

Jan 1, 1970
0
As Shawn D'Alimonte so eloquently stated:
Try holding down any key during boot. Many BIOSs will see that as a
keyboard failure and may offer to enter setup.

Where's the 'any key'??? LOL

Had to be said...might as well be me. ;-)
--
Tom

"That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest."
-Henry Thoreau

"The original point and click interface is a Smith and Wesson"
 
F

Franc Zabkar

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have a Twinhead laptop with the following markings: Slimnote 486SLC.
The bios information that comes up on boot is as follows:

CL-G6410VGA Bios Version 2.10C
Copyright 1992 Cirrus Logic Inc, All Rights Reserved
Copyright 1987-1990 Quadtel Corp, All rights reserved

Phoenix Bios (TM) A386 Version 1.01
Copyright (C) 1985-1991 Phoenix Technologies LTD
All rights reserved

Phoenix Bios for VLSI 82C310/82C312
80486LC Bios version 1.1, 11/22/93 All rights reserved
THAPM bios for VLSI 82C310/312 Version 1.20

Try Ctrl-Alt-S or Ctrl-Alt-Esc


- Franc Zabkar
 
L

Lee Babcock

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have a Twinhead laptop with the following markings: Slimnote 486SLC.
The bios information that comes up on boot is as follows:

CL-G6410VGA Bios Version 2.10C
Copyright 1992 Cirrus Logic Inc, All Rights Reserved
Copyright 1987-1990 Quadtel Corp, All rights reserved

Phoenix Bios (TM) A386 Version 1.01
Copyright (C) 1985-1991 Phoenix Technologies LTD
All rights reserved

Phoenix Bios for VLSI 82C310/82C312
80486LC Bios version 1.1, 11/22/93 All rights reserved
THAPM bios for VLSI 82C310/312 Version 1.20

Doing a system info using "Checkit" shows that the Rom bios is Phoenix
and the date is 4/19/90
The processor is identified as a 80386AT machine (A20 active),
(Protected)
Note: The diagnostic program I used, (Checkit) is rather old so it
could be mistakenly identifying this machine as a 386 when it is in
fact a 486 but that is not my concern. The machine has a VGA accessory
jack in the back so that I'm assuming you can connnect a VGA monitor to
it. I never tried to do this until today and found that it will not
work. You do see some raster changes taking place on the monitor during
bootup but you never get a display. I was thinking that perhaps I might
have to go into bios and tell the machine that it is outputing to an
external display rather than the LCD one? If so that calls for two
questions. Should I be able to get a simultaneous display on the laptop
as well as the external monitor? And then if not how do I get into
bios? (I would like to know this anyway). I have tried Delete, Alt,
Cont Z , C, F1 every combination that I could think of and nothing
works. You see, I need to connect up a video projector that came in for
repair to this laptop and need to determine that it will produce a
normal display on a VGA monitor first. Any assistance with this problem
will be greatly appreciated.
Lenny Stein, Barlen Electronics

Lenny...... your machine is in fact a 386. The SLC chip was made by
Cyrix, a little thing about three quarters of an inch square and it went
like stink (for its time). They usually had an oversize heat sink as
they ran very hot.
Most early Phoenix Bios were accessable ONLY with a bios change program.
There are (read... used to be) lots of freeware stuff out there for this.
BTW, the bios program for the 286/386 Compaq's will usually work on this.
As for the VGA port, I think you will find it is an EGA. Same socket,
different pinning.
I think that TI actually made these machines for Twinhead.
This link may help on the BIOS



Regards
Lee in Toronto
 
J

James Sweet

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have a Twinhead laptop with the following markings: Slimnote 486SLC.
The bios information that comes up on boot is as follows:

CL-G6410VGA Bios Version 2.10C
Copyright 1992 Cirrus Logic Inc, All Rights Reserved
Copyright 1987-1990 Quadtel Corp, All rights reserved

Phoenix Bios (TM) A386 Version 1.01
Copyright (C) 1985-1991 Phoenix Technologies LTD
All rights reserved

Phoenix Bios for VLSI 82C310/82C312
80486LC Bios version 1.1, 11/22/93 All rights reserved
THAPM bios for VLSI 82C310/312 Version 1.20

Doing a system info using "Checkit" shows that the Rom bios is Phoenix
and the date is 4/19/90
The processor is identified as a 80386AT machine (A20 active),
(Protected)
Note: The diagnostic program I used, (Checkit) is rather old so it
could be mistakenly identifying this machine as a 386 when it is in
fact a 486 but that is not my concern. The machine has a VGA accessory
jack in the back so that I'm assuming you can connnect a VGA monitor to
it. I never tried to do this until today and found that it will not
work. You do see some raster changes taking place on the monitor during
bootup but you never get a display. I was thinking that perhaps I might
have to go into bios and tell the machine that it is outputing to an
external display rather than the LCD one? If so that calls for two
questions. Should I be able to get a simultaneous display on the laptop
as well as the external monitor? And then if not how do I get into
bios? (I would like to know this anyway). I have tried Delete, Alt,
Cont Z , C, F1 every combination that I could think of and nothing
works. You see, I need to connect up a video projector that came in for
repair to this laptop and need to determine that it will produce a
normal display on a VGA monitor first. Any assistance with this problem
will be greatly appreciated.
Lenny Stein, Barlen Electronics

IIRC 486 SLC uses a 386 chipset so it'll detect as a 386.

Some of these laptops had a special driver to select the VGA output from
within the OS, you might have to find that.
 
J

James Sweet

Jan 1, 1970
0
Lenny...... your machine is in fact a 386. The SLC chip was made by
Cyrix, a little thing about three quarters of an inch square and it went
like stink (for its time). They usually had an oversize heat sink as
they ran very hot.
Most early Phoenix Bios were accessable ONLY with a bios change program.
There are (read... used to be) lots of freeware stuff out there for this.
BTW, the bios program for the 286/386 Compaq's will usually work on this.
As for the VGA port, I think you will find it is an EGA. Same socket,
different pinning.
I think that TI actually made these machines for Twinhead.
This link may help on the BIOS


The SLC chip actually ran quite cool and didn't require a heatsink, I had
one in my desktop machine many years ago, it was indeed as fast as the real
486 my friend had at the time.

The later Cyrix Pentium class chips did indeed run very hot, and were not as
fast as claimed for most tasks either.
 
J

Jamie

Jan 1, 1970
0
I have a Twinhead laptop with the following markings: Slimnote 486SLC.
The bios information that comes up on boot is as follows:

CL-G6410VGA Bios Version 2.10C
Copyright 1992 Cirrus Logic Inc, All Rights Reserved
Copyright 1987-1990 Quadtel Corp, All rights reserved

Phoenix Bios (TM) A386 Version 1.01
Copyright (C) 1985-1991 Phoenix Technologies LTD
All rights reserved

Phoenix Bios for VLSI 82C310/82C312
80486LC Bios version 1.1, 11/22/93 All rights reserved
THAPM bios for VLSI 82C310/312 Version 1.20

Doing a system info using "Checkit" shows that the Rom bios is Phoenix
and the date is 4/19/90
The processor is identified as a 80386AT machine (A20 active),
(Protected)
Note: The diagnostic program I used, (Checkit) is rather old so it
could be mistakenly identifying this machine as a 386 when it is in
fact a 486 but that is not my concern. The machine has a VGA accessory
jack in the back so that I'm assuming you can connnect a VGA monitor to
it. I never tried to do this until today and found that it will not
work. You do see some raster changes taking place on the monitor during
bootup but you never get a display. I was thinking that perhaps I might
have to go into bios and tell the machine that it is outputing to an
external display rather than the LCD one? If so that calls for two
questions. Should I be able to get a simultaneous display on the laptop
as well as the external monitor? And then if not how do I get into
bios? (I would like to know this anyway). I have tried Delete, Alt,
Cont Z , C, F1 every combination that I could think of and nothing
works. You see, I need to connect up a video projector that came in for
repair to this laptop and need to determine that it will produce a
normal display on a VGA monitor first. Any assistance with this problem
will be greatly appreciated.
Lenny Stein, Barlen Electronics
i can give you some idea's
on the Start up try at memory scan.
DEL Key, common to many but not to common in Phenix type bios.
F1
<ctrl>+Shift
<ctrl>+S

etc/.
 
L

Lee Babcock

Jan 1, 1970
0
James said:
The SLC chip actually ran quite cool and didn't require a heatsink, I had
one in my desktop machine many years ago, it was indeed as fast as the real
486 my friend had at the time.

The later Cyrix Pentium class chips did indeed run very hot, and were not as
fast as claimed for most tasks either.
The SLC's came from 16 - 40 Mhz and the higher speed ones were very hot
indeed! They actually produced a tiny little cooling fan on a heat sink
for them, but getting replacements for them was almost impossible
Regards
Lee in Toronto
 
F

Franc Zabkar

Jan 1, 1970
0
As for the VGA port, I think you will find it is an EGA. Same socket,
different pinning.

If it's 15 pin it's VGA.

In any case the Cirrus Logic VGA BIOS identifies itself as
"CL-G6410VGA Bios Version 2.10C".


- Franc Zabkar
 
J

James Sweet

Jan 1, 1970
0
EGA did NOT have the same socket as VGA...


The confusion is probably that some early multisync VGA-capable monitors did
have the 9 pin connector, and many early VGA boards did as well so they
could drive a CGA or EGA monitor though I think they all had the 15 pin also
to run a VGA.
 
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