Troubleshooting Map

These are the most common causes, based on experience. If you have a different error code, it will be in the errors during POST section.

Does the system power up?
Did you get more than one beep? (One beep is all correct) See Beep Codes
Is the system totally dead? See Dead System for hints See Troubleshoot
   85-K/N or 95A? Is JMP6 set? (up by op panel on both planars) See JMP6
   56/57 or 76/77? Install the case cover if removed.
See Security Switch
Does anything appear on the screen?
Screen in monochrome (not connected during boot, bad cable)
Blank screen (is pin in cable bent over?)
Text on screen wrong color (pin bent)
Blinking cursor, no error codes (incompatible memory?) See Identify SIMMs
Does an error occur during POST?
Multiple Errors? See Multi-Error
Errors 163, 165 Config lost. (Low battery, exiting setup improperly)
Errors 000095XX through 028331XX See General Errors
Errors 0037, 0096, 0104, 0112, 0206 See SCSI Errors
   Improper cabling, termination, IDs, adapter not fully seated See SCSI Layout
Errors I999XXX (IML systems only - 76/77/85/90/95/500/700/720) See IML Errors
Does the system refuse to accept refdisk?
Do other floppies work? (If not, check type for known problems)
Do you have the correct one?
Did you create it correctly? See Create Refdisk
Do you have a Type 4 complex based system? (05 and up needed) See BIOS Updates
Adapter not recognized
Did you correctly add ADF to Refdisk? See Copy ADF
Did you do a cold boot to re-run System Programs?
Is the adapter fully seated? (can also cause odd run-time errors)
Hard-drive not recognized or recognized incorrectly
Not recognized at all? Check the data and power cables.
Is the drive capacity >1 GB? See SCSI >1 GB
Hard-drive doesn't spin up
Check the power cable
SCSI drives: Is the "delayed start" jumper set?
   (Disable it or check the SCSI adapter)
Older drives may have a "stiction" problem See Known Problems
No Bootable Device Found
Check SCSI Devices in setup See Set SCSI Device
Check selectable drive startup See Startup Sequence
Active Partition on boot drive?
Cannot Access CDROM
Properly terminated and proper ID? See SCSI Layout
Under DOS? See CD Install
Does CD support parity? (required on IBM controllers)
Other issues
You might also want to check "Known Problems" See Known Problems

Content created and/or collected by:
Louis F. Ohland, Peter H. Wendt, David L. Beem, William R. Walsh, Tatsuo Sunagawa, Tomáš Slavotínek, Jim Shorney, Tim N. Clarke, Kevin Bowling, and many others.

Ardent Tool of Capitalism is maintained by Tomáš Slavotínek.
Last update: 24 Mar 2024 - Changelog | About | Legal & Contact