TIME computer

Can you tele me where i can get hold of TIME MACHINE RELOAD BACK up CD for amodel NO363-58-250 .
Runing WIN98se.
Thank You.

that number does not correspond to any Time model number
can you look at the back of the machine and give me any other numbers printed there? It could be a paper label, possibly a metal one

Seriasl N0 297349
Batch N0 70488 9
250T74
OVMOOO3885
Thats all there is.
thank you.

OMG!!!!!

A Model 74 (250T74 is the clue)
THROW IT AWAY. Seriously
That group of models are the ones that established Time's reputation as purveyors of crud

This one features
A P57SAX-V1 motherboard made by DTK (they went bust - tehy also traded as Gemlight)
An SiS5598 integrated chipset. The PCI graphics (not AGP) are integrated into the northbridge and are not stable. You have to run a replacement graphics BIOS on a runtime basis as a TSR to make it stable
SIS IDE chipset that doesn't recognise drives properly
A BIOS that was never properly integrated with teh processor
A Cyrix / IBM 6x86-M2 300 processor that actually ran at 266MHz - and wasn't stable. and overheated
A CPU fan that couldn't cope
An PCI bus that couldn't handle the recommended clock speed for the CPU: 3.5 x 75
We had to talk customers through resetting them to 4 x 66 (after a BIOS flash)

What else?
Sound was Ensoniq ESS1869. Both Win95 and Win98 have WDM drivers that don't work properly. Drivers had to be manually updated to the correct ones - but the installer didn't work so the change had to be done through the device manager.

Modem - if you are lucky the modem is a PCI model with a Conexant HCF chipset from Modular Technology (long since gone). If you're unlucky its one of two IDE models with a Rockwell chipset. One had a socket for a video camera and was almost plug and play. The other didn't and wasn't PnP - and often needed manual resource configuration an driver installation

There was a reload CD for these, but it was never sent out as it didn't work. I had a copy somewhere - last seen years ago, and I know the image it produces is unserviceable. It also needed a boot floppy - which I don't have
With these, the main recovery method was a collection on the hard drive of 70 or so floppy images files, which you were supposed to burn into a collection of disks. Few did. There was also a hidden Ghost image that was usually faulty

With these, it was always best to wipe the machine and reinstall from scratch with the Win98 CD provided, later installing the correct drivers
Later I'll try to track those down, but it won't be easy to set up

One last point - unless that was one of the "free" machines provided with a Supanet internet contract, it would have come with Win98 Gold - not Win98SE. However SE will be the more stable choice

Finally - most of these went back to Time for repair at some point, and we usually totally replaced the internals without telling the customer. Does this one have a paper sticker on the back with an RMA code on it, handwritten? If so, ti could be anything in there though it would most likely to be something with an ALi V chipset

OK trying to put the drivers together

the southrbridge / IDE drivers are at
a href="http://w3.sis.com/download/download_step2.php?id=33733&country=UK&Image791.x=50&Image791.y=10">http://w3.sis.com/download/download_step2.php?id=33733&country=UK&Image791.x=50&Image791.y=10

Northbridge / graphics drivers are at
http://w3.sis.com/download/download_step2.php?id=38019&country=UK&Image791.x=47&Image791.y=10
A word of warning. I can't find anywhere on the SiS download site the run-time video BIOS, without it this driver may well crash with BSODs

Modem
as long as its a PCI modem then the Win9x HCF driver here should work
http://www.conexant.com/support/md_driverdownload.jsp
If its an IDE modem, then replace it (or remove it)

Sound
this page appears to have the correct ESS E1869 sound drivers
http://www.fixdevice.com/drivers/file/142529.html
AS I said before Win9x will intall a bad WDM driver. You need to upgrade to this driver. Its a self-extracting ZIP file. Extract all the files to a folder, then use device manager to update to this driver by using the .inf installation method




Good luck, and don't blame me when it all goes wrong

OK, that first link went wrong, but on checking the website is protecting the download anyway
Instead you'll have to go to
http://w3.sis.com/download/agreement.php?url=/download/ and browse for the two SiS download

For one the path is Win98 > IDE driver > other IDE driver
For the other its Win98 > IGP graphics drivers > SiS5598

In luck!

I found the runtime video BIOS TSR
Its he first download at
http://driverscollection.com/?H=SiS5598&By=SIS
Instructions are on the page - you have to manually edit autoexec.bat

just a footnote...

the jumper settings required to make this board work with the Cyrix processor were undocumented in the manual....
both 4x66 and 3.5x75 were outside the normal available range of settings, so you can guess what that meant for stability

just realised that when talking of the modem I twice made a type - I meant ISA slots, not IDE
Hopefully it'll be PCI anyway