• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

NEC Powermate 286 Plus

T

TheMechanist

New Member
Joined
Dec 16, 2019
Messages
9
Location
Berlin
Hi !

I'm now a (nearly) happy owner of a Nec Powermate 286 plus ... made a Landmark speedtest - this baby is a beast, a 286 on steroids, performs like a 18 MHz AT and especially when it comes to the power of the integrated VGA - 1920 chr/s ! Most of the older VGAs come just to 300 to 600 chr/s ..

http://mastodonpc.tripod.com/bench/speed.html

If found this forum when searching for NEC Bios tools, unfortunately the posted links to ftp://ftp.necam.com/pub/desktop/PowerMate/Old.PowerMate/PowerMate.286.Series/Utilities don't work anymore. Any idea, where I can find working setup tools? Will GSETUP do the job (don't want to kill the settings ...)

Does anyone have a service/user manual (as PDF) ?

Seems, that my systems has an error - the keyboard doesn't work correctly. I tried two (newer) PS/2 keyboards. In both cases keystrokes occur with a delay, sometimes the keyboard does not react at all and it takes a while until the computer registers keystrokes again. Does anyone have any idea what the problem might be?

Greetings from Germany

TheMechanist
 
GSETUP seems to work, at least it shows correct settings. But for the moment everything works so I didn't try to change the settings.

I read somewhere in the forum, that PS/2 keyboards may have different clock settings. Maybe this is the reason for my keyboard problems. I'll try different models and report.
 
Finally found a working keyboard ! Unfortunately it's not labeled, but seems to be manufactured around the year 2000 … so keep in mind that not all keyboards will work with vintage Computers ;)
 
A short different question:

Has anyone tried to add a ISA graphic card to that system? There is a jumper on the mainboard to disable internal graphic adapter. I added a new card and disabled the internal card but I don't get an image. Maybe the card is not working or I missed something to set when adding the card?!
 
I'm a bit late to the party but I have a Powermate 286+ also.

GSETUP worked fine for me.
Normal keyboards worked fine for me, I didn't need anything special, this is the first I've heard of PS/2 keyboard differences to be honest.

I never tried changing the graphics card, but I'd recommend reinserting it a few times and making sure everything is snug and straight. The reinsertion can help remove oxidisation ont he contacts.
I'd also make sure to try a card that's been tested in another system first to be sure that it actually works ok.

Best of luck with it!
 
Yes, the most "below the line" memory is 640KB (video adapter memory and adapter ROM space, plus BIOS memory occupies "above the line" 640KB-1MB, although blocks may be available as EMS window or UMBs). Add HIMEM.SYS for DOS HIGH in the 1MB-1MB+64KB(-16) area and UMBs etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top