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Booting up a 386

JimLahey

Member
Joined
Apr 5, 2021
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I am having difficulty starting up this system "HP Vectra QS/16S Intel 386". It says please insert startup disk on on start up (see images). I have boot disk. I have setup disks of DOS 6.22 (see images).

I have read that I need specific startup disk from "HP Museum". I have ability to put HP Startup to a 3.5" floppy, but don't know what file(s) I need. Do I have to have this disk in every time I startup? I have a Windows 95 install CD too.

Thanks.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/so3jm2oxj...w5cMpBHJa?dl=0
 
Update.

I downloaded startup disk, but it's in .TDO format. Teledisk? I have to convert on a dos system to usable disk files. I have files saved to a compact flash, 4gb. I have compact flash reader in my 486. The compact flash is recognized in bios as 4gb(400mib), but when I try to access in DOS (D) it says "Invalid Drive Specification" I have used "FDISK /STATUS", drive is shown as 3808mb drive D: but I still don't know how to access? (see images)

Any ideas?

Thanks.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/krizkd4jj4...95602.jpg?dl=0
 
... but all I get is errors "error reading a:" trying to write to a: drive. again (see image)
I assume your system is able to handle an hard disk drive. A trick I used is inserting the drive of another working DOS system and booting from that HDD. And then using the software from that drive to find out what is wrong with the floppy drive.
 
Last edited:
Update:

I was able to get startup files and teledisk utility over to my 486 to create a startup disk, but all I get is errors "error reading a:" trying to write to a: drive. again (see image)

Any ideas?

Thanks.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/g152i5fkfr...30254.jpg?dl=0
"Sector not found" indicates that the target disk is bad. Try another one. See if it formats with no errors first in DOS.

Also note that the image is for a 720k DD floppy disk.

It can probably not boot from anything else as it had lost it's CMOS configuration and defaults to a wrong floppy disk type. You need to run the setup utility, which I assume is on that floppy disk image..?
 
So, I was able to format my 1.44 3.5" to 720k and successfully transfer over setup disk. Loaded the disk into 386 and booted up to RAMBIOS by Hewlett Packard loading up....

And then "Program does not run on this machine"

"Bad or missing Command Interpreter"

(See images)https://www.dropbox.com/sh/72sgfs526ubnapg/AACsRSfU7_6uj8lQYrjFLJ-ya?dl=0

I am downloading .td0 from this page.

http://www.hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?swc=8

Which do I need? Any ideas? I downloaded "Vectra 286/386 Setup and Utilities"

Any ideas?
 
So, I was able to format my 1.44 3.5" to 720k and successfully transfer over setup disk. Loaded the disk into 386 and booted up to RAMBIOS by Hewlett Packard loading up....

And then "Program does not run on this machine"
You don't need to clean or swap the floppy disk drive. It's just not the correct disk image for your machine. You need to get the one that matches the model number. Can't help you more than that, as I do not own such a system. I just know that from later Compaq machines, they did the same. If it does not match exactly, it won't work.
 
You don't need to clean or swap the floppy disk drive. It's just not the correct disk image for your machine. You need to get the one that matches the model number. Can't help you more than that, as I do not own such a system. I just know that from later Compaq machines, they did the same. If it does not match exactly, it won't work.

Thanks Tim,

I was also suspecting cmos battery causing issues, have one on the way. I will go top down until I find a file to start this up. Do you think the file has to say startup or setup, or do you think it would be another utility in the list? What about a utility close to the date of manufacture (05/1990)? Model # D1470A


Here's the list:

http://www.hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?swc=8
Software Selection:
1) Executive Spreadsheet (1985)
2) Executive Card Manager (1985)
3) Vectra Peripheral Exerciser (1985)
4) PC Instruments (1985)
5) Vectra CE Diagnostics (1985)
6) HP-IB Command Library (1986)
7) AdvanceMail For Vectra (1986)
8)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
HP-IB Diagnostic (1986)
9) Lotus 1-2-3 Ver 2.01 (1986)
10) Crosstalk 3.6 (1986)
11) Windows 1.03 Vectra (1986)
12) AdvanceWrite III F.01.01 (1986)
13) AdvanceLink 2392 (1986)
14) 82973A Software (1986)
15) HP BASIC for Vectra (1987)
16) Portable Vectra CS Diagnostic (1987)
17) NewWave 4.1 (1987)
18)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
Expanded Memory Utilities (1987)
19) PASCAL 3.2 for Vectra (1987)
20) Portable CS EMS Adapter Software (1987)
21) Windows 2.03 Vectra (1987)
22) Vectra MS-DOS 3.2, Utilities and Supplemental Disc (1987)
23) Set Up Disc for Vectra CS Portable (1987)
24) Graphics Gallery For Vectra (1987)
25) Executive MemoMaker For Vectra (1987)
26) AdvanceLink For DOS (1988)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
27) 82329A Emulation Module Software (1988)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
28)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
Microsoft OS/2 Ver 1.1 (1988)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
29) HP Terminal Program 5.25 inch (1988)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
30) AdvanceLink For Portable Vectra CS (1988)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
31) Executive MemoMaker For Portable Vectra CS (1988)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
32) VGA Utilities Disc (1988)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
33) HP Terminal Program 3.5 inch (1988)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
34) Set Up Disc for Vectra LS/12 (1988)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
35) Vectra MS-DOS 3.3 and Start up Disc (1988)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
36) HP OfficeShare Network (1988)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
37) PC Integration Products (1989)
38)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
Measurement Coprocessor SW (1989)
39) Vectra RS/QS/ES Setup and Utilities (1989)
40) MS-DOS 4.01 for Vectra (1989)
41) Vectra QS 3.5 Inch Floppy Disc Drive Utilities (1989)
42) ARPA Services 2.1 (1989)
43) 82328A Graphics Controller Drivers (1989)
44) RF & Microwave AppCAD (1990)
45) HP OfficeFax (1990)
46) LIF Utilities for PC (1990)
47) NIC Software (1990)
48)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
Reflection 4.01 (1990)
49) OpenView Hub Manager DOS (1990)
50) MS-DOS 5.0 for Vectra (1990)
51) SVGA Utilities and Drivers (1990)
52) Vectra 286/386 Setup and Utilities (1990)
53) EzTape For Vectra (1991)
54) LAN Manager X 386/486 (1991)
55) HP BASIC 6.2 (1991)
56) HP Software Vendor (1991)
57) HP ARPA SVCS 386/486 (1991)
58)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
495X PC Software (1991)
59) OpenView DTC Manager 10.5 (1991)
60) Advancelink for Windows/NewWave (1992)
61) ALLBASE/SQL PC API for the PC (1992)
62) 4990A ProveView Manager (1992)
63) HP Instrument BASIC (1992)
64) OpenView For DOS/Windows (1992)
65) Vectra 486N Utilities (1992)
66) Vectra 486U Utilities (1992)
67) Vectra 486U UVGA Utilities (1992)
68)
wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==
Windows 3.1 for Vectra (1992)
69) HP-IB Tools For Windows/DOS (1992)
70) NewWave Mail (1993)
71) LAN Manager v 2.2 (1993)
72) Vectra Diagnostic Utility (1993)
73) HP VEE For Windows (1993)
74) MS-DOS 6.0 (1994)
75) Dashboard for Windows (1994)
Thanks for the help!
 

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I have downloaded and tried so far:

Vectra RS/QS/ES Setup and Utilities
Vectra MS-DOS 3.3 and Start up Disc
Vectra 286/386 Setup and Utilities
 
My suggestion on trying another drive was based on his "Bad or missing Command Interpreter" message. I would try to verify if the system can boot any bootable disk at all before attempting to boot the setup disk. Start with a known good disk that boots on another setup.
 
The error "Program does not run on this machine" is a typical HP error message if the Setup program is too old for the hardware.
For everyone else having this problem, try a newer Setup program here, this works on my HP QS16/S i386SX-16 where the one from HP Museum also wouldn't work.

 
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