(really old) computer help

[wfbberzerker]

a friend of mine got an old laptop for use in school (as a joke), and i offerred to fix it up for him. it's a zenith z-180 laptop, with dos version 3.2. the problem is, while the laptop turns on and loads dos fine and everything, instead of letters, there are screwy ascii letters. everything works fine, and all the normal commands load, its just that instead of displaying, say, a lower case a, it will show a _.

do any of you have any idea on how to fix this? i know its a bit obscure...

 

[HappyPuppy]

Format and reinstall DOS. It's your only hopoe.

 

[morkinva]

look in the autoexec.bat and config.sys files, maybe there's a line you can delete or rem out

 

[thraxes]

REM the line referring to the codepage select.

What obout other "graphical" apps? are they all srewed up (as in is the graphics chip doing its job right)? Find a copy of Maniac Mansion and check it out... ah MM and DOS 3.2, those were the days (yes i am old enough to remember them)

 

[wfbberzerker]

i cant do any of that, because i cant read any of the text.


and now, for some reason, when i turn on the computer, it just says a string of random characters, and wont let me do anything. and the low battery light is on (although its plugged in), and it beeps at me every 20 seconds or so.

 

[wfbberzerker]

ok, using my powers of deduction (and the manual), i have figured out that the error is:

+++ DISK ERROR: Drive not ready! +++

god this manual blows.

 

[wfbberzerker]

woohoo! the manual doesnt blow!

i was able to enter this monitor program, and by changing the video mode i was able to get the letters working! the only problem is, half the video modes type out garbage instead of what they should. but at least now i can mess with it!