I need help finding our what I have

[cs30841]

I was given a old compaq prosignia VS. it is a old 486 server computer. i would like to try and make it a gateway/router/hub for my home network. Im new to hardware so i dont know much about anything. i need to know what kind of NIC cards to get to go in here. i know it is a 486DX2/66 processor the mother board has a built in ethernet using the RJ45 and a coaxil. there is a 56K modem in there right now but i dont see a name or anything on it. the slots are long and brown. I also know the interface is Fast SCSI-2 for the harddrive and cdrom drive. the cdrom currently does not work as far as i can tell so i cant get linux loaded on there yet. im still working on that. probably try a mini form a zip drive. I can run zip slack but it does not see the hard drive that i can tell. it boot fine to the hard drive which has a basic DOS setup on it thats all. please help me out get this thing to work. thanks.

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Still paying $.50 and hour! (http://www.spedia.net/cgi-bin/tz.cgi?run=show_svc&fl=8&vid=217298)
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Who let me out of my cage?

[ph34r]

You prolly have ISA slots in there. You can always figure out what kind of mobo it is and look up the official docs on either compaq's site or the mobo manufacturer.

[Pleiades]

This may not be the best way, but is how I might try it....

First thing to do is check your SCSI adaptor for the CDROM. There should be a prompt for the SCSI card diagnostics after the memory check. Check the website of the adaptor manufacturer if you have any difficulty.

If you have your disto on CD, make boot floppies on either the 486 in DOS (could be hard) or a W9x machine. These will contain the SCSI drivers. If you don't know how to do this, search the forums here. That's what I did last night to make Debian boot floppies from DOS on a 486.

Use the search facilities here as much as you can. I have found it to be infinitely faster than posting. I still have to post, but not as much as I did when I started.

As for the NIC, look at the Networking How To at www.linuxdoc.org (http://www.linuxdoc.org) . There is a list of supported NICs. Yours will need to be an ISA NIC.

Good luck.

[This message has been edited by Pleiades (edited 30 January 2001).]

[FoBoT]

not sure exactly what you are looking for

have you checked these?
http://www3.compaq.com/support/parts/

http://www5.compaq.com/support/techpubs/qrg/prosigvs.html

we might have one of those here at work, i will re-post if i find one



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FoBoT
Fixer Of Broken Things
Use the right tool for the right job!

[FoBoT]

i have a compaq prosignia 200 series 4040 sitting here at work

if you have any more specific questions and yours is the same/close to the same, let me know



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FoBoT
Fixer Of Broken Things
Use the right tool for the right job!