Apricot Hardware FAQ

If when switching to the TV Card all you get is pictures coming out all purple, go into Display settings, and change colour palette from True Colour 24 bit to High Colour 16.

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Please be advised that on Apricot machines with the Surepath BIOS (MS540 with Trent Motherboard, will have a model number MMxxxx on a white sticker at the back of the machine), if the machine is interrupted during the boot sequence or fails its post 3 times, it will set the cache to disabled. The machine then runs extremely slow or gives an '062 Boot Failure - Default Configuration Used' error on the next boot.

This can be remedied by enabling cache in SETUP as follows -

• Let the machine boot into SETUP screen using the prompts necessary.
• Select 'Advanced Setup' and 'Cache Control'. The cache should be enabled. Escape back to the main menu, save the changes and Exit.
• The machine will boot then boot into WIN95 as normal.

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If you get a printer connected to an Apricot MS540, and it's printing extremely slowly, not printing at all, or a parallel port scanner is not working then here is the solution -

• Click on Start / Settings / Control Panel.
• Double click on System and choose Device Manager.
• Double click on the Ports section, and then the printer port.
• Go to the Resources section, and take the tick out of "Use Automatic Settings".
• Change the Basic Configuration to 0000, and put the tick back in "Use Automatic Settings".
• Close all the Windows down, and Shutdown and Restart the computer.
• Enter the BIOS by pressing F1 when the PC is booting up.
• Select the DEVICES AND I/O PORTS option.
• Make sure that Parallel Port is set to - PORT 378 (LPT2).
• That Parallel Port Mode is set to - STANDARD.
• The Parallel Port IRQ is set to - 7.
• The Parallel Port DMA is set to - NONE.
• After that, press the ESC key and save and exit out of the BIOS.
• When the machine gets back into Windows repeat steps 1-5 above, but change the Basic Configuration to 0005.
• The parallel port should now be set up properly.

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Apricot PC - Modem is not assigned to the correct port, or Modem just simply not working correctly. Or modem is working correctly, but no sound in Windows. Modem is using IRQ 5, hence Soundblaster no longer working - showing a yellow exclamation mark in Device Manager.

SOLUTION: Remove the modem from Device Manager and restart PC. Modem will be redetected, but will be placed on COM3, and assigned IRQ5.

• Go to CONTROL PANEL
• Click on SYSTEM
• Select DEVICE MANAGER
• Select MODEM
• Highlight DATAFLEX PC COMMS and click PROPERTIES
• Select RESOURCES
• If MANUAL CONFIGURATION Button is there, then click it. Else goto next step.
• Remove tick from USE AUTOMATIC SETTINGS
• Change Basic Configuration to 0004
• Highlight INTERRUPT REQUEST
• Click CHANGE SETTINGS
• Change IRQ Value to 11
• Click OK, then OK again.
• Click CLOSE and restart PC

When PC restarts, Modem will be on Com 3, but using IRQ 11. The yellow exclamation should be gone from Soundblaster, and sound should work in Windows.

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Some SCSI cards that are being shipped with scanners which are by default set to address base 140, and are causing problems with Apricot BIOS. After fitting the card all appears to be well, but after a few reboots it knocks out the A: drive in the BIOS. This will keep happening until the SCSI address is changed to something else (normally 340).

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On boot up Win95 detects an unknown PCI card. What its actually finding is the USB adapter. Cure this problem by entering BIOS and disable the USB. Save settings and reset.

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If you turn off the 'EnergyStar' energy saver check box in the Settings>Control Panel>Display area the computer suddenly started waking-up again from sleep mode without having to turn it off and then on again

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MS540 APREMOTE

Here's the definitive way to reinstall the desired drivers.

• Using the create system disks utility to create the 2 Logitech Mouse Driver diskettes.
• Using the SYSTEM PROPERTIES --> Device Manager delete the Logitech PS/2 Mouse and remote control.
• Reboot the system and let it reinstall the mouse - selecting a standard PS/2 Mouse instead of the Logitech
• Using ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS uninstall the Logitech mouse support - named "MouseWare"
• Use the FIND ... FILES OR FOLDERS function, search for files APREMOTE.* and delete any Application files
• Reboot the Machine
• Run the installation program off Disk 1 of the Logitech Driver Disks.

On some later machines the Logitech Mouse software isn't in Create System Disks (only the option for the DOS drivers), in which case you need to create the disks for the Easy Manager software, and use them.

MS5200 - Remote Control Not Working

Remote Control not working, and also the Modem (Supra Express 56k) being detected on Com2 instead of Com3, then the problem is in the BIOS.

Go into Start/Settings/Control Panel/System/Device Manager and remove the Modem. Shutdown the computer and enter the BIOS. Go to Advanced / Peripheral Configuration, select Serial Port B, and change the setting to ASK-IR. Save the settings and exit out of the BIOS. The machine should boot back into Windows and detect the Remote Control and the Modem on Com3.

Windows 98 on Apricot MS Series systems with Remote Control

After installation of the Microsoft Windows 98 upgrade on Apricot MS series systems with remote control, the following message will be seen on startup..

Apremote

Remote control hardware failed to initialise. To fix the problem, try restarting your system. If the problem persists, please contact your dealer.

The message is being caused because of a conflict between the remote control driver, and the DirectX audio functionality that is an integral part of Windows 98.

Currently there is no upgrade available to eliminate this problem, although one is being investigated. In the mean time, the only way to prevent the message is to do one of the following….

Run the Easy Manager Configuration utility and Disable Easy Manager Or if the other Easy Manager functions are required (without the use of the remote control unit)…

Run REGEDIT and delete the ApricotRemote key that is found in Hkey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.

Note that if option 2 is used and a change is made to the Easy Manager configuration from the Easy Manager Configuration utility, the registry key will need to be deleted again.

The system will operate without making any changes, but the Apremote message will be seen each time the system starts up.

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Tries to print but gives an error saying can't communicate with printer. On the MS540, go into the BIOS (F1 on startup), and go to the Devices and I/O Ports section, and change the following settings -

Parallel Port - LPT1
Parallel Port Mode - Bi-Directional
Parallel Port IRQ - 7
Parallel Port DMA - 0

On the newer MS 5200 machines you also need to change Parallel Port Setting from PNP to Auto, and the Parallel Port Mode to Bi-Directional.

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The new MS660 machines have an ATI Mach 64 card in them, as well as a DIAMOND MONSTER 3D card.

If you need to reinstall the Display settings, remove the ATI card as normal from Display Adaptors, and the Diamond card (it's under a different section, I think it's called Diamond).

When you reboot the computer it will install the drivers for the ATI card automatically, but will ask for the driver disk for the Diamond card. This is a CD which should have been supplied with the computer (Labelled Diamond Monster CD).

The drivers are in following directory -

E:\INSTALL\DIGVID\MONSTER3D\WIN95

If may also ask for the location of Direct X drivers, these should be in the directory -

E:\INSTALL\DIGVID\WIN95

If the customer installs this device, then it will conflict with the onboard SoundBlaster card. There are 2 solutions, either Delete it from Device Manager (If they don't have a MIDI device or Joystick), or change the IRQ to an available interrupt, ie 9.

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If you want to disable the sensonic alarm on the MS 540, but can't access the software, then run the program C:\APRICOT\SECURITY\SENSONIC\SETUP.EXE. This process recreates a new Sensonic Plus icon in the APRICOT program group. Opening Sensonic Plus creates the Sensonic icon on the Systray. Double click on this icon and entering the password allows you to disable the alarm.

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The MUSIC STAR Keyboard WILL work with WINDOWS 95 but only if a CREATIVE LABS cable is used.

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Fitting a Graphics Card or Sound Card upgrade to Apricot MS Series MMX model MW*****-* "Mustang" Motherboard.

When a new graphics card is fitted to this machine it should automatically override the onboard ATI 3D Rage Pro. In the event that it is not disabled automatically the onboard card can be disabled manually by changing jumper J50 to pins 2-3.

When a new soundcard is fitted, the onboard Crystal Audio device can be disabled by changing jumper J80 to pins 2-3. This frees the Interrupts and DMAs used by the original device.

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When you go into Device Manager, the ATI Rage Pro, and Intel AGP property sheets will show a conflict, though there will be no conflict icons on the Device Manager list. Despite the message this means that the devices are working perfectly, as the ATI Rage Pro is an Intel AGP device.

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When you go into Device Manager, it shows that the ATI Mach64 (Direct Draw)PCI display adapter is conflicting with the ECP Printer Port.

To solve this,

• Enter the BIOS (F1 on boot).
• Select START UP OPTIONS, and disable VIRUS DETECTION.
• Escape to initial screen and select ADVANCED SETUP, enable CACHE CONTROL and DISABLE UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS.
• Escape to initial screen and select DEVICES AND I/O PORTS, select PARALELL PORT (AUTO-CONFIGURED) and change it to 3BC LPT1, BI-DIRECTIONAL, IRQ7, DMA NONE.
• SAVE and EXIT.
• When Windows re-loads go into the DEVICE MANAGER, click on the plus to the left of PORTS COM & LPT.
• Highlight the ECP PRINTER PORT and select PROPERTIES, then RESOURCES.
• Take the tick out of USE AUTOMATIC SETTINGS and select BASIC CONFIGURATION 0004. Apply the change and restart.

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When any form of WAV file is recorded using the supplied microphone the sound level is inadequate on playback no matter how high the various controls are set. This particularly affects the Outgoing Message if the customers record their own message.

The microphone input has no form of amplification in the sound card chips. Therefore the input level will always be too low. The only solution is to use a pre-amplified microphone which must be bought seperately.

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Can the built in 'Voice' modem be used to provide a speakerphone facility? The supplied software does not have this facility. More importantly neither does the modem, despite its description. So the answer is no.

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Maxtor 'Crystal Max' 4GB drives with the product code 84320A8 can be installed on Apricot PCs with the product code MMxxxxx-x or MFxxxxx-x only with the latest version of 'MaxBlast'. MaxBlast is an IDE hard drive installation and upgrade utility and the most up to date version can be downloaded from Seagate's website (Seagate now own Maxtor).

Once the updated version of 'Max*Blast' has been installed, you need to make one further change to the BIOS settings of your PC in order for the drive to operate as a 4GB upgrade. Reboot your PC and follow these instructions:

• Enter the BIOS by pressing F1 when the PC is booting.
• Select the "DEVICES AND I/O PORTS" option.
• Select the "IDE DRIVE SETUP"
• Using the left and right arrow keys, change the "Extended CHS" option to "Standard CHS"
• Press ESC to return to the first menu and choose "SAVE SETTINGS" and press Enter.
• Choose "EXIT SETUP" from the main menu.
• Without this change to the BIOS settings, the drive will only appear as 2GB.

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Installing HP Colorado 4/8Gb HP-T4IDE Tape Drive into Lightning based systems

This document explains the procedure for installing a HP Colorado 4/8Gb HP-T4IDE internal IDE tape drive into an Apricot System with a Lightning motherboard running Windows 95.

Tape Drive & Software Installation

Ensure that the systems BIOS is at least 12.03 or greater for Lightning or 10.06 or greater for Spitfire. If the BIOS is lower than 12.03 or 10.06, then upgrade to the latest version before moving onto the next stage.

Connect the Tape Drive as a Slave or Master on the Secondary IDE Controller. Slave if CDROM is fitted, Master if no CDROM is fitted.

When the Tape Drive is connected to the system, start the computer. During Windows 95 startup, an "Unknown Device" will be detected. At this point, click on "Cancel" to abort searching for drivers.

Insert the Colorado Backup CD and install the software. After the software is installed, restart the computer.

During Windows 95 startup, the device "HP-T4IDE" will be detected. In "Device Manager" remove the device:- "Shuttle EPAT External ATAPI Adapter" and restart the computer to complete the procedure.

Recovery Disks Creation

Before attempting to create the Recovery Disks, you need to create the "Colorado Backup for DOS" diskette. This is because the "DOS Real Mode" ATAPI driver needs to be installed onto the Recovery Disks.

Create the "Colorado Backup for DOS" diskette, from the Colorado Backup CD. When you attempt to create the Recovery Disks, you will be prompted for the location of the "Real Mode driver". At this point, insert the "Colorado Backup for DOS" disk, and type A:\ASPI4RAP.SYS and click OK.

You should now be able to complete the disk creation process (creating two recovery disks).

Recovery Disks Creation problems

If you get an error message "An error occurred while attempting to copy file" when trying to create the Recovery Disks, then you need to install Colorado Backup Version 3.21 to cure the problem.

'Illegal Operation' Error When Running Colorado Backup v3.21

After you have installed a HP Colorado 4/8Gb Internal IDE tape drive into a Lightning based system (model prefix MV), when you run Colorado Backup v3.21, it crashes with an 'Illegal Operation' Error message.

This problem is caused by out of date PIIX Bus Master IDE drivers being installed on the computer. To cure the problem you need to de-install the out of date drivers, then install the latest Intel 82371xB INF drivers.

To create an updated driver disk you need to extract the files from within PCIBRDGE.EXE, and to put them on a blank floppy disk.

To De-Install the current PIIX Bus Master IDE Drivers, do the following,

• Start Windows Explorer, and locate the folder c:\apricot\intel\busmastr.
• Run the program SETUP.EXE from within the BUSMASTR folder.
• Click on NEXT, then close down the License read-me file.
• Click on YES to agree to the license agreement terms.
• Now click on DE-INSTALL to de-install the current drivers.
• Follow the prompts then the computer will restart.
• At "Update Device Driver Wizard", click on NEXT, then FINISH, then YES to restart the computer.

This completes the de-installation of the old PIIX Bus Master drivers. Now that the old PIIX Bus Master Driver has been removed, you can install the latest Intel 82371xB INF Drivers. To perform this task, do the following,

• Insert the new driver disk into the floppy drive.
• Click on START, then RUN.
• Now type A:\SETUP.EXE and press return.
• Click on NEXT.
• Click on YES to accept the license agreement terms.
• Click on NEXT.
• Click on OK to restart the computer and remove the floppy disk.
• When the prompt appears to search for the updated "Intel 82371AB/EB PCI Bus Master IDE Controller" driver, click on NEXT, then FINISH
• When all the devices are found, restart the computer again to complete the process.
• Colorado Backup should now work ok.

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