Packard Bell Pulsar 16-35 - Master CD

On the desktop there is an icon called "Click Me". If you click on this and choose the "Save Info to Boot Floppy" option, it will save a lot of important information to the Master CD floppy disk. This will cure a lot of problems you may get running the Master CD, ie Disk Dur Protege errors, wrong version of Master CD.

If the icon is missing, then Click on Start, then Run. In the Run box type in
C:\WINDOWS\CLICKME, and then click OK.

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According to Packard Bell, this represents a bug in the BIOS. Try editing the Config.sys file on the Boot Diskette. Look for the EMM386 line, and change it so that it reads,

DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS X=E000-EFFF

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When trying to start a Packard Bell Pulsar using the Master CD floppy disk, the machine stops at the "OS Load in Progress" screen.

It has been proved that, when the user has entered their OEM details on first use, the PC is writing the details back to the floppy correctly but it is also removing the system files from the floppy disk.

If you get the machine to a C:\> prompt, then transfer the system files back to the floppy disk, by entering, SYS A: and pressing Enter.

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After running the Master CD, when rebooting the machine, you get the message "Insert Bootable Media". This is because the Master CD has altered the boot options in the BIOS. To cure this, go into the BIOS Setup (F1 when the machine starts up), and go into the section "Boot Options". Make sure the first boot option is set as the Floppy Disk, and the second boot option is set as the Hard Disk Drive. Press F10 to save and exit, and the machine should boot up with no problems.

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If you get the above message, or the Master CD keeps looping back to the menu after it has restarted the computer for the first time, the most likely reason is that it cannot detect the hard disk drive.

The first thing you need to do is restart the computer and go into the Setup program (F2 when you get the Enter Setup message), and check to see what the "Primary IDE Master is set to. If it is set to Uninstalled, then highlight it and press Enter. Make sure that the first line is set to "Auto Detect". Press F10 and the Enter.

If you still get the same problem, then drop to a DOS prompt (press CTRL+C at the menu) and run FDISK. Remove any partitions that it finds, and then try running the Master CD again. If you still get the same problem, or FDISK returns an error message, then the problem is a faulty Hard Disk Drive, and it's time to call an engineer.

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If when you run the Master CD it tries to install hardware that didn't come with the machines, ie extra modem, radio card, or Intel Videophone, you need to go into the BIOS (F2 on startup). Go to the Advanced section and Peripheral Configuration. You'll probably find that the Serial Ports are set to AUTO. What you need to do is change them back to Enabled, with the following settings,

Then press F10 to save and exit. Run the Master CD again, and all should be fine.

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To display current DOS commands that are being carried out during the automatic restore process on Pulsar machines - boot the Machine into safe mode comand prompt, run the program CDINST.EXE from the a:\ prompt, then change to the Q: (CD) drive, change directory to Win95 and then type in the line

oemsetup /2 /SHOW

This will display what goes on and might give you an idea if you think problems are occurring.

To get rid of the picture permanently, edit the autoexec.bat file on the Master CD floppy disk. Look for the line
runmcd /PCDR:A and add /NOGraph or /SHOW to the end.

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Every time the machine starts with the Master CD it brings up the message "Invalid Master CD". Go into the BIOS. Go to Advanced , Advanced Chipset Management , and make sure that base memory is set to 640k.

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After running the Master CD, when restarting the machine, it either leaves you at a C:\FACTONLY prompt, or you get the message "DISK DUR PROTEGE".

To rectify this problem, restart the computer, and press F8 at the "Starting Windows 95" message. Choose the option for "Safe Mode Command Prompt Only", this should leave you at a C:\ prompt. Then you need to type the following commands (press enter after each one),

• DEL PROCESS.BAT
• CD FACTONLY
• DEL FAIL.EXE
• DEL SAFE.EXE

Then restart the computer.

The machine should then carry on into Windows. If when it has finished, you find that none of the Packard Bell software is on the machine, then the hidden sector has become corrupted on the Hard Disk. You need to get in touch with Packard Bell for a new Master CD floppy disk.

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If the master CD has been stuck on "copying files" for several hours/days/weeks during a remaster and no lights are on except the power light DON'T restart the machine.

The recovery program is a DOS program, if it hangs whilst extracting information from the CD the machine will give an error message followed by Abort,Retry,Fail - The problem is that this message cannot usually be seen because of PB's "house on the prairie" picture.

Try pressing R (for retry) on the keyboard and see if the lights on the base unit come back on. Usually the machine will carry on. However, if the lights go out again after a couple of seconds press R again.

If after 2 or 3 goes the process still hasn't continued - press A and the computer will move on the the next line in the copying process and carry on.

Sometimes this can also occur if the floppy disk is not Write Protected.

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After running the Master CD, when you Restart the computer, you get the message "Starting Windows for the first time". Next it comes up with the error "Windows Protection Error", and you cannot get past that point. The solution, is to go into the BIOS and change "Reset Configuration Data" to Yes and also clear DMI Event Logging. The machine should then restart into Safe Mode, simply Shutdown and Restart the computer, and it should carry on with no problem.

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