Hello, Wayne.  I overheard you talking to Roy about - -

 WC> Likely corrosion I missed on cleaning as Matt suggested the
 WC> blasted bottom of the top contact is tough to get to but I've
 WC> made a tool with some extreamly fine sandpaper and shall slip that
 WC> between the cell and upper contact

I can't say that I've ever seen much corrosion around holders for those
coin-shaped lithium cells.  I have seen a few times that top contact of
the holder gets bent upward while taking out the old cell, and then
doesn't touch the cell. While checking, you might take a good look at
the bottom contact also, as those can usually be bent up a bit to
increase the 'spring' pressure against the cell.  That's one good thing
about having a small multi-meter - can check voltage on the pins at
bottom of the mainboard, and make sure that the juice is getting
through.


 WC> I've got the money for a hard drive now but will wait a month
 WC> and purchase a 56K hardware external modem as well.

 WC> A project scheduled for way down the road is to attempt to
 WC> remove the fast UART from the crapped out 486 and replace the 8250
 WC> UART in it but that is stretching my current abilities, something
 WC> a few years ago I'd have tackled in a heartbeat.

You say your 486 had a fast UART and the Pentium only has an 8250?  I'm
surprised.  I think before I tried doing a UART chip-swap (if I could
even _find_ a separate UART chip), I'd consider looking for a serial
card with 16550 UART(s), and disabling the mainboard Serial ports.  In
any event, if what the Pentium board has is only 8250 or
compatible/emulated, I think no need to hurry to buy an external 56K
serial modem, as TBOMK the 8250 won't support that speed.  Corrections
welcomed, if I'm wrong.

Good luck - - -  JimH.



... Hardware Hacker wanted.  Must be very creative and have own grubbin' hoe.
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