On 22 Apr 98 at 22:57, Mitchell Green wrote:

>   I have a Sensor SP-386 SX by Samsung with Phoenix 80386 BIOS
> Plus Version 1.10 00K. The problem that I'am having is that I've
> been unsuccessful at getting into CMOS despite using suggested
> approach in my book "Upgrading & Repairing PCs" of pressing
> <ctl><alt><esc> or <ctl><alt><s> at the cmd line. If you could help
> me with any other suggestions as to accessing the CMOS for this
> particular PC it would be greatly appreciated.

  Getting into the CMOS setup on modern machines is pretty simple,
but this feature was only introduced with the AT and wasn't really
standardized on 386s.
  One possibility is that you could need a special diskette to get
into this setup.  I've seen one for Phoenix BIOSes in a local
surplus/retro technology store within the last two years, so it might
not be impossible to find them now.
  The other possibility is that the CMOS setup code is in ROM.  If
this is the case, but you can't find a keystroke that will get you
in, then here's a handy trick:
  Remove one or two of your SIMMs.  At boot, the system will detect
that the amount of installed RAM doesn't match what's stored in CMOS,
and will take you into (or give you a way into) the CMOS setup "to
correct the error".  Once in, of course, you can do whatever it was
you really wanted to do, and save it, then power off and reinstall
your memory.  You'll get a size mismatch again, but you can just save
the settings this time, with both your changes and the right amount
of memory.

David G