>An old 486 system I have recently started leaving messages when booting
>up.  It stated "HDD Controller Error, press F1 to resume".  Hitting F1
>worked a few times and I was able to get into the system but eventually,


I still have an old 486 that gives me this message every now and then.
Check your IDE cable...re-seating it usually solves the problem for me.


>Very annoying, isn't it?  Several possible problems will cause this
>cryptic error message.  Here's a short list.  Heat.  Amazingly some
>486 cpus ran fine with non-working cpu fans, but my ide controllers

I know some people use to run a fan on a 486DX2 66 but they were never
required. In fact the vast majority of 486 Chips did not require a fan. I
have run everything up to a Intel  DX4100 Overdrive with nothing more then
the heat sink that came with it. I am currently using a Kingston 586-133
which was the fastest 486 chip made and it has it's own on board fan

Mark Rode
The NOSPIN Group

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