Jan Lambert wrote:
> Ok, i'm a sucker for lively debate:)
> Try the ZD correction.
>  I have two 486's, different motherboards but both have Award 4.50
> Bioses, and suprizingly, they both behave the same.
> 1. Reset and go to BIOS setup. Change date to 2000. Reboot. DOS
> reports the date as 2094, which is slightly in error.
> 2. Use DOS date command to set the date to mm-dd-00. Can't do
> that. 00 is the code that indicates that the date has not been
> set.
> 3. Sneek up on it; Use DOS to set date to 12-31-99, time to
> 23:59:50 and wait for it to roll over to 2000. Yahoo! Do not
> reboot until 2001. This may be a problem if you are running
> Windows. Date after reboot is 1994.
> So much for the wizzes that write for PC Mag.
> 4. Ignore the problem. In 2001 it will be gone.
> Don't forget to check the leap year problem. 2000 is a leap year.
> By the way, if the RTC manufacturers had followed IBM's lead, this
> problem would be the Y2050 problem, and we wouldn't care.
> jan lambert

That's interesting. I haven't tried the ZD method yet but
plan to when I get my older computer running again.
I also have a TSR (resident) program to fix the problem in
case the ZD method doesn't work. I got that TSR program,
(Year2000.com) from   http://www.rightime.com/
long ago and it was a free, identical copy of and fully
functional version of the license version, Y2KPCPro. Free for
evaluation by business and free for use by non-business users.
Y2KPCPro now costs $19.95 for download or more for a hard
copy in the mail. The free evaluation copy is no longer
available there.

As for your Award 4.50 bios, I found some info at the rightime
website;
     Award v4.50G and Award v4.51PG BIOS information:

     If you have a machine that uses the Award v4.50 series
     BIOS (most commonly v4.50G), you might find that the
     BIOS (and therefore the CMOS RTC) will not accept any
     dates after 1999 nor prior to 1994.  Also, the Award
     v4.51PG BIOS apparently yields year 2096 under some
     circumstances.  Award tells us that you should be able
     to get a BIOS upgrade from the OEM (the machine or
     motherboard's supplier or manufacturer).  If you are
     unable to determine the OEM or can't contact them, get
     the BIOS part number from the top of the CMOS Setup
     screen and contact Award directly.

          Award Software International Inc.
          777 East Middlefield Road
          Mountain View, CA 94043-4023 USA
          +1 650 237 6800 (voice)
          +1 650 968 0274 (fax)
          [log in to unmask]
          http://www.award.com

I hope this info will help you.
As for the rest of us, I am hoping that the companies that
have y2k fixer tsr's will give them away as the new year
approaches. But there will be free copies flying all over the
internet anyway, if one knows how to search for them.
Happy New Year
Larry Hooper

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