From: MLONG@isucard.card.iastate.edu
Subject: Re: Zenith Supersport286e and IBM compatibility
Organization: CARD
Date: Wed, 8 Apr 1992 00:21:50 GMT

In article <1992Apr7.213457.11343@talon.ucs.orst.edu>                                                                                                 
mcdolek@OES.ORST.EDU (Kim McDole) writes:                                                                                                             
                                                                                                                                                      
>                                                                                                                                                     
>I was trying to help a co-worker with her Zenith Supersport286e laptop using                                                                         
>DOS 3.3.  She is saving files in WordPerfect 5.1 to her 3.5 A: drive so                                                                              
>she can transfer them to her IBM 50Z w/ DOS 5.0.  Occasionally, she will                                                                             
>work on a file and save it to the disk but when she tries to retrieve it,                                                                            
>on the IBM, it gives a disk error 23.  The file is not even readable on the                                                                          
>Zenith.  I have to use Norton Diskfix to recover the corrupted file.  We only                                                                        
>use high density disks so that is not a problem.  I ran diagnostics on both                                                                          
>diskdrives and found no errors.  This problem happens randomly, and I am not                                                                         
>able to recreate it.                                                                                                                                 
>                                                                                                                                                     
>I heard that Zenith and IBM are not very compatible.  But this problem only                                                                          
>started recently.  Is this true, or just a rumor?  Is the differences in                                                                             
>OS versions a possible problem? I appreciate any comments or suggestions.                                                                            
>                                                                                                                                                     
>-Mac                                                                                                                                                 
>                                                                                                                                                     
>                                                                                                                                                     
>--                                                                                                                                                   
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------------                                                                        
>K. E. McDole          	 		  Phone: (503) 737-4177                                                                                                    
>Computer Helpdesk                                                                                                                                    
>Extension Computer Tech Unit        	                                                                                                                
>                                                                                                                                                     
Do you have a Z-BOX expansion box hooked to it?  We have two Zenith Super Sport                                                                       
286's with the Z-BOX with an IBM Toke Ring card in them.  We have a similar                                                                           
problem with our Zenith's also.  When we write a file to the floppy drive,                                                                            
and it is a file over 50k in size, the Zenith likes to write garbage into                                                                             
the files.  Not much garbage, just a byte here and there, but who is counting                                                                         
anyways.  I am thoughly disgusted with trying to make these computers                                                                                 
operate properly while writing to the floppy.  I have tried Zenith DOS 3.3,                                                                           
4.01, 5.0, IBM LAN support program 1.02, 1.1, 1.11, 1.12, 1.20, 1.21, 1.25.                                                                           
I have tried all combiations of interupt settings for the T-R card, all                                                                               
combinations of shared ROM adress's, all combinations of shared RAM address's.                                                                        
I have tried old and new design Z-BOX's, I have tried putting scotch tape on                                                                          
the bus connector for Interupt 6, I have tried the IBM TR card, the IBM 16/4                                                                          
TR card.  These computers just don't like to write to the floppy.                                                                                     
                                                                                                                                                      
Zenith has promised to replace our 286 SS with two 286 SSe's.  They said this                                                                         
would fix our problem.  I hope it does, but your post does not give me much                                                                           
encouragement.                                                                                                                                        
Zenith has also dragged its feet on getting these replacement machines to                                                                             
us, like maybe 3-4 months and we still don't have replacements.                                                                                       
                                                                                                                                                      
These Zenith SS 286's work ok otherwise, except they have both had a fixed                                                                            
disk replaced, one under warranty, the other not under warranty.                                                                                      
                                                                                                                                                      
Good luck with your Zenith                                                                                                                            
Mike Long                                                                                                                                             
Since this is a negative post, standard disclamer. This is not the views                                                                              
of my employer, Iowa State University, but is my private opinion.