No Path

[bduff509]

My son was given an old Magnavox 386 SX16 with MS-DOS V6.22. It starts in dos & goes no farther. I typed in "path" at the C prompt but get "no path". Anyone have any ideas? Thanks.
It also won't accept correct date & time. It doesn't seem to be able to get past the Y2k thing.
Other info on screen: Phillips ROM BIOS Ver. 2.71
System Memory:
Total Base Shadow Extended Expanded
5120 640 128 4096 256 k

Clock: Turbo 16 Mhz

[Nuclear Krusader]

What exactly did you type?

path alone does nothing.

You must type something like this: path c:\DOS.

[GaryRouth]

Might be quite a project ahead. If the box isn't currently in working condition, finding DOS drivers around could prove time-consuming. If your son is a bit of a DOS enthusiast/hobbyist, no problem.

But I'm wondering if it's just fine. You say "it starts in DOS and goes no further". True, DOS doesn't go further, unless it's told to. If no menu or special shell has been setup, all that shows at startup is C:

I figure you probably know that, though. Do you get a C: prompt? Does the dir command work & show you the files on the hard drive?

Besides, be happy that you're seeing any display at all: troubleshooting display problems in DOS is no picnic.

When you are entering the date and time, are you using two or four digits for the year? Theoretically, DOS 6.22 was "mostly year 2000 compliant with minor issues" (to quote a link to a page long since removed from the Microsoft site - which has discontinued support (I think) for DOS.

Best of luck
. . . Gary

[you might enjoy some of the DOS info and resources at this website . . . http://www.undercoverdesign.com/dosghost/dos/dos_vers.asp#updates ]

[bduff509]

Nuke & Gary,
The typing of "path" was something I got elsewhere on the site. I don't recall where. I have an old Win3.1 users guide that said to type "win" & press enter to start windows from dos on the chance that it was running 3.1, given it's age. I got a "bad command or file name". I tryed the C:\pathC:\DOS & got a "bad comm." again. Also tryed C:\DOS, same thing. I just tryed "dir" & got "volume in drive C has no label. volume serial number is 3337-10D9. Directory of C:\ COMMAND COM 54,645 05-31-94 6:22A
1 file(s) 54,645 bytes 42,293,248 bytes free. That's all that I've found so far.
Thanks for the replies,
Brian.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Hmm, have you tried reinstalling DOS?

[EzyStvy]

The hard drive only has the one files on it. Command.com will make the drive bootable... You'll need to install DOS on it..


And yes, typing "path" on any Windows OS will revel the current path statement.