Epson 20, 386 9 Loading MS-DOS, Mon, Enter, Enter, Enter new date (mm-dd-yy)

(For more instructions on inserting, removing, and caring for diskettes, see Chapter 4.)

You can turn on your computer with or without the MS-DOS Startup diskette in the drive. With the Startup diskette in the top drive (A) as it is now, the computer loads MS-DOS from that drive. (If the drive is empty, the screen displays a message prompting you to insert a system disk.)

4.To turn on the power, flip up the switch on the right side of the computer, toward the back. The power light on the computer’s front panel lights up. After a few seconds, the computer starts to perform an internal self test.

If you cannot see the screen display clearly, use the controls on your monitor to adjust the brightness and contrast until characters on the screen are clear and bright. If the display is not stable, check your monitor’s horizontal and vertical hold controls.

9 Loading MS-DOS

After the computer completes its self test, it displays how much RAM (random access memory) is available and then loads MS-DOS, the operating system. You see a prompt similar to this:

Current date is Mon 02-13-89

Enter new date (mm-dd-yy)

You do not need to enter the date because you will soon be entering the correct date and time when you run the Setup program in Chapter 2. Press Enter to accept the displayed date.

The screen displays the time prompt next:

Current time is 16:21:15

Enter new time

Press Enter to accept the displayed time.

You then see the MS-DOS version number and copyright information, followed by the MS-DOS command prompt:

A >

1-14Setting Up Your System