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Schneider EuroPC PSU??

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Dr.Valkyer

New Member
Joined
Jun 2, 2006
Messages
7
Hi!

I found an old Schneider EuroPC IBM-PC Clone but it's missing a power supply. It's seems that it takes a 5v + 12v DC but does someone have the schematics for this ?
 
After a bit of Google Group search, I came across this pin-out:

Code: 
           v 
  +12V  o     o  ON 
  +5V  o       o  -12V 
   +5V  o     o  GND 
           o  GND

I don't know how accurate it is, and whether all pins need to be connected. No idea what the ON signal equates in traditional power supplies. This is a 8088 class machine by the way?
 
Thanks for the information!!

Hmm, that looks like the possible pinout. So then an ordinary AT/ATX power supply with a mild modification could be used to power up the system?

Yes, it's right! It's an 8088 system with a apparently selectable 4.77 / 7.15 / 9.54 mhz clockrate. It has also a 3.5 floppy drive(720kb), CGA/Hercules output, External HD port and an one ISA expansion slot.

This system is a total stranger for me and I got it for free couple of days ago. The system it self is in good condition, only minor injuries like leaked battery!

I hope that the pinout works! :p Any additional information would be very nice, for example what kind of an external hard drive this computer used?
 
The pins on the pinout were not numbered, so you'll have to guess if the pinout is to be seen from the computer side or from the connector side. Tough to guess.

If you speak German, you could have some luck mainly browsing through Usenet groups. Go to http://groups.google.com and search for schneider europc. Most messages may be old buy/sell or nostalgia, but a few seem to contain some bits of information. I found a few messages in Italian too. Babelfish may give you some rough help there.

From what I understand, the hard disk interface is a 44 pin connector, consisting of a 40 pin IDE-XT plus four pins for power supply to the hard disk. Therefore, most 20, 30, 40 MB IDE disks might work, but you'd have to figure out the pinout for that one too.
 
carlsson said:
The pins on the pinout were not numbered, so you'll have to guess if the pinout is to be seen from the computer side or from the connector side. Tough to guess.
Click to expand...
You should be able to do the determination if you have a multimeter. Being labelled 'GND', the two GND pins in the computer socket should be connected to the 'ground' that runs through the computer. I would also expect the metal where the ISA slot is exposed to the outside world to be tied to ground.

Therefore:
1. Put multimeter into resistance mode.
2. Place one probe (either one) on the metal of the ISA slot.
3. Place second probe on the bottom pin (the bottom GND). You should see zero (or close to) zero ohms.
4. Move second probe to each of the pins adjacent to the bottom GND. Whichever reads zero (or close to) zero ohms is your second GND pin.
 
modem7 said:
You should be able to do the determination if you have a multimeter. Being labelled 'GND', the two GND pins in the computer socket should be connected to the 'ground' that runs through the computer.
Click to expand...
I'm glad you pointed this out. I was about to. You assume some level of expertise, and sometimes forget that not everyone has that. Depending on the internal connections, you can also verify where the +5 and +12 are going pretty easily too. See http://pinouts.ru/Power/SmallPower_pinout.shtml for reference.
 
kb2syd said:
You assume some level of expertise, and sometimes forget that not everyone has that.
Click to expand...
A lot of the answers on this forum are not understandable/usable by everyone.
I provided Dr. Valkyer with a method to determine the pinout orientation. If he/she can use it, good. If not, oh well!
 
By you I meant the collective 'you' as in the more technical contributors. I was complimenting your response, not criticising it. Sorry if it came off that way.
 
Oh! I was looking forward to appending the following disclaimer to all my future posts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER

The author of this post in no way whatsoever, either express or implied,
warrants the information contained therein to be comprehensible and/or
useable by all of the readership at this forum.

You assume full responsibility and risk of loss resulting from the use
of said information. Well, that is of course if you can comprehend and/or
use said information.

The said information is an expression of the author's opinions and beliefs.
The quality of such expression is influenced by various factors, including,
but not limited to:
ability of computer to autocorrect spelling mistakes;
alcohol intoxication level;
whether or not the stupid next door neighbour is playing AC/DC at 300 decibels.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
modem7 said:
You should be able to do the determination if you have a multimeter. Being labelled 'GND', the two GND pins in the computer socket should be connected to the 'ground' that runs through the computer. I would also expect the metal where the ISA slot is exposed to the outside world to be tied to ground.
Click to expand...

I tried the method provided modem7 and it worked. It seems like the pinout is from "PSU side". Thanks for the advice!! Now I try to make a proper wires to the EuroPC from ATX power supply. What about the ON signal can I use some specific line from ATX PSU for that? And what about the leaked battery, is the battery needed (will the system work without the battery)?

But anyway thanks a lot!!
 
It's sure to be the same as the 'power good/OK' signal out of a PC/XT/AT power supply, i.e. informing the computer that the various output voltages are good/stabilised.
That website that kb2syd supplied has details.

If you use an ATX type PSU, note that you will also need to connect a switch between the PSU's 'PS_ON' and 'GRN' lines so that you can turn the PSU on/off.
 
modem7 said:
If you use an ATX type PSU, note that you will also need to connect a switch between the PSU's 'PS_ON' and 'GRN' lines so that you can turn the PSU on/off.
Click to expand...
Forgot to mention: That switch is not switching 115/240VAC, and is not passing great current. And so a little toggle switch will be fine.
 
Ok, thanks man!! :D I shall try to build the PSU at this week. Hopely I will able to test the system then.
 
Battery

Battery

Dr.Valkyer said:
And what about the leaked battery, is the battery needed (will the system work without the battery)?
Click to expand...
Because your machine is an 8088 clone, that suggests that the battery is needed only to keep the real-time clock going.
 
Project update...

Project update...

I finaly built the ATX mod for the EuroPC PSU and it's almost working :) !!
I built the switch from the PowerON to GND and it's seems to work, PSU starts like it should be. The EuroPC takes the power nicely and red keyboard light turns on. Couple of seconds later the the systems starts to make an owful alarm sound (tiiiiiiit tit-tit-tit ...) from the PCSpeaker. Atleast the pinout should be in right way because CAPSLock and NUMLock (lights and keys)works!! I dont have a CGA monitor / adapter (trying to get one) at the moment so I cant test whether the system gives picture or not (and possible what error message BIOS is trying to tell me).

Of course I am not sure about the original condition of this system. It might be that it was broken already when I got it (it was untested). But there is an one thing which is strange, and I am talking about the computer's own power switch. It's working strangely because it doesn't power on / off system! If it's on the OFF position the system will still power up when I press the ATX(mod) switch. When I press the EuroPC power switch it just reboots the computer (wont turn it off). Would it be possible that the ON pin on EuroPC would mean the same thing as the PowerON on ATX, or what is this? :) I dont think that Schneider made useless power buttons.
 
Pictures ...

Pictures ...

Some pictures from the project (see the amount of Blu-Tack to silence the PCSpeaker :) )



 
Dr.Valkyer said:
But there is an one thing which is strange, and I am talking about the computer's own power switch. It's working strangely because it doesn't power on / off system! If it's on the OFF position the system will still power up when I press the ATX(mod) switch. When I press the EuroPC power switch it just reboots the computer (wont turn it off). Would it be possible that the ON pin on EuroPC would mean the same thing as the PowerON on ATX, or what is this? :) I dont think that Schneider made useless power buttons.
Click to expand...
Okay. Your computer has a power off/on switch. That's new information. Yes, Schneider would not make useless power buttons. And so with that information, the ON pin is most likely a mechanism to signal the power supply to turn on.
And because with the PSU off, the computer has no power, that power switch is probably just connecting the ON pin to 'ground' when in the on position. You can test that theory with a ohmmeter. And so try it - run the ATX PSU's 'powerOn' line to the Schneider's ON pin.

Re the 'alarm' sound. Hopefully that's just the system telling you that the CMOS setup information is gone (due to a dead battery).
 
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