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IBM 5150 resurrection

J

JDT

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Joined
Feb 17, 2007
Messages
564
Location
Cicero, NY
Ok, I had convinced myself maybe perhaps my 5150 might not be completely dead... this is what I have to work with..

http://www.jdthiele.com/personal/5150a.jpg
http://www.jdthiele.com/personal/5150b.jpg
http://www.jdthiele.com/personal/5150c.jpg

that is ALL I have to work with =/ The other parts were missing, and I don't remember ever messing with the thing /shrug.
I have an PS/2 to AT keyboard adaptor as the original keyboard is missing, I have an 8-bit vid card and amber monitor (my green one is missing! damnit I loved that monitor) I gets no video


It powers up! And gives a 1, 1 2 beep. or short, short long. Any ideas? Prayers or organ donations? haha
 
First, the basics. Make sure the keyboard type is correct. An AT keyboard generally will not work on a PC or XT because there are two different protocols. You need to find a keyboard for the PC or XT for use on a 5150, or a newer keyboard that can switch (or autoswitch) between PC ant AT modes.

Second, do you have the technical reference or a guide to operations? Those are invaluable for debugging.
 
Anonymous Coward said:
Hey that's interesting. There is an 8088-2 in the CPU socket. I wonder if somebody was trying to overclock this system.
Click to expand...


Whatever is in it now, was in it when I baught it so many years ago, this was my first machine. It ran at 4.77 MHz IIRC
 
mbbrutman said:
Second, do you have the technical reference or a guide to operations? Those are invaluable for debugging.
Click to expand...

Do you happen to know of one in digital form available via your friendly local internet? Thanks for the info about the keyboard.. I'll have to find one.
 
JDT said:
Do you happen to know of one in digital form available via your friendly local internet? Thanks for the info about the keyboard.. I'll have to find one.
Click to expand...

i would do a quick ebay search for "xt keyboard" - they're generally not very expensive if you get a nice used one.
 
The Guide To Operations won't help you here. You need the Hardware Maintenance and Service manual

The 'beep code' you described is not listed. Here is what you can choose from:

Continuous beep - Power problem
Repeating short beeps - Power
1 long and 2 short - Display
2 Short beeps, no display - Display

You have to have a display adapter in the machine. Your pics above don't show a display adapter, or it just beeps at you.


Mike
 
Hardware wise, it looks like you will be needing a floppy controller card and cable, as well as a working 360kB floppy drive. You'll also need a graphics card for your monochrome monitor (get a Hercules if you can!), and finally a keyboard. You can find all of these on eBay :)

The card in the machine looks like an AST SixPakPlus, it added a memory expansion to bring the up the memory from 256kB to 640kB, a RTC and probably serial/parallel ports.

I also notice you appear to have the original 63W PSU. This wasn't quite powerful enough to run a hard drive, although I've been running my 5150 with the 63W PSU and a SCSI hard card with no problems.
 
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I'm going to start looking out for 8-bit cards for your machine at the shop. You never know what will come in. I looked through my cards and, drat, don't have any 8-bitters. Only 16. The pickin's are slim in these parts.
 
http://search.ebay.com/220091087857 IBM Monochrome display adaptor
http://search.ebay.com/120096822642 Another IBM Monochrome display adaptor
http://search.ebay.com/140096060303 This is the "Enhanced" keyboard which was optional on the XT, but will work with a 5150 :)
http://search.ebay.com/110100665223 ST-225 hard drive (but will need a change of PSU)
http://search.ebay.com/200088484285 Floppy controller - not original IBM but it will work

Edit: or here you go, a 20MB hard card! http://search.ebay.com/190091847867
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So besides the XT/AT keyboard issue, and missing other bits, you should be able to get something up on the screen.
You say, "I have an 8-bit vid card", and that's presumably what you plugged your "amber" VDU into.

What about the 1-1-2 beep pattern:

From the listing of the third revision 5150 BIOS (10/27/82, IBM part number 1501476), the POST tests are (in order):

8088 PROCESSOR TEST (on failure, halt CPU)
ROS CHECKSUM TEST I (on failure, halt CPU)
8237 DMA INITIALISATION (on failure, halt CPU)
BASE 16K RAM TEST (on failure, halt CPU)
8259 INITIALISATION
8259 TEST (on fail, beep 1 long then 1 short)
8253 TIMER CHECKOUT (on fail, beep 1 long then 1 short)
INITIALISE/START VIDEO CONTROLLER (on fail, beep 1 long then 2 short)
EXPANSION I/O BOX TEST: (on fail, display 1801 error)
ADDITIONAL RAM TEST (on fail, display a 201 error followed by failing address followed by bit error pattern)
etc.
etc.

And in case you have one of the two earlier BIOS revisions, I don't think they would have differed as to the beeps.
As Mike stated, it can't be the motherboard BIOS doing the beeping.

And so I'm thinking that you have the third revision 5150 BIOS (the one that runs BIOS extentions), and that the BIOS extention on your "8-bit vid card" is doing the beeping. If so, that must be an EGA or VGA video card, presumably EGA because you were able to physically connect your "amber" VDU to it.

Is that 1-1-2 beeping happening with the video card out?

If you are unsure as to your video card type (mono/CGA/EGA/VGA), I think we need to identify it before you damage your "amber" VDU. How about a picture (part number, etc).

Looking at your pictures, all switches on SW1 are off. Refer to http://www.selectric.org/ibmpc/switches.jpg I suspect that your video card will turn out to be EGA and that accordingly, SW1-5 and SW1-6 will need to be turned on. If that's the case, you'll need an EGA monitor unless the video card can drive a mono VDU (via jumpers or switches). Alternatively you'll be hunting for a monochrome video card to drive your "amber" VDU.

Get us a picture of that "8-bit vid card".
 
Have you checked the dip switch settings?

Remove the AST expansion card, put in your monochrome video card and try the following:

Switch 1:
1-ON
2-OFF
3-OFF
4-OFF
5-OFF
6-OFF
7-ON
8-ON

Switch 2:
1-ON
2-OFF
3-OFF
4-ON
5-ON
6-OFF
7-OFF
8-OFF

That is set up with 256kB memory, monochrome display, co-processor one floppy drive, and won't boot from floppy on startup.

Fingers crossed it will boot to a BASIC prompt :)

You may get floppy drive and keyboard errors, but it will boot.
 
Ahh, Modem7 replied when I was typing :)

As he says, check the card you have. I had assumed it was a straight monochrome card, but it might not be. Post some photos of it.
 
Ok, I found another video card. A Foxconn DV11206, oddly enough, I found this card two days ago while cleaning out someones old house. And, unlike the mono card and monitor I had, This time it worked and displayed "Parity Check 1". And thats using the switch selection settings that dongfeng listed.
 
modem7 said:
So besides the XT/AT keyboard issue, and missing other bits, you should be able to get something up on the screen.
You say, "I have an 8-bit vid card", and that's presumably what you plugged your "amber" VDU into.

What about the 1-1-2 beep pattern:
Click to expand...

Actually, I appologize, the beep code is.

Long Short Short
 
Sorry for the super multi-posting. But I changed the RAM setting to 16K, as per the switch settings in the .jpg image listed above and it booted in to BASIC.. sweet... ...now to find out why it doesnt like that RAM, might I need to remove and clean all the chips?
 
I think the 3004-201 error is pointing to faulty RAM. 201 would be the location of the faulty RAM, but I don't know how to decypher it. Parity Check 1 also ties in with the faulty memory.

301 means your keyboard is missing :)
 
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