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Supersport hard drive?

M

Mike Chambers

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 2, 2006
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well i got my supersport's monitor connection header repaired (ghetto-style, wired some jumps to where the 3 broken pins connect on the PCB and spliced em right into the monitor's cable but it works perfectly) but now i have another problem. the hard drive in it has been getting flaky for a little while now, and finally it just won't boot.

it spins up and wants to boot it seems but then it clicks after spinning up, and then just spins back downs and remains off. any clues on anything i can do, or is it toast? luckily, i tested out the drive image over FTP backup software i'm writing on it last time i had it booted up since i did have some important code saved on the thing so the data on it isn't an issue.

for a while i was able to get it to boot by holding the laptop sideways until it loaded DOS then it remained on after that. that trick doesn't work anymore. if i have to get a new drive, what am i looking for? it's a connector that i haven't seen on any other machines of course since this is the only 8088-class laptop i've ever had or been inside of. not sure what the interface would be called when i'm looking for a new drive.

any advice on maybe repairing it?? i would think a compatible drive would be hell to find these days. :eek:
 
i don't know if this may have caused a problem, but since i don't have a real supersport AC-DC adapter, i've always been using a 18.5 VDC power source for it even though it wants an 18. i don't think there'd be any problems, many original adapters can even vary +/- 0.5 volts at times. this wouldn't hurt it would it? the maximum amperage the adapter can put out is slightly more than what the supersport claims to need. (i used a multimeter on it during load, and the adapter does actually put out 18.46 VDC)
 
I have a 286 version of the SuperSport and as far as I know it has the usual 3.5 Conner Hard Disk, nothing special about it.
 
Chuckster_in_Jax said:
I would replace the HDD with a CF->IDE adapter and a 256Mb Compact Flash card.
Click to expand...

i wonder if that would work, i have both of those items. i tried to boot it on an 8-bit WD IDE card in my XT clone and it didn't like it.

although, i think the issue is solved. the floppy drive never worked for me so i disconnected it a while back. i just plugged it back in and it magically boots the HDD every time now. could there have been some sort of voltage load issue?? that sounds odd.

i feel dumb about making threads and then always fixing my own problem. this happens like every time i post a problem here lol. no matter how long i have an issue, and can't fix it. whenever i post here i end up fixing it with a couple days. maybe this place's aura fixes stuff?
 
Vlad said:
I have a 286 version of the SuperSport and as far as I know it has the usual 3.5 Conner Hard Disk, nothing special about it.
Click to expand...

Ditto, I did the same, normal 3.5 IDE drive. Mine was a tad on the large side so I have the interface cable sort of sticking out the side. I don't care, I want to see nice drive C: dir listing on the screen, wires or not.
 
chuckcmagee said:
Ditto, I did the same, normal 3.5 IDE drive. Mine was a tad on the large side so I have the interface cable sort of sticking out the side. I don't care, I want to see nice drive C: dir listing on the screen, wires or not.
Click to expand...

what did you do for power? at least in my 8088 supersport, the power is integrated into the data cable.
 
I don't remember. Mine is a Supersport SX. I can see the normal 4 wire power going to the drive from where I am sitting. Vaguely remember something about the 2 of them being different in the power dept. Yep, like I said, I have wires sticking out the left side on mine.
 
The JVC drives are a modified 8-bit IDE interface, hence the cabling weirdness. AFAIK the SS was the only 'pute to ever use that pinout, so naturally, they are unobtainium these days.
The SS-286 and SlimsPort 286 use an 8-bit IDE drive which is standard, although mostly unobtainium also.
The SS-286SX uses a standard 16-bit IDE, which are much more replacable, although the BIOS is limited to a few types, but with an overlay, just about anything can be made to work.

--T
 
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