IBM Portable 5155 for sale - broke

[BrunoD]

I would love to have a 5155 but they are pretty pricey in Belgium. Now I found this one on eBay for 75 Euro (ca 100 USD):
http://cgi.benl.ebay.be/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400157022338&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

The seller describes it like this "Computer powers up, but that's really all it does. I can't boot from the built-in hard drive or from the floppy drive. The hard drive does spin up. The screen displays nothing (but does power up as well). I don't know what's wrong. I get no errors on the screen nor do I get beeps."

Do you think it's a good deal? What are the chances that it can be restored by someone with average tech skills?

Thanks for your opinion!

 

[billdeg]

That's too much. I wouldn't pay more than $35 USD. Could be anything wrong with it, and then you'll spend another $75 in parts.

 

[gerrydoire]

I bought a 5155 from a guy who thought the computer was dead, in fact the old mfm died, took it out, threw it away, put in another floppy drive made for this computer and now it looks like it should, and it works of course

The computer you see on ebay is probably good for parts only.

 

[dongfeng]

If it boots up, chances are it's the motherboard or a card at fault. Motherboard is a standard early 5160, so pretty easy to replace..

 

[BrunoD]

I must be one lucky bastard: after the auction finished, the seller re-listed it with a starting price of 0.01 Euro - no reserve. I finally paid 26.5 Euro for this 5155 and a 5160 (also 'broke'). I just fired up the 5155 and it works just fine! It came with a hdd with PC DOS 3.30. The only thing I found not-working is the H-key