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Serious issues with PS/2.

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Rafa

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Joined
Jun 13, 2011
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6
Hello all. First things first, my name is Rafa and I'm from Spain.

I found two old computers cleaning my house. One uses a 286DX, and it works quite fine. It's a laptop, battery dead of course but I don't really care. Anyway, the 286DX is the one that is not giving me problems. The one having issues is the other computer I found, a IBM Personal System/2 Model 30. I really love it, really vintage, and I really want it to work again. The problems I'm having involve the floppy and the hard disk, so the only thing I can do atm is to do some BASIC stuff. This is what it happens when you turn it on: Beeps twice, checks memory, and whows two errors: One related to the RTC (guess the batt is completely dead) and another one with the FDD: 601 - Diskette drive error. I press F1 to continue and the HDD starts reading data to end up saying (it says it in spanish so I might not be 100% accurate) Disk error or non-system disk. Replace and press any key to retry. Something like that I guess. And this is the end. The problem with the FDD is that the motor that moves the reading head does not work properly. I think I can manage to fix it by resoldering the connector directly to the board, cause I think that the problem is that it makes a bad contact.

What do you think it can be happening to this computer?
Thanks in advance!
 
Both the floppy drive and hard drive are known to have issues with capacitors going bad. If the CMOS battery is dead can you run the setup utility disks (there are 2)?
 
I didn't find any floppy that says that. Anyway, I can't boot floppy disks, the floppy drive is not working. As I said, the motor that moves the reading head does not seem to work.
Caps? I think I can change them. Only electrolytics?

Thanks.
 
1 - Before you do any soldering make sure that the floppy drive screw and the rails that guide the head are clean and lightly lubricated.

2 - Can you make a setup/diagnostic disk from an image file?

3 - AFAIK there are several versions of the model 30; do you have more info or a model no.?

4 - The hard disk problem may just be caused by the dead battery.

5 - Other people here will surely be able to help.
 
Rafa said:
I didn't find any floppy that says that. Anyway, I can't boot floppy disks, the floppy drive is not working. As I said, the motor that moves the reading head does not seem to work.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Can you manually move the head away from its present position? If/when you do, does it try even slightly to move back when you turn on the power?

You can't do much unless you can read a floppy disk somehow.
 
MikeS said:
1 - Before you do any soldering make sure that the floppy drive screw and the rails that guide the head are clean and lightly lubricated.

2 - Is the diskette actually a bootable disk? Do you have or can you make a setup/diagnostic disk?

3 - AFAIK there are several versions of the model 30; do you have more info or a model no.?

4 - The hard disk problem may just be caused by the dead battery.

5 - Other people here will surely be able to help.
Click to expand...

Hello.
1.- Thats waht I did. I cleaned them, lubricated them a bit and stills the same.
2.- The diskette boots in the 286DX so i guess it is. But I really don't think the problem is with the diskette.
3.- Sure! It says 8530 in the back. 1981-1987.
4.- I'll try to change it, but I'm not sure where the battery is.
5.- Thank you!
 
MikeS, no I can't move the head (well I'm quite sure I could move it applying some force but I don't want to destroy it.). The only thing that moves is the inifnite screw, but SLIGHTLY, just that.
 
The battery should be one of those Dallas RTC chips, you either get a new one for $15 or hack the old one with a dremel and use a coin type battery.

You are better off finding a replacement floppy drive if the drive motor is bad.
 
If memory serves me right the Model 30 has a battery mounted on the ISA Riser board. Rafa try cleaning head with Isopropyl alchohol. Aslo the head may be mounted to a worm screw which will make it very hard to move.
 
MikeS said:
Can you manually move the head away from its present position? If/when you do, does it try even slightly to move back when you turn on the power?

You can't do much unless you can read a floppy disk somehow.
Click to expand...

It should be noted that you should try and move the head with the POWER OFF. If you try it with the power on, and the stepper is energized, you'll have a hell of a time moving the head.
 
FYI: I restored an IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 to 100% by means of:
1: Replacing the defective FDD with one from an IBM PS/2 Model 55.
2: Replacing the Dallas DS12887 with a Dallas DS12887A (just bend one pin to resemble the original, otherwise it will not work).
Works like a charm now.

You can buy a Dallas DS12887A for USD 1.95 + shipping here: http://cgi.ebay.com/350274756968.
 
Unknown_K said:
The battery should be one of those Dallas RTC chips, you either get a new one for $15 or hack the old one with a dremel and use a coin type battery.

You are better off finding a replacement floppy drive if the drive motor is bad.
Click to expand...

Where can I find a FDD for this machine?

Druid6900 said:
It should be noted that you should try and move the head with the POWER OFF. If you try it with the power on, and the stepper is energized, you'll have a hell of a time moving the head.
Click to expand...

Of course. It was out of the computer when I tried to move it.

PeterNY said:
FYI: I restored an IBM PS/2 Model 30 286 to 100% by means of:
1: Replacing the defective FDD with one from an IBM PS/2 Model 55.
2: Replacing the Dallas DS12887 with a Dallas DS12887A (just bend one pin to resemble the original, otherwise it will not work).
Works like a charm now.

You can buy a Dallas DS12887A for USD 1.95 + shipping here: http://cgi.ebay.com/350274756968.
Click to expand...
Thank a lot. Mine is the 8086 version, so no DS12887.
This is what I found:

Chromedome45 said:
If memory serves me right the Model 30 has a battery mounted on the ISA Riser board. Rafa try cleaning head with Isopropyl alchohol. Aslo the head may be mounted to a worm screw which will make it very hard to move.
Click to expand...

Yes! It is. I didn't look too close at it so I thought it was a big axial cap, but it's not. It's a CR123 battery. I think it's quite dead... 2.97V I'll replace it I guess, but first I want the floppy drive working.

Thank you all a lot!
 
Hello all. First things first, my name is Rafa and I'm from Spain.

I found two old computers cleaning my house. One uses a 286DX, and it works quite fine. It's a laptop, battery dead of course but I don't really care. Anyway, the 286DX is the one that is not giving me problems. The one having issues is the other computer I found, a IBM Personal System/2 Model 30. I really love it, really vintage, and I really want it to work again. The problems I'm having involve the floppy and the hard disk, so the only thing I can do atm is to do some BASIC stuff. This is what it happens when you turn it on: Beeps twice, checks memory, and whows two errors: One related to the RTC (guess the batt is completely dead) and another one with the FDD: 601 - Diskette drive error. I press F1 to continue and the HDD starts reading data to end up saying (it says it in spanish so I might not be 100% accurate) Disk error or non-system disk. Replace and press any key to retry. Something like that I guess. And this is the end. The problem with the FDD is that the motor that moves the reading head does not work properly. I think I can manage to fix it by resoldering the connector directly to the board, cause I think that the problem is that it makes a bad contact.

What do you think it can be happening to this computer?
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing that mate... greatly appreciated :).........
 
Rafa said:
...Mine is the 8086 version, so no DS12887. ...I didn't look too close at it so I thought it was a big axial cap, but it's not. It's a CR123 battery. I think it's quite dead... 2.97V I'll replace it I guess, but first I want the floppy drive working.
Click to expand...

The battery on the 8086-based Model 30 only runs the Real-Time Clock, not the storage of configuration settings. Furthermore, the stock floppy drive is 720Kb, with that version of the Model 30 very picky about any 1.44Mb substitute (usually the cable goes to "edge-connect" drives, where I've only had a Sony variety work). Unless the hard drive is toast (or at least sounding like it is unprepared), the system can boot to it if the system has a bad floppy.

The 8086-based Model 25 (no RTC, so no battery for anything) and Model 30 are different from the earlier PCs (configuration switches), 286+ (battery-backed configuration), and other PS/2s. Each time the system is powered on the POST determines what equipment is present (if some additional adapters are present, or certain features not installed, the system will deactivate the controller). A whole different animal (the RTC of the 8086-based Model 30 was unique in not having the same Y2K bugs in hardware as other, more powerful, PS/2s).
 
I don't know, i'll try to find a 8086 PS/2 M30... but sounds quite difficult.
 
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