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Old Chicony laptop - can it be saved?

Wow, this thread really took off now. :) I'd like to use the battery that is simplest to install, of course. There should be enough room (I'll check in a bit).

I got the computer up and running today, without any issues. It's running happily as I write this. :) The screen is terrible of course, so I hooked it up to a CRT monitor. Without a working battery, it can't find its hard drive, so I booted it up from a Windows 98 boot disk.

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Here it is running Commander Keen 4 on the built in screen:

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I wonder how I'm supposed to turn this thing off. The power switch only has on and standby, which doesn't do anything. The only solution right now is pulling out the power cable.

This is where the battery sits. There's about half an inch (1,3 cm) of space between the motherboard and the plastic above it.

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Rymdljus said:
Wow, this thread really took off now. :)
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Well, yes, that's the thing about forums like this: you ask what time it is and you'll get 20 different ways to build a clock ;-)
I'd like to use the battery that is simplest to install, of course. There should be enough room (I'll check in a bit).
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That B-425/PC2/V sure looks like the right one if you can find it at a reasonable price, although you'll probably have to use a soldering iron to remove/replace it (and remove the board to get at the underside). Batteries with leads (like C/L phone batteries) can usually make replacement easier since you can just cut the old battery out and solder to or even just wrap around the remaining stubs, but with your vertically mounted battery that might be tricky. If you don't feel up to it maybe you have a friend who does?
I got the computer up and running today, without any issues... Without a working battery, it can't find its hard drive, so I booted it up from a Windows 98 boot disk.
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The battery is just there to remember the hard disk settings when you turn off the power (and keep the clock running of course). Even with the new battery you will need a setup program, either built in to the system's BIOS or on a disk, to define the hard disk's parameters in the first place; the hard disk should work fine even without a battery, although you'd have to reconfigure (and set the clock) every time you turn on the computer.
 
Chuck(G): Nope, nothing happens when I close the lid. If I'll just grab myself an external keyboard along with the screen I can completely ignore that this is a laptop. Which is nice, considering how terrible the screen is.

MikeS: This forum is great and you guys are really helpful. :) Kinda makes me feel bad when I don't have the time for things like this for a few days. ^^;

I was thinking I would need to solder something when I started out, though I have neither experience nor equipment. I don't know if it's hard, but it doesn't look too complicated, at least. That power resistor looked a lot worse, so I'm glad I didn't have to replace it after all. I'll ask around among my friends, to see if someone knows someone with any experience with things like this. I don't know of any, though. You think I'll be better off going for the B-425/PC2/V replacement?

There is actually hard drive setup inside the bios here, so if I just figure out what kind it is and what settings it needs, I should be able to access it, if only for a little while. ^^ It would be awesome to find a working installation of DOS 6.22 and Windows 3.1 or something, even if I wouldn't be able to use it without a battery.
 
Instead of using another ni-cd/ni-mh cell, why not use a cheap lithium coin cell (cr2032) and holder instead, with a diode to stop the charging (you cant use them without, as they're not rechargeable)? - it will be a lot smaller than multiple aa's, and you should be able to pick them up few just a few pennies, best of all, they don't leak. It's a very common swap on old motherboards, as its generally the barrel battery that leaks over time and destroys them while in storage.
 
I'm open to all suggestions regarding the battery. ^^

So, I managed to find out that the hard disk is a Conner CP2124, and I found several places that lists the CMOS parameters for it. Trouble is, when I insert those parameters in the BIOS setup and try to boot (either from the hard disk or the boot disk) I get a "Hard disk controller failure" message.

I suppose this could mean either the parameters I set are wrong, the disk itself is dead, or there is something wrong with the cables? I'm a bit nervous of the latter because I had to lift a bit of the flat connecting cable (I guess it's an IDE cable, but a weird one?) that was stuck to the disk, in order to look at the label to see what model it was. It's the coppery cable in the picture.

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Is there a sure way to find out what's wrong with the hard disk?
 
The copper cable is shielded. The CP2124 uses a combined power+signal 44 pin 2mm cable. Be very careful with this, as it's possible to destroy the drive if you insert it incorrectly. Does the drive spin up as currently installed?

As far as soldering, there's plenty of information around, complete with YouTube videos. I have only one recommendation: Do not start out your soldering education on something you care about.. Get some old bit of scrap gear and practice removing and re-soldering components until you've developed a certain amount of skill. A laptop is no place for a beginner.
 
Oh, so that cable is a power cable as well? Best not to tinker with it then. ^^; I really hope I don't have to exchange the drive...

Yes, the drive spins at least. Setting it up with the parameters I thought was right makes it give off some noise as if it was trying to access information, but it fails to do so. It keeps trying until I turn it off. I wonder if I should just try to reformat it and se if I can get it to work then...

Not starting out soldering something you care about sounds like the kind of common sense that I needed someone to say to me. :) I'll start out by asking around.
 
So when you try to boot from the hrd drive, it makes those noises? Have you tried booting from a DOS boot disk and accessing the hard drive that way? One of my ST-225s has this problem, and I can only access it via a boot disk.

A low-level format can cure read errors, but the problem may be deeper since it is reporting a controller failure.

(SpinRite is a good testing and low-level formatting program.)
 
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