Help with IBM PS/2 Model 30 Floppy Drive

[konio38]

Hi there guys, i just got into vintage computers recently i have been collecting videogame consoles and games for the past 7 years but i got the urge do start someting different were i live (portugal, europe) computes were never very present until the mid nighties, so getting older stuff is allways hard arround here, but i luckly got a IBM PS/2 from a friend for absolutly noithing :D i absoluty love playing with it but sadly i cant put any data into it, because i cant seem to get the floppy drive to read (general failure error, cant read disk), i have searched arround the web and found out im not alone, it seems its a common issue with these computers.

So i would like if anyone could help me out with a solution to this problem, i have read that some people have been able to use a reguar 1.44MB drive into the models 25 and 50 but i never found any info on the model 30, also this one is one of those weird model 30's that use MCA insted of the regular ISA i dont know if that affects anything but remember im kinda of a noob in these things.

i put some pictures up from the diferent parts of the computer in hope that someone could aid me.

Oh by the way any tips for the new rockie on the block when getting vintage computer stuff?

Thank you in advance i hope you can help me out :D



EDIT: I just realized i posted the topic on the wrong section, sorry about that :S mods could you please move it to the correct one?

 

[konio38]

More pics:

 

[krebizfan]

No, I am fairly certain you have a PS/2 Model 30 with 8-bit ISA slots just like the IBM PC and XT but only smaller cards will fit.. No MCA equipped system I know of had a 8086 for the CPU.

Floppy: The stock floppy takes 720kB DSDD diskettes. Double check that the floppy you are inserting has been formatted at 720kB. Otherwise, you have a problem. You need a special design floppy drive. Generally, the easiest and cheapest method for getting a replacement drive is to buy a broken Model 30 and scavenge the floppy. There have been threads on how to make the modifications to use a standard floppy; here is the first link I could find http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcf...r-1-44-floppy-drive-in-my-ibm-model-30-(8086)

 

[PeterNC]

Welcome! Model 25 8086 DS/DD FDDs are interchangeable. Good luck! I had 3 units and dito working FDDs myself but sold those recently.

 

[cruising]

Why just not cover the HD hole on regular 1.44M floppy and format it? Your computer should format it to a 720K. i had the same problem with my XT until i formated my 1.2M to 620K. And also lubricate the rails that the reading head slides on.

 

[SpidersWeb]

No, I am fairly certain you have a PS/2 Model 30 with 8-bit ISA slots just like the IBM PC and XT but only smaller cards will fit.. No MCA equipped system I know of had a 8086 for the CPU.

Just wanted to +1 this.
That system, like all Model 30's, is certainly ISA.

Also as suggested, the issue could be as simple as it not supporting 1.44Mb floppies, try a disk formatted to 720KB. If there is no luck there, then you can look at repairing or replacing the drive.

 

[konio38]

Hey there guys thank you for the quick answers, im actualy very happy that is not MCA since MCA cards are generaly rarer and more expensive to come by, has for the drive it really is dead, i formated a floppy to 720K on my desktop using the old covering square hole method and it formated perfectly but when i tried using it on the PS/2 it gave me the same error, im still not confortable in butchering the ribbon cable, even more since from what i read not every floppy drive models work and when they do they have alot of problems, i also wont be easily able to find a replacment drive since as i said arround here 80's computer hardware is really hard to come by and shipping from the US is crazy. oh well maybe a external drive with serial connection would be the way to go?

 

[PeterNC]

Nope. You would have no way to get that to work. My suggestion: sell the box (in whole or for parts).

 

[SpidersWeb]

If it is booting, you could use a serial cable to connect your modern machine, these are cheap and readily available new. This will let you transfer data on and off, and much faster, but what worries me is at some stage you're going to want to be able to boot off that floppy drive.

External floppy drives etc will end up being more expensive than a replacement floppy drive and generally you can't boot from them (exception being a SCSI setup). So if buying a replacement isn't even an option, then I'd try to repair it. I'd start by trying to format the disk in the PS/2 - if that fails - then try a cleaning disk and try again - if that fails there was some talk on here about a capacitor that sometimes needs replacement.

 

[modem7]

If it is booting, you could use a serial cable to connect your modern machine, these are cheap and readily available new.

konio38 should note that there are many different types of serial cables. Even if the cable has the right kind of connectors on the ends, it does not mean that the cable will work for the intended purpose.
The exact cable that is required depends on the software/hardware solution decided on, and that solution is based on limiting factors (e.g. existing software on old PC).

External floppy drives etc will end up being more expensive than a replacement floppy drive

And if the external drive requires a driver to be loaded, you need to consider how you would get the driver on to the hard disk.

 

[konio38]

I have tried to format the disk in the actual PS2 i got the exact same error. i wont sell it even for parts because has i said these things are rare here and it was a gift so i wouldnt feel confortable selling it, so i probably will leave it the way it is, playing with the software that already has on the disk, eventualy when im more able to afford it i will get a replacment drive or at least try and find one, what models are compatible with my PS2? are the ones for other models compatible like model 56,57, etc?

 

[PeterNC]

Only DS/DD FDDs from the 25 8086 and 30 8086 are compatible. This plus that a 8086 is really limited with software it can run speedily made me decide to sell the 3 I had after playing with them for a while.

The same applies to the proprietary ESDI HDDs for the 25 and 30. Very hard to find and not interchangeable.