1984 HeathKit HS-161 Portable Computer Problem

[Dawgchyper91]

First off Id like to say I just joined this website and I am really enjoying it so far I have loved computers ever since I can remember and love collecting older computers from the lates 70s to early 80s. I recently just picked a Heathkit HS 161 Portable computer. Came with over 400 floppy disks lol, and everything that you need to start up the computer. The problem that I am having is that everytime I turn on the computer it has a orange bar on the screen. The person I received this from said it use to work and would pop up the black screen and you would enter numbers or letters. He said this recently just happened with the orange bar coming up. He said it might be the "antistatic chip"? The computer came with a tub full of them and dont know if I replace one of them? If someone could help me I would greatly appreciate it so much! Here is a picture of the orange bar on the screen

I do have pictures, and would be more than happy to email you one or two of them. Thank you!

 

[1ajs]

see if theres any nobs that ajust the screen? then go from there. nice rig though GL

 

[Dawgchyper91]

see if theres any nobs that ajust the screen? then go from there. nice rig though GL

The only knob that I see and it appears to be a brightness nob? But for some reason its not getting any brighter or darker? Could it possibly be the tube? Or the "Antistatic chip"?

 

[Chuck(G)]

Clint, I'd suspect the vertical deflection circuitry. I haven't the faintest idea of what an "antistatic chip" is. You might get some hints on the servicing if you can find a Zenith Z-160 service manual.

 

[Dawgchyper91]

Clint, I'd suspect the vertical deflection circuitry. I haven't the faintest idea of what an "antistatic chip" is. You might get some hints on the servicing if you can find a Zenith Z-160 service manual.

Thank you chuck, where would I find the vertical deflection circuitry? And what should I find if there is something wrong? I will try to look for the manual! Thank you

 

[Chuck(G)]

It doesn't sound to me as if you have much experience servicing electronics equipment--and CRT deflection circuits are a terrible place to start.

I think the best thing to do (after you've opened the thing up and made sure that all the cards are seated in their connectors) is to try an external CGA monitor with your system. If you get a full-screen display on the monitor, then you know that the problem is local to the monitor in the box.

Alternatively, if you have an older (non-HD) TV with component inputs, you can try taking the composite (RCA jack) video from the system and see if it shows on the TV set.

 

[Dawgchyper91]

Yeah I dont really have much experience with that. I just collect different types of computers and the ones I get work, but this one I thought it would be pretty cool to maybe fix it up? I will try what you said Hopefully it works Chuck. Thank you!

 

[Chuckster_in_Jax]

Your pictures don't show the lid popped up with access to the floppy drives.

http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=465

Does this computer attempt to boot from the floppy drives when turned on? There may be more than one problem, including the power supply.

 

[Dawgchyper91]

When I do turn on the system it the red light turns on from the floppy drives and makes noise. If I put a disk in there, it will read it but then stop. The guy who gave this to me said when he powered it on it would go to the screen and says "Insert disk" and he would insert it and type in the green lettering on the black background. And when he turned it on a couple months later it had the orange bar.

 

[Dawgchyper91]

Also I noticed if I leave the computer on the orange bar will slowly dim. But if I leave it off for awhile and turn it back on the orange bar would be brighter and then repeat the process of dimmin down

 

[Chuck(G)]

Um, this model has a monochrome monitor. Lettering will be orange/amber on a black background, not green. Maybe the guy who sold it to you was confused?

 

[Dawgchyper91]

Um, this model has a monochrome monitor. Lettering will be orange/amber on a black background, not green. Maybe the guy who sold it to you was confused?

Possibly he was. He said something about green lettering when he used it, but he was talking about other computers that had green lettering so he probably mixed them up. I took what you said about the RCA cable. I plugged the cable from the back of the system to the tv and I didnt get anything? I dont know what I could be possibly doing wrong.

 

[Chuck(G)]

Got a CGA card that you can try in place of the one that's already in there?

 

[Dawgchyper91]

I do not have one I can replace. Well I guess for now ill just tinker with it and hopefully something may happen? Tomorrow is a new day so hopefully something may change. Thanks for your help Chuck and the others, I really do appreciate it If Im able to fix it I will definately let you guys know what the problem was.