20 years later... A reunion

[snq]

Today was a bit of a special day, I got reunited with my first PC, a Compaq SLT/286! Or "my", that would be my father's.. We had this laptop back in 1989 and it was the very first PC I got to use every now and then. Without this machine my life would probably have looked pretty different.
I still remember sitting at the table with this thing learning to use DOS. And all the smiley faces that came up on the screen if I typed "type command.com" :mrgreen: Lots of memories!
Unfortunately it's not the exact machine we had when I was little, that particular one apparently spent the rest of its life in Africa. But it's the correct model and everything, so good enough I guess.

So, here it is!



I got loads of documentation with it as well



The specs are:
C286 12 MHz
640k RAM
42.9 MB harddrive
1.44 drive
VGA, monochrome screen.

Unfortunately the battery is missing, so even if the keyboard is detachable, I won't be detaching because I'll be looking at a big hole
Other than that it seems to have a hard time remembering its bios settings and doesn't want to boot from the harddrive, probably because of that. Booting from a floppy works fine though and the harddrive is accessible.

 

[patscc]

battery

battery

How do you know it's not the same ? These things have a way of wandering around.
Can you post a pic of the battery 'hole' ? Someone might have one in their junk bin somewhere (for instance myself)
patscc

 

[snq]

I know it's not the same because this one only has had one previous owner, which was not my father Other than that the one from 20 years ago had a US-english keyboard layout and this one unfortunately has a Swedish layout. I will be on the hunt for a US keyboard though.

The battery is 12V and looks like this:

Weight approx 1 lbs.

 

[Floppies_only]

That's a good looking computer. I'm happy for you. It might be possible to make a battery for it. People in the military radio collecting community do that for their radios.

Sean

 

[tezza]

They are cute aren't they.

I've got one of these. I love its lunchbox shape and detachable keyboard.

Unfortunately the battery is missing, so even if the keyboard is detachable, I won't be detaching because I'll be looking at a big hole
Other than that it seems to have a hard time remembering its bios settings and doesn't want to boot from the harddrive, probably because of that. Booting from a floppy works fine though and the harddrive is accessible.

Interestingly, mine has the opposite problem. The battery is as dead as, (I get a "you need to configure the bios"-type error message) but it's the floppy that doesn't work, not the hard drive. The latter is fine.

I figure the BIOS default is for a 720 k floppy drive, which it why it doesn't work. I've pulled the machine apart successfully to check where the battery IC is. I know I can get to it, but I haven't tried to replace it yet.

Interestingly, when I first got the machine it had cellotape over the contacts of the main battery. "That odd?" I thought, and removed the cellotape.

The machine then didn't boot at all.!

I replaced the cellotable and the machine booted ok.

I'm not sure what's going on there, but it works when plugged in and the machine looks better with the dead battery in than out.

Tez

 

[patscc]

short

short

tezza said...cellotape over the contacts of the main battery

Shorted battery, perhaps ?
patscc

 

[snq]

Yea, they're cute

That's interesting indeed, I'd rather see mine start from the harddrive than the diskdrive.. The error I'm getting at boot is 162 - System options not set, run setup.
It seems to forget the options as soon as I exit the setup though, I get the same error even with a warm boot after running setup.

It has MS-DOS 5.0 installed and I temporarily "solved" the booting problem by creating a bootable DOS 5.0 diskette, with "shell=c:\command.com c:\ /p" in the config.sys so it doesn't need the floppy any more after booting.


I haven't really figured out how to open it up, I'd like to have a look at the cmos battery. There's 6 screws at the back but I'm not really getting anywhere after removing those. Any tips?

 

[arjoll]

I'm not sure what's going on there, but it works when plugged in and the machine looks better with the dead battery in than out.

I've seen this before on early Powerbooks (e.g. the Powerbook 180). They seem to drag the entire charging circuit and therefore the power supply down.

Those will be NiCd batteries - should be quite possible to re-pack it with standard cells. Of course you actually need the original battery pack to do this, and opening it up without making a huge mess of it may not be easy!

I used the LTE/386 at work - we had one with a docking station and nice Compaq 15" monitor. Similar kind of styling and mono LCD display with a blue-ish tint. Didn't have the handle though!

We got rid of it and the other 'junk' (three 5160's, a Panasonic luggable, the Macintosh Portables etc) in the mid 90's. Wish I'd grabbed some of the bits myself!

 

[tezza]

Yea, they're cute

That's interesting indeed, I'd rather see mine start from the harddrive than the diskdrive.. The error I'm getting at boot is 162 - System options not set, run setup.

Yes, thats the same error I get.

I haven't really figured out how to open it up, I'd like to have a look at the cmos battery. There's 6 screws at the back but I'm not really getting anywhere after removing those. Any tips?

I remember it wasn't easy. It's crammed up in there, and I THINK some of the fastenings took some manouvering to get loose. Certainly doable though if you take your time and don't hurry. There are some screws in odd places if I remember rightly.

I have got pictures of stages of the disassembly. I did this so I'd remember how to put it back together..lol

Tez

 

[tezza]

We got rid of it and the other 'junk' (three 5160's, a Panasonic luggable, the Macintosh Portables etc) in the mid 90's. Wish I'd grabbed some of the bits myself!

Junked a 5160!! A Panasonic luggable!!

Andrew, how could you!!??

Tez

 

[tezza]

Shorted battery, perhaps ?
patscc

Possibly. Obviously the last person to have it was aware of the problem hence the cellotape.

Tez

 

[snq]

I remember it wasn't easy. It's crammed up in there, and I THINK some of the fastenings took some manouvering to get loose. Certainly doable though if you take your time and don't hurry. There are some screws in odd places if I remember rightly.

I have got pictures of stages of the disassembly. I did this so I'd remember how to put it back together..lol

Tez

The only screws I can see are the ones on the back and then there's a bunch in the battery hole. Are there any more? Care to put those pictures you have online somewhere?

 

[arjoll]

Junked a 5160!!

No, got rid of THREE of them. MDA cards, IBM monitors, full height floppies, 10GB drives....

I know, I know.....

At least I didn't dump them. I gave them away to a local dealer known for hoarding junk; spoke to him recently and they went missing when in storage, he suspects a family member did dump them

This was about 12-13 years ago!

 

[tezza]

The only screws I can see are the ones on the back and then there's a bunch in the battery hole. Are there any more? Care to put those pictures you have online somewhere?

There ya go. Browse to...
[URL edited out as it had served its purpose]
I took photos as I re-assembled the case (not disassembled it). The close ups of particular areas would have been significant for some reason...probably a cable or screw that needed to be removed. I forget now. I'm thinking I should have labelled these photos more descriptively at the time.

Let me know when you have the photos. I only want to keep them on the site temporarily until you get them.

Tez

 

[snq]

There ya go. Browse to
http://www.classic-computers.org.nz/temp/

I took photos as I re-assembled the case (not disassembled it). The close ups of particular areas would have been significant for some reason...probably a cable or screw that needed to be removed. I forget now. I'm thinking I should have labelled these photos more descriptively at the time.

Let me know when you have the photos. I only want to keep them on the site temporarily until you get them.

Tez

Thanks for those pics!
I saved all of them so feel free to remove them.

Do you happen to remember if there's anything holding the sliding part in place other than the screws on the back? I only get it out a maybe 2-3 mm and then it seems to be stuck there.

 

[tezza]

ummm.....to tell you the truth I can't remember. I see to recall some cables needed to be unbolted/disconnected and some plastic tabs need to be removed. It's a while ago now.

It is a very tight fit!

Sorry I can't be of more help.

Tez