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Can a Power Supply for an IBM 5170 be repaired if damaged by shipping carrier?

alejack12001

alejack12001

Experienced Member
Joined
Jul 26, 2020
Messages
424
Location
Fredericksburg, VA
On 2nd of January this year, I received an. IBM 5170 AT machine that was purchased from an eBay seller. The seller made photographs of the machine before shipment. When it arrived, there was damage to the machine on the side of the machine where the power supply is engaged, namely the red switch and the back shield surrounding the switch. The switch wasn’t broken; however, the black shield was broken where the on/off indicator is located. In addition, there was damaged to the case and the black housing acting as the frame of the 5170.

I have contacted the seller regarding the damage. I don’t think he took out insurance for the shipment. I asked if he had another power supply that would fit the machine. With the probability that the seller doesn’t have another power supply or is unwilling to exchange the defective one. Is there a way to repair the power supply assuming I can find the damage?

I read in minuszerodegree website that the regular power supply for the IBM 5170 is ~200W. The schematics suggest the switch, which was damaged, presumably in shipment, is on the secondary side of the primary step-down transformer. Is there any way that the power supply can be tested and repaired? Is there any previous discussion within the forum relative to the IBM 5170 PSU?
 
Does the PS work or not? It's seems unlikely that if only the bezel was damaged that would have stopped it from working. Was the AT sold in working condition? The switch controls the incoming AC to the PS.
 
If the toggle still feels good, I would at least test the unit... Unplug everything, and add on something you don't care about, like a hard drive that uses molex, or some fans.
 
paul said:
Does the PS work or not? It's seems unlikely that if only the bezel was damaged that would have stopped it from working. Was the AT sold in working condition? The switch controls the incoming AC to the PS.
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Thank you for responding. Yes, I believe the machine was tested before purchase as the seller had a picture showing the POST as shown below. The machine was billed as a 386 with 4 MB of RAM The machine was like a hodgepodge of different parts put together to make the sale. The machine came with MDA video card that had a parall port on it, a ST251-1 hard drive, 1.2 MB floppy that was connected to an VA6-1 controller. As you can see the picture wasn’t too clear. I had to remove the MDA card and substitute a VGA card. I left the floppy and hard drive connected but only added 1.44 MB floppy. The seller didn’t include the monitor as part of the sale.

From the picture at POST, the system was asking the operator to run setup. The system seemed to clear POST to display memory, but as previously mentioned the operactor was being asked for setup. The 386 motherboard is unbranded with no manufacturer except for the BIOS being DTK. I went to season.org and found what appeared to be a drawing on the motherboard. In addition, I learned that the motherboard had a Dallas CMOS soldered to the motherboard that was prone to failure. That may account for the setup being displayed.

At this point, I don’t see where a video card change or floppy addition would have an impact to prevent the machine from running. The video card is one that I have known to work in another machine. So, I am fucused on the power supply and the damage incurred at transport. I unplugged the hard drive. The CMOS was not configured before the sale so any changes wouldn’t have much effect. I should see the same display, however flipping the power switch produces nothing.
IMG_0174.jpeg
 
You wrote a wall of text without actually answering if the PSU works or not... Also, revert *any* changes you made. You can change/add hardware once the system is running. Connect just the mainboard, the PSU and the speaker. Wait for a beep or a beep code. Start from there.
 
I understand it as "produces nothing" means no video output. The fan should still spin, but no details were given about that.

If in doubt, simply use any other known-good AT PSU. I mean, it's not hard to rule out whether or not the PSU is working. You could also check voltages, install a POST diag card, whatever.
 
First let me say that I am a bit long winded in my reply's or postings; old habit.

My statement was as clear as I can make it; turning on the power supply 'produces nothing' meaning no fan, no reaction at all.

I think I still have a power supply from an IBM XT computer that could be used for a test of the motherboard. I have one of those testers. I have to read up on it as I forgot how to use it.
Just how important is the lock switch and power LED; because I don't have anything connected to those prongs except the speaker of course.
 
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Timo W. said:
You wrote a wall of text without actually answering if the PSU works or not... Also, revert *any* changes you made. You can change/add hardware once the system is running. Connect just the mainboard, the PSU and the speaker. Wait for a beep or a beep code. Start from there.
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Should I remove the motherboard from the frame or just leave it embedded in the case?
 
Thanks for the suggestion. I don't know if the power supply is an IBM. Frankly, I don't think it is; I think it is a rebuilt power supply. Can you tell from my pictures?IMG_5206a.jpgIMG_5205a.jpg
 
alejack12001 said:
Thanks for the suggestion. I don't know if the power supply is an IBM
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It's a Chinese PSU, Not one that IBM USA would have supplied so no not original, With the PSU on the bench can you see the fan twitch or turn for a second and then stop when you switch on ?
 
If the switch is bad you can get similar switches on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/271652606053

I don’t know if they are exact replacements for the ones in the IBM power supplies, but they are big and red.

I bought a pile of them just in case. Most are pronic brand, but one is a JEC JS-508

IMG_4904.jpeg

I think it might be cool to use them to convert an ATX case to an AT case, maybe with a customer faceplate that could fit in a 5 1/4" drive bay.
 
Malc said:
It's a Chinese PSU, Not one that IBM USA would have supplied so no not original, With the PSU on the bench can you see the fan twitch or turn for a second and then stop when you switch on ?
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I haven't tried to switch on the PSU on the bench as yet with no load.

You are correct about the load as I did find a supportive video on YouTube where a user plugged 3-4 1-TB hard drives on the power supply that he was using along with a 5 ohm 50-W resister to trigger the true IBM PSU. IBM 5170 Power Supply Load Test and others The drives each required 0.45 Amps on the 12-volt connection to provide a load of 1.4-Amps was needed to trigger the PSU to start the fan and trigger his video card on the motherboard. I won't know if the Chinese followed suit with their PSU until I try your recommendations and his.
 
jafir said:
If the switch is bad you can get similar switches on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/271652606053

I don’t know if they are exact replacements for the ones in the IBM power supplies, but they are big and red.

I bought a pile of them just in case. Most are pronic brand, but one is a JEC JS-508

View attachment 1271569

I think it might be cool to use them to convert an ATX case to an AT case, maybe with a customer faceplate that could fit in a 5 1/4" drive bay.
Click to expand...
I picked up one of these years ago from a Ham Radio swap meet. I may need it if mine turns out to be bad.
 
In your first post you say you purchased an IBM 5170. Are you using this term to describe a generic "AT" computer? Do you have pictures of your 5170? All sides and interior. If this is a 5170 it has been modified before you bought it. The 5170 uses a 80286 motherboard, not a 386. You need to know more about it's history and what the component parts are if they are not original to IBM.

Yes, the power supply can be repaired. But we don't know yet what you have. Need more info. More pictures.

Seaken
 
seaken said:
In your first post you say you purchased an IBM 5170. Are you using this term to describe a generic "AT" computer? Do you have pictures of your 5170? All sides and interior. If this is a 5170 it has been modified before you bought it. The 5170 uses a 80286 motherboard, not a 386. You need to know more about it's history and what the component parts are if they are not original to IBM.

Yes, the power supply can be repaired. But we don't know yet what you have. Need more info. More pictures.

Seaken
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Yes, I have pictures of the machine that I bought as shown in pictures below. Yes, I knew that the 5170 was a 80286 machine. I bought a 286 for the purpose to conform to the principle of the 286 platform on this machine. Of course, getting an original IBM 286 Motherboard was a bit too pricey. I had to settle for another unbranded 286 motherboard. The 386 is okay as far as I can tell, except for one of those Dallas RT clock blocks that is soldered to the motherboard. There doesn't appear to be any leakage of the internal battery as far as I can tell. I didn't take any chances that the Dallas would fail by acquiring the NTX287 RT clock exposed battery assembly and socket to replace the Dallas; but it will take time as my Parkinson's will play a role in handling a soldering iron.

The attached file, Case front.jpg, shows the front of the 5170 case received. If you notice the hard drive was sitting in the floppy bay. I have moved the drive to the center bay. and placed a 1.44-MB floppy into the floppy bay. The next picture shows the case back.jpg. In this picture, a MDA card is shown. I removed the MDA for a VGA card since I don't have IBM 5151 or 5153 monitors. The last picture is the internal part of the 5170 I acquired. Like I mentioned in my initial post, the acquired 5170 is a hodgepodge of parts to with nothing original except for the case.
 

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Okay, I went back and reread your second post where you did say it was a "hodgepodge". So, you don't really have an IBM 5170. You have a CASE iof a 5170 with a non-IBM clone DTK 386.

You can test the power supply by taking it out of the case and attaching a hard drive to one of the drive power connectors. If it powers on the hard drive will spin up and you will hear it. You should also hear and see the fan from the power supply. You can then use a multi-meter to test the power rails output.

Maybe the power switch itself got broken in which case you can wire on a new switch or bridge the wires. Careful, you can get shocked. If you are not knowledgeable with AC power you should probably take it to some one who is.

I understand completely the difficulty handling a soldering iron. I do not have Parkinson's but my hands arer well spent due to years of physical work in construction.

You need to ask for help in the context of a PC Clone 386. There is very little associated with IBM here.

Seaken
 
seaken said:
Okay, I went back and reread your second post where you did say it was a "hodgepodge". So, you don't really have an IBM 5170. You have a CASE iof a 5170 with a non-IBM clone DTK 386.

You can test the power supply by taking it out of the case and attaching a hard drive to one of the drive power connectors. If it powers on the hard drive will spin up and you will hear it. You should also hear and see the fan from the power supply. You can then use a multi-meter to test the power rails output.

Maybe the power switch itself got broken in which case you can wire on a new switch or bridge the wires. Careful, you can get shocked. If you are not knowledgeable with AC power you should probably take it to some one who is.

I understand completely the difficulty handling a soldering iron. I do not have Parkinson's but my hands arer well spent due to years of physical work in construction.

You need to ask for help in the context of a PC Clone 386. There is very little associated with IBM here.

Seaken
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Yes, I guess the machine that I got is more of a clone than real IBM 5170. With regards to your suggestion to power up the hard drive, I think I have already did that by connecting all devices Floppies, hard drive, motherboard, and video. There is no response from anything loaded or unloaded. I took the suggestion by Twolazy to disconnect everything to see if the power supply would move the fan a little with no success.

The unfortunate factor in this China power supply is; there are more rivet's than screws, which makes it difficult to take apart. The seller of the IBM 5170 has offered to fix or replace the power supply and I may take up his offer. That may be next move. I do have a spare IBM XT 150 W power supply. My concern is what was shown in minuszerodegrees website a necessity for AT machines needing 192 W to handle IBM hardware. However, since this is a clone of an AT, do I need that much power or wattage?
 
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