• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Compaq Portable III What’s this?

T

twconstantine

Member
Joined
May 3, 2024
Messages
10
Hi! I purchased a Compaq Portable III. It came with this back extension piece that looks like a tape drive. I’ve never seen this before. Any details?
It also has lines on the screen in the center. Any fix ideas?

Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6790.jpeg
    IMG_6790.jpeg
    461.5 KB · Views: 26
  • IMG_6792.jpeg
    IMG_6792.jpeg
    710.5 KB · Views: 20
  • IMG_6793.jpeg
    IMG_6793.jpeg
    1.6 MB · Views: 25
  • IMG_6791.jpeg
    IMG_6791.jpeg
    670.5 KB · Views: 25
Tape drive! More to the point you could snap on a module like that which contained an ISA bus slot for an extra device. My guess is there is an ISA tape controller in there and of course the drive.

Display is probably a loose/broken wire in the ribbon cable.
 
Yep, you found a holy grail. The elusive ISA bus extn for the Portable III. Worth its weight in gold. (but now that they have an XTIDE solution for the model III maybe worth its weight in silver at least.
 
Thank you for the responses! I don't have any need for a tape drive, but extra ISA slots would be handy.
 
For the plasma display lines, there's probably not much you can do, but check this site out to see if you want to attempt a fix: https://retropaq.com/repairing-gas-plasma-displays/
I was so happy that my Portable 386/20 had a pristine display until just a few weeks ago when some vertical lines appeared. They go away after warming up for a few minutes, but the writing is on the wall.
 
resman said:
For the plasma display lines, there's probably not much you can do, but check this site out to see if you want to attempt a fix: https://retropaq.com/repairing-gas-plasma-displays/
I was so happy that my Portable 386/20 had a pristine display until just a few weeks ago when some vertical lines appeared. They go away after warming up for a few minutes, but the writing is on the wall.
Click to expand...
you think they are all doomed or maybe if they get regular use going forward it can extend that time? I know most of these have been powered down for decades. Maybe active use will keep them working (the ones with no lines I mean).
 
resman said:
For the plasma display lines, there's probably not much you can do, but check this site out to see if you want to attempt a fix: https://retropaq.com/repairing-gas-plasma-displays/
I was so happy that my Portable 386/20 had a pristine display until just a few weeks ago when some vertical lines appeared. They go away after warming up for a few minutes, but the writing is on the wall.
Click to expand...
Thank you! I'm still holding out for a 386, so I'll probably not mess with this one too much.
 
I was able to recently procure a working 4 MB RAM expansion card (fixing the original that had a single bit error) so I plan on using it a great deal more. Fingers crossed the screen doesn't get worse. The RAM expansion and the plasma screen are the two weak spots in this machine, which is too bad. I upgraded my machine with a Disk on Module and have an ethernet card in the bus expansion pack making for a great WfW 3.11 experience. Such a cool and unique computer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top