FIC Vanda Notebook SX

[V.T.Marvin]

Hello.
Got my hands on this prehistoric portable computer.
According to its owner it is more than 20yrs old and it ran DOS at the time.
DC led lights but I am not able to start it - I am probably supposed to press on/off key on the keyboard, but it does nothing.

My question to the professional audience here is - is it worth saving? Or is it trashworthy?

Thank you for your advice

M.

 

[GiGaBiTe]

I am probably supposed to press on/off key on the keyboard, but it does nothing.

It's a modifier key, you have to press the blue Fn key on the bottom left of the keyboard and the On/Off key at the same time.

You'll be very lucky if it works without any maintenance. If it has a battery that's removable, remove it. It also likely has a CMOS battery somewhere, hopefully that hasn't detonated. Capacitors are another issue as well.

 

[V.T.Marvin]

It's a modifier key, you have to press the blue Fn key on the bottom left of the keyboard and the On/Off key at the same time.

You'll be very lucky if it works without any maintenance. If it has a battery that's removable, remove it. It also likely has a CMOS battery somewhere, hopefully that hasn't detonated. Capacitors are another issue as well.

Thank you,
Keyboard says, that ON should be without Fn modifier

but with or without modifier - neither worked.
Battery is removable, but there is no visible way to disassemble the body of a computer (screws etc). Under a battery there are only three terminals and bare plastic shell.

M.

 

[GiGaBiTe]

Do you have the original power adapter that came with the laptop? Have you checked its output to make sure that it is correct and not wildly out of spec?

You're most likely going to have to disassemble the laptop and inspect it for problems. The most likely are capacitor leakage and exploded/leaking CMOS battery, but it could have additional issues.

If there are no visible screws, start checking under labels and the plastic/rubber feet, they could be hidden. I really doubt that laptop is solely held together with plastic clips.

 

[V.T.Marvin]

Hello.
Original power supply seems to have stable 12.5V output.
I tried to scrape off rubber legs, but there was nothing under (just metal plate that seemed to be a part of a chassis)I found two screws under two retractable legs on the back side of a laptop.
After removing screws top part of the laptop seemed to come off partially.
I found lot of plastic clips all around the laptop that I was able to "unclip" it allowed me to lift keaboard part partially, but even with previously mentioned screws removed I was not able to pop the laptop fully open, there was something holding it on the back side where ports and battery compartments are.
As praysing further does not seem to work I assembled it back together.

Regarding battery - it seems to be kind of extension battery as in the compartment there is some complicated port with dozens of contacts that is not used by battery, so probably this is some extension port that can be used also as a battery extension.

 

[GiGaBiTe]

Laptops in that era usually had multifunction ports, where they could take a battery, hard drive, optical drive or floppy drive via removable modules. That non-standard connector you see would be for those modules.

But since your laptop is not booting at all, you're going to have to open it. The next least destructive thing to try is see if you can find the CMOS battery when you partially open the laptop. If you can see one, try to replace it and see if anything changes. There were many laptops with "suicide" batteries that would prevent the laptop from even powering up if the battery was dead.

 

[V.T.Marvin]

Thank you. I tried to peek into partially opened laptop, but did not see any battery, just a fan, some connectors, cables and metal shield of some kind.
I returned laptop its to owner as this is beyond my repair skill level.
He will dispose of it to the recycle point.
Thanks for your help.