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I found my old PS2, model 8525-004.

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fred3rd

Experienced Member
Joined
Apr 29, 2006
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213
Location
Central Pennsylvania U.S.A.
Good evening all. After I was corresponding with Alex i got curious. I started cleaning my garage today. I found my old PS2, model 8525-004. I brought it up to the computer room and threw it on the bench. Can anybody help me get started with this project? It has 2x 3.5 fdd's. The specs I found sat no hdd (from factory). Can I get into setup to verify this. there is a small horizontal menu accross the bottom of the screen. When I first boot it I am instructed to insert a disk into the left fdd. I put in dos 5.0 boot but it doesn't seem to recognize it. When I input one of the choices in the menu I get "Undefined Line Number"

Any suggestioons would be greatly appreciated.
:confused: Fred :confused:
 
update

update

The command "cls" clears the screen. The menu numbers seem to coincide with "F" keys. After you use them is post "ok" ?

Are you saying this IBM is running Basic? Is that the same syntax the IIe uses?

Fred
 
As far as I know, to a great deal, but not entirely, IBM and Apple Basics are similar. Simple programs like this should work on both?

10 PRINT"HELLO WORLD"
15 FOR I=1 TO 15
20 PRINT"COUNTDOWN: ",15-I
25 NEXT I

On more advanced matters, they are likely to differ.
 
Most likely the CMOS battery is dead. PS/2 machines will boot into BASIC if they have lost their configuration settings. You are gonna need a model 25 reference disk and probably a new battery. Google "MCA Mafia" Those guys have images of all the reference disks and should have yours too, even though its not an MCA machine. Lots of good info on Tavi's, Wendt's and Ohland's pages.
 
carlsson said:
As far as I know, to a great deal, but not entirely, IBM and Apple Basics are similar. Simple programs like this should work on both?

10 PRINT"HELLO WORLD"
15 FOR I=1 TO 15
20 PRINT"COUNTDOWN: ",15-I
25 NEXT I

On more advanced matters, they are likely to differ.
Click to expand...

Anders
You are so right. I just punched in some dialog and it worked. Mow I'll have to get out my Basic books. So that is how IBM competed with the Apple 2s.

Is this on a chip like the IIe ? (Basic that is)
 
I'd say IBM included a ROM Basic (from IBM PC via XT, AT to PS/2 series?) because in 1981, almost all other computers (both business and home models) had a ROM Basic. Sometime in the late 80'ties, as other companies had dropped this, even IBM and clone manufacturers could remove it too.
 
dpatten said:
Most likely the CMOS battery is dead. PS/2 machines will boot into BASIC if they have lost their configuration settings. You are gonna need a model 25 reference disk and probably a new battery. Google "MCA Mafia" Those guys have images of all the reference disks and should have yours too, even though its not an MCA machine. Lots of good info on Tavi's, Wendt's and Ohland's pages.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I just don't remember if the Model 25 (8086) has a battery. It doesn't use a 'reference disk' per se. There is a 'Starter Diskette' though (I can send ya an image). It contains diags & some other stuff I don't recall.
If, however, the machine is not seeing the floppy, then you won't be able to run anything until it gets booted.

--T
 
Terry Yager said:
On initial power-up, it should prompt you to insert a bootdisk and then hit F1 key. If you wait too long, it'll jump to BASIC.

--T
Click to expand...
It does ask for a disk and F1. I left it run awhile and it didn't jump to basic though. If you put a disk in it does, even a dos boot disk.
 
fred3rd said:
It does default to Basic. I cleaned both floppt drives but nothing. I guess maybe if I look up more commands, I might be able to access the A:.
Click to expand...

From the OK prompt, (having created a program), type:

SAVE A:[or B:]FILENAME.EXT

After clearing memory with a 'NEW' command, then see if the program can be reloaded with a command line like:

LOAD A:FILENAME.EXT

That should do sum'n for ya, if the drive(s) work at all.

--T
 
OK After slowing it down a little and redoing everything, I figured out the Basic is on a 1.44 mb disk I made from MCA MAFIA. It's supposed to be a Starter/Reference Disk. So I know two things now...
1. At least one floppy drive works
2. It does support 1.44mb hd disk

When I boot with any other disk, I just get a blinking, unresponsive cursor.
 
It should say '1.44' on the blue 'eject' button if it is HD. It's possible that the image was a 720K image that wrote itself to your HD disk (therefore turning it into a DD disk). That could explain why other 1.44 disks don't work in it.

--T
 
For whom that may be monitoring my dilema,
The machine will not boot with out inserting a disk and pressing F1. This is only a ritual. Most times it just defaults to IBM Basic ver c1.10. I even tried dos 3.3, 5.0, 6.22. I read that a dead cmos battery could cause this in my particular model. I opened her up and looked for one. I found nothing obvious replaceable or otherwise. Who knows? Time to call it a night. Thanks everyone who offered me information and sugestions today.
 
Fred, I checked my model 25, and I cannot find a cmos battery either.
Perhaps you could connect and external battery to the four pin cmos battery connector?
 
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