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IBM PS/2 Model 55SX (8555) won't boot diskettes!

K

KvackEvolution

Member
Joined
Apr 23, 2016
Messages
14
Location
Halmstad, Sweden
Hi!

Im glad for finding this community today, cuz I really need help with my 386 IBM.

Anyway my IBM has that classic "Change Dallas" and get reference error messages (161, 163) when i boot it up. I have bought a new Dallas from Ebay and changed it, so that's not the case. So then it needs the reference diskette. I downloaded one (ver. 1.05) from a computer group here in Sweden (ps2.infania.net) and then i putted it on a diskette. But it won't boot it. It just stays at the error screen with the white book that says IBM and the red stop OK marking. I try to press F1 or Escape. If i press F1 it brings me to IBM Basic. I've tried different diskettes and floppy stations. It's just the same. It just beeping 2 times and then it tries to read, but no.


What is the problem ?

Regards
Kvack
 
First, did you write the diskette image to another floppy (not just copy it). It's also possible that it (either image or floppy) is corrupt. Look at the page below for the download for this machine and try it..first save the .exe file to your hard drive and then execute it (preferably from another dos-based machine):

http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/alf/ps2_55sx/

If none of this works it could also be that your floppy drive(s), cable, or controller could be bad as well...
 
T-R-A said:
First, did you write the diskette image to another floppy (not just copy it). It's also possible that it (either image or floppy) is corrupt. Look at the page below for the download for this machine and try it..first save the .exe file to your hard drive and then execute it (preferably from another dos-based machine):

http://john.ccac.rwth-aachen.de:8000/alf/ps2_55sx/


If none of this works it could also be that your floppy drive(s), cable, or controller could be bad as well...
Click to expand...
I used Winimage to pack the .img up and read it to the diskette. And i forgot to tell that i have also tried other sites/images than the Swedish one, inclusive that one you said.
 
Here's a video when i try to boot it with diskette.


NOTE! Its does the same thing with the built in floppy

And my floppy drives isnt broken. The acer in the video was the computer i had the floppy inside first fully working!
 
Did you try booting the reference disk in your other non-PS/2 machine?

It should boot to the blue and white IBM screen and prompt you to press enter to continue. Pressing enter will give you an error message that it "cannot run on this machine" (the non-PS/2) computer.

If it doesn't get that far and boot up, then you need to figure out if the problem is the image, the diskette or the drive. It might be a combination of more than one.

<*> Jim
 
I am pretty sure this is a floppy drive problem. From what I remember most PS/2 machines suck air in through the floppy slot with the result the heads get a lot of muck passing over them. Most floppy drives have a flap to keep the muck out but not the smaller PS/2 ones. If the diskette you have created boots in a VM (VMware Player, Oracle VMBox) then that's most likely the case. I have a larger Microchannel Server which had a similar problem. After cleaning the drive with a cleaning disk it works fine. Of course you can try a cotton bud and alcohol but getting pure cleaning alcohol these days can be tricky...
 
g4ugm said:
After cleaning the drive with a cleaning disk it works fine. Of course you can try a cotton bud and alcohol but getting pure cleaning alcohol these days can be tricky...
Click to expand...
I've been using regular Isopropyl alcohol for 25 years and have always had excellent results and I use lots of floppies regularly so I need to clean the drives quite often. But I always use a cleaning disk -- it's too easy to snare/damage the heads with anything else.
 
I have an IBM Model 30 286 and I have the same issue. Start disk that I have downloaded and copied to disk using DOS 5.0 will not open to the IBM screen. I can also open the install program as KvackEvolution mentioned. I can read/write to the diskette drive. I have no harddrive installed and one video error 2401 (pink text or pink background with black letters as if the video is stuck in CGA colors) that I have to solve.
 
MrSleestak said:
I have an IBM Model 30 286 and I have the same issue. Start disk that I have downloaded and copied to disk using DOS 5.0 will not open to the IBM screen.
Click to expand...
Does the disk boot on another machine?

Did you write the disk using an image tool?

One way of doing it:
Say you have a Starter disk image from: https://www.ardent-tool.com/disks/
Using DskImage from: https://www.brutman.com/DskImage/
Unzip everything
To write the image to a formatted 1.44mb disk in A: run:
DSKIMAGE.COM mod30286.img 0:80:2:18
 
Have the same machine and my floppy drive does not work either. A common fault is the smd capacitors apparently. I was only able to get a gotek working to boot disk images. Have not revisited it since.
 
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