RC14
Member
Does anyone have a manual or know the causes of a Plus Hardcard 20 1701 error (IBM PC 5150)? Thank you!
Does the 1701 happen when the case top is simply slid into position, or only after the rear screws have then been added and tightened ?
Imagine that sometimes, at 5150 power on, the spindle motor in the drive is unable to overcome 'head stiction' to spin the platter. If that possibility is what is happening, then perhaps you can detect that. When the platter is turning, I expect that you can hear the drive making a sound and that you can feel vibration on the drive's cover.When it does work it appears to be fine and I'm able to DIR it (if that's a verb), but then other times the entire computer just doesn't boot up.
The Hardcard designers would have allowed for a normal amount of heat in the case, but heat can be a symptom trigger, not the cause. Or, heat just makes symptom appearance more likely.Could it be due to the heat in the case?
There have been times when you have powered up your 5150 cold (has been powered off for hours) and observed the symptom. That suggests to me that heat is not the the symptom trigger.I've only ever tested it closed up, because I assume it's working ...
Because of your "even when the case isn't on", I take your "quite hot" to even apply when the drive is working. So I guess the question becomes, is your "quite hot" the norm or not. Hard drives can generate significant heat.I've noticed that the card becomes quite hot, even when the case isn't on ...
I’ve got one that I removed from a computer I bought (that is currently dead) and I was wanting to see if it had any interesting software on it. I stuck it in a 5160 and I got the same error. I gave it a technical tap (percussive maintenance?), thinking maybe something was seized, and it worked. It started working again. I decided to run spinrite on the drive to give it some exercise and move all of the components through their normal ranges, and it seems to be happy to work again. I have no idea how many years it sat on a shelf in the dead computer. I’m guessing 20 or so, since it was an OG compaq deskpro.
I've done some research, but haven't found anything about it sometimes working and sometimes not - but oh well, I guess I'll just test it more and try to narrow it down. I hope it's just intermittent stiction and that it'll clear up!