Marty C
Member
[edit] Oops...posted this to the wrong forum. Should be in Handhelds/Portables.
I got this Zenith SupersPort 286 off eBay a few weeks ago, and after a new internal battery and BIOS setup, it was working fine. I was installing an app (Band in a Box) that involved unzipping and copying lots of files from a floppy disk to the hard drive, and it stopped mid-installation. I turned it off, and now when I turn it on, it does not boot nor can I get to the BIOS setup screen.
When I turn it on, here’s what happens:
-Screen lights up, but I see no characters
-Caps/Num/Pad/Scroll lock lights flash twice
-Power light flashes twice
-Hard drive light flashes once
-Hard drive spins (noisy)
I tried disconnecting the hard and floppy drives, both singly and together, but nothing changed. I did a quick inspection of the power supply and didn’t see any capacitor leaks, but I didn’t take things apart to get a closer look. It has what appears to be the original Conner CP-3023 20 Mb hard drive and PC DOS 6.3. No battery, but the power adapter is good.
Any suggestions on next steps? For some reason, I’m drawn to these old Zenith laptops. I have a Z181 that works great, but I haven’t had much luck with the few 286s I’ve tried to keep running.
Thanks!
Marty
I got this Zenith SupersPort 286 off eBay a few weeks ago, and after a new internal battery and BIOS setup, it was working fine. I was installing an app (Band in a Box) that involved unzipping and copying lots of files from a floppy disk to the hard drive, and it stopped mid-installation. I turned it off, and now when I turn it on, it does not boot nor can I get to the BIOS setup screen.
When I turn it on, here’s what happens:
-Screen lights up, but I see no characters
-Caps/Num/Pad/Scroll lock lights flash twice
-Power light flashes twice
-Hard drive light flashes once
-Hard drive spins (noisy)
I tried disconnecting the hard and floppy drives, both singly and together, but nothing changed. I did a quick inspection of the power supply and didn’t see any capacitor leaks, but I didn’t take things apart to get a closer look. It has what appears to be the original Conner CP-3023 20 Mb hard drive and PC DOS 6.3. No battery, but the power adapter is good.
Any suggestions on next steps? For some reason, I’m drawn to these old Zenith laptops. I have a Z181 that works great, but I haven’t had much luck with the few 286s I’ve tried to keep running.
Thanks!
Marty
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