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Wtb: Ibm 5150

M

maceffects

Experienced Member
Joined
May 18, 2013
Messages
67
Location
NW Indiana
I am looking for a fairly clean 5150 IBM System, prefer complete with monitor and keyboard, had one growing up and want to tinker with one. Really want one with a factory hard drive!! Might consider 5160 if the deal was right...


Also, would be willing to trade, I have all kinds of early Apple items... Or simply cash :D
 
I looked on ebay most people were selling them without testing them and/or they were junk. I just figured it be worth a shot here since its a fairly common vintage computer.
 
maceffects said:
I looked on ebay most people were selling them without testing them and/or they were junk. I just figured it be worth a shot here since its a fairly common vintage computer.
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It's a fairly common machine, but the working factory hard drive is getting to be more of a problem year after year. They were designed to last 5 years, not 30 ...

You might have to accept an alternative and just make hard drive seeking noises to yourself. (We really do need a primitive buzzer/beeper on the XT-IDE cards to similar hard drive seeking noise.)
 
True, I know its just as hard to find an older Mac with a working HD as it would be a old IBM, I just want one like I had years ago. I don't mind paying fair for one either.
 
Bah, hard drives are easy to fix.

The most common mechanical failure mode in my experience is a stuck spindle bearing. After years of sitting stationary, the lubricant hardens, and "seizes" the spindle. Most older drives have an external motor/flywheel combo, you just have to give it a little bit of a push, then run the drive a while, spin it down, change its orientation, let it run a while, etc. This allows the lubricant to warm up, re-liquefy, and re-disperse throughout the bearing housing.

Second most common mechanical failure mode in my experience is that the heads don't want to move. That one is more tricky to recover from, though sometimes it's just that the stepper doesn't have enough torque to break free from its similar "freeze-up" like the spindle motor gets. The other variant is a little less typical, the heads actually stick to the platter wherever they landed when the machine last last shut down.

This is why it should be spun first (before trying to move the heads) as most head assemblies would seem to be stronger at resisting damage from platter spinning them loose than seeking them loose.

When all else fails, clean your bench, make sure your air isn't dusty, clean your hands and carefully disassemble the drive. Note, if you take the platters out, you'll have to LLF again. Going that far is certainly not for the mechanically inept or feint of heart.
 
I've got lots of old drives that have failed and for most of them the reason is a Track 0 issue. They spin, they seek, but they just can't be formatted.
 
Stone said:
I've got lots of old drives that have failed and for most of them the reason is a Track 0 issue. They spin, they seek, but they just can't be formatted.
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Same here; IMO, anybody who says
TX_Dj said:
Bah, hard drives are easy to fix.
The most common mechanical failure mode in my experience is a stuck spindle bearing....
Second most common mechanical failure mode in my experience is that the heads don't want to move.
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has either been very lucky or his experience is much different from mine and most people's.

I can't say I've ever had a seized spindle bearing so far, but I have had a few Seagates with heads stuck to platters and a couple of the notorious large Micropolis drives with the positioner stuck to the gooey stop, but by far the majority of my failed drives have read/write/home errors.
 
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maceffects said:
I looked on ebay most people were selling them without testing them and/or they were junk. I just figured it be worth a shot here since its a fairly common vintage computer.
Click to expand...

It's a bit of a dilemma, the more tested and working a machine is the higher the price. I bought mine untested and without a monitor, I think I got the guy to power it on and it did that. When I got it, it worked fine, just luck I guess. Mine just had the dual floppy drives, no hard drive. But then I added an XTIDE. So best of both worlds, an original 5150 without a hard drive so it retains the original configuration, but practical to use with a flash hard drive.
 
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I have 3 of the old Ibms with the 2 5 1/4 drives

I have 3 of the old Ibms with the 2 5 1/4 drives

I have 3 of them I know one is a 5150 I will need to pull out my old monitor to test it. What would you be willing to pay shipping is extra I also have a 20 meg hard drive and the card as well as some old isa a cards.
 
"I've got lots of old drives that have failed and for most of them the reason is a Track 0 issue. They spin, they seek, but they just can't be formatted. "

Has anybody ever tried disassembling a drive and flipping the platter with track 0 on it? Just curious. :)
 
The chances on you being able to disassemble the drive, freeing the platters so you can turn them, putting them back together, and having something that works are nonexistent.

Even on the crudest, oldest drive you are not going to be able to do it.
 
MikeS said:
Same here; IMO, anybody who says has either been very lucky or his experience is much different from mine and most people's.

I can't say I've ever had a seized spindle bearing so far, but I have had a few Seagates with heads stuck to platters and a couple of the notorious large Micropolis drives with the positioner stuck to the gooey stop, but by far the majority of my failed drives have read/write/home errors.
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Interestingly I've had the same experience over the last two years - stuck spindles (not heads) and needing low level formats - with 5.25" Winchester drives that is. I haven't had a stuck head yet. The stuck spindles so far are always the 'we found it buried in the storage pile from ten years ago' drives. They're also not stuck, just the motor can't quite spin them anymore, once relubed they fire up.

I wonder if it's a case of luck, or if the bad drives died already. Drives I have running at the moment are:

NEC D5126 - I have 3 - one was dropped on concrete, the other two run like new
Seagate ST225 - I have 2 - both run like new (maybe a bit more noise) after a LLF
Seagate ST412 - I have 2 - both needed oil and LLF but run great now
Segate ST238 - I have 1 - works fine, but I got that off another collector
Segate ST251-1 - works like a champion
Miniscribe 30Mb - I have 1 - I hate it, it has bad sectors and is louder than my neighbour when that guy comes over, and it had to be rotated by hand to start with, but it still boots DOS!
Tandon 20Mb - took a few hits of the power switch, made some bad noises, but after ten minutes of spinning it's 'like new' , boots like a champion

So besides that 1 NEC, which has had the heads smashed off, I still haven't had one that I couldn't installed in to a PC and running reliably (debatable for the Miniscribe though).

Of course cheap IDE drives is a different story, and I'd still avoid Miniscribe like a disease.
 
mbbrutman said:
The chances on you being able to disassemble the drive, freeing the platters so you can turn them, putting them back together, and having something that works are nonexistent.

Even on the crudest, oldest drive you are not going to be able to do it.
Click to expand...

I wonder if somebody could adjust the track 0 sensor on some models to actually be track 1?
But even then, if it's a bad head, you're still stuffed.

OP - good luck finding what you're after, personally for a first-vintage (if it is you first PC) I'd recommend a 386 in an old style case. Often people buy a 5150 or 5160 without realising the limitations, workarounds, and complexity of some things. 386 is when things got much easier, but old enough to give you that same vintage feel - worth thinking about anywho :)
 
Over the years I've generally accepted the thing that if you open a hard drive it would be toast because of it's exposure to a dust-intensive polluted atmosphere in your workspace. The common work-around suggestion was to cover yourself in some tent-like structure with a HEPA filter devise. Was this only folklore or can one rescue a dead computer, like the many dead FM HDDs I have. Is there any site which gives you a step by step procedure ?

L


MikeS said:
Same here; IMO, anybody who says has either been very lucky or his experience is much different from mine and most people's.

I can't say I've ever had a seized spindle bearing so far, but I have had a few Seagates with heads stuck to platters and a couple of the notorious large Micropolis drives with the positioner stuck to the gooey stop, but by far the majority of my failed drives have read/write/home errors.
Click to expand...
 
A 5150 with working factory HD, or at least an upgraded system with a drive from before 1987 by a third party, would go for $350+ on ebay.com. Suggestion....by a nice working 5150 with dual drives first. Much cheaper. Then find a working drive controller and harddrive separately.
 
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