bettablue
Veteran Member
Sorry for the length of this posting, but I do believe in providing as much info as possible to make sure things are crystal clear.
A couple of weeks ago, someone in VCF gave me another IBM computer to add to my vintage computer collection; an IBM 5160 XT computer with CGA video, Tandon hard disc, with matching full height Tandon floppy drive, and a couple of additional expansion cards. It's a nice match to the XT I got from Hargle that my wife uses exclusively. (Ever since we got it and I showed her how to use the backpack drive I bought for her birthday, she has been playing as many games as she can get. I can't touch her XT for any reason other than to fix it if something goes wrong. LOL!!! So far, I've been lucky. Ha!) The outside of the computer is actually not that bad either. Surely, my benefactor got this at a pretty good deal. What looked like an ugly spot where paint had worn away from the case upper ended up being little more than some kind of stain. I had to use a the "scrubbing bubbles" but eventually all of the dirt and grime came clean. There are some very minor scratches along some of the edges, specifically on the plastic portions of the cases upper, but still, this is a good looking machine. Trust me, I've seen worse.
Any way, at first, while attempting to boot it up, neither the floppy, nor the hard disc drives would work, but after some minor troubleshooting; which involved removing all of the expansion cards and re-inserting them, we were finally able to boot to the floppy drive, and if we wanted; BASIC. However whenever I tried to boot the computer directly from the hard disc, or do anything at all with the hard disc, I get a 1701 error. The red indicator LED illuminates like everything is fine, but the computer tells me that there is no drive installed.
I then did a search on VCF to find quite a bit of information regarding the 1701; which brought up this latest thread... (among many others - this one just seemed more pertinent)
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?36674-IBM-5150-Hard-disk-error-1701
After reading some of the responses in the thread, the very first thing I checked was the power supply's output; which turned out to be a full 20% below specs. What is supposed to have 5 volts, the power supply is only delivering 4, and what is supposed to be 12 volts, the PSU is supplying only 9 1/2. (Voltages were read using a Simpson 260 analog multimeter which has been tested and proven to be in good and correct calibration) I also tried to perform a low level format, but the 1701 error persists.
At this point I don't know which direction to take. I'm not even sure if the power supply and hard disc are original to this computer. I suspect not. The power supply is definitely not original. As you will see in the attached photos, the HDD is a 10 Meg half height Tandon MFM mounted in a full height frame. The faceplate doesn't appear that it was the original either, as it was attached using a pretty strong double sided tape. Finally: the LED does illuminate when I attempt to access the drive. So the problem could still be the power supply, or the drive. It's hard to tell without trying a replacement for one, or the other. I am also attaching a photo of the video controller in case it's needed.
Yes, I know my 5161 expansion unit has both a compatible power supply and hard disc. But I'm not willing to strip any of the internal or peripherals from my 5150 + 5161 system. It is too much work for me to manipulate the main units. I had enough trouble just moving the monitor over to the XT which is roughly about 5 or six feet away. (Remember, I am the Real one armed man, and have to use a wheelchair on top of that. My best friend isn't in much better shape either, after his stroke.)
OK, I hope I've explained this well enough. I can provide more pictures if needed. I don't want to go any further with this combination of power supply and HDD, simply because I am not certain if the 20% lower output from the PSU is enough to keep the hard disc from spinning up to within operating tolerances.
Now what? Should I go ahead and buy a replacement PSU? If so, does anyone here have one I can purchase in the next couple of weeks for a reasonable amount? Or do you think the drive is the primary fault; in which case, I have access to another full height Control Data 30 Meg MFM drive with matching Western Digital controller at a very good price.
Is there something else I should look at or into?
TIA
A couple of weeks ago, someone in VCF gave me another IBM computer to add to my vintage computer collection; an IBM 5160 XT computer with CGA video, Tandon hard disc, with matching full height Tandon floppy drive, and a couple of additional expansion cards. It's a nice match to the XT I got from Hargle that my wife uses exclusively. (Ever since we got it and I showed her how to use the backpack drive I bought for her birthday, she has been playing as many games as she can get. I can't touch her XT for any reason other than to fix it if something goes wrong. LOL!!! So far, I've been lucky. Ha!) The outside of the computer is actually not that bad either. Surely, my benefactor got this at a pretty good deal. What looked like an ugly spot where paint had worn away from the case upper ended up being little more than some kind of stain. I had to use a the "scrubbing bubbles" but eventually all of the dirt and grime came clean. There are some very minor scratches along some of the edges, specifically on the plastic portions of the cases upper, but still, this is a good looking machine. Trust me, I've seen worse.
Any way, at first, while attempting to boot it up, neither the floppy, nor the hard disc drives would work, but after some minor troubleshooting; which involved removing all of the expansion cards and re-inserting them, we were finally able to boot to the floppy drive, and if we wanted; BASIC. However whenever I tried to boot the computer directly from the hard disc, or do anything at all with the hard disc, I get a 1701 error. The red indicator LED illuminates like everything is fine, but the computer tells me that there is no drive installed.
I then did a search on VCF to find quite a bit of information regarding the 1701; which brought up this latest thread... (among many others - this one just seemed more pertinent)
http://www.vintage-computer.com/vcforum/showthread.php?36674-IBM-5150-Hard-disk-error-1701
After reading some of the responses in the thread, the very first thing I checked was the power supply's output; which turned out to be a full 20% below specs. What is supposed to have 5 volts, the power supply is only delivering 4, and what is supposed to be 12 volts, the PSU is supplying only 9 1/2. (Voltages were read using a Simpson 260 analog multimeter which has been tested and proven to be in good and correct calibration) I also tried to perform a low level format, but the 1701 error persists.
At this point I don't know which direction to take. I'm not even sure if the power supply and hard disc are original to this computer. I suspect not. The power supply is definitely not original. As you will see in the attached photos, the HDD is a 10 Meg half height Tandon MFM mounted in a full height frame. The faceplate doesn't appear that it was the original either, as it was attached using a pretty strong double sided tape. Finally: the LED does illuminate when I attempt to access the drive. So the problem could still be the power supply, or the drive. It's hard to tell without trying a replacement for one, or the other. I am also attaching a photo of the video controller in case it's needed.
Yes, I know my 5161 expansion unit has both a compatible power supply and hard disc. But I'm not willing to strip any of the internal or peripherals from my 5150 + 5161 system. It is too much work for me to manipulate the main units. I had enough trouble just moving the monitor over to the XT which is roughly about 5 or six feet away. (Remember, I am the Real one armed man, and have to use a wheelchair on top of that. My best friend isn't in much better shape either, after his stroke.)
OK, I hope I've explained this well enough. I can provide more pictures if needed. I don't want to go any further with this combination of power supply and HDD, simply because I am not certain if the 20% lower output from the PSU is enough to keep the hard disc from spinning up to within operating tolerances.
Now what? Should I go ahead and buy a replacement PSU? If so, does anyone here have one I can purchase in the next couple of weeks for a reasonable amount? Or do you think the drive is the primary fault; in which case, I have access to another full height Control Data 30 Meg MFM drive with matching Western Digital controller at a very good price.
Is there something else I should look at or into?
TIA
