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PS/2 Model 30 and 30 MB HD

joelgraff

Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2018
Messages
40
Location
Illinois, USA
I pulled my old PS/2 Model 30 (8086) out of mothballs and discovered the 20 MB ESDI HDD was dead... I have access to a 30 MB ESDI, but it's a 34-pin connector, not a 20-pin, like the Model 30 requires. The control signals, from what I can tell, are very different between the two variations, but I thought I'd ask anyway - is it possible to run a 34-pin ESDI in a PS/2 that shipped with 20-pin ESDI? An ISA card addon, perhaps?
 
Those two styles of ESDI disks IBM used in the PS/2 line are known for bad capacitors on the drive's logic board. They aren't surface mount but miniature through-hole radials.
 
True, if you want to take the wimp way out and not actually try and fix your machine, plus you lose one of your three precious ISA slots and spend more money if you want to go with an XT-IDE.
 
Those two styles of ESDI disks IBM used in the PS/2 line are known for bad capacitors on the drive's logic board. They aren't surface mount but miniature through-hole radials.

The model 30 286 HD I fixed had bad SMT capacitors on the HD controller board (and not common values either). I had to use some through-hole capacitors to fix it and now it boots every time (still has a few bad sectors but that isn't controller board related). Now that PS/2 machines sell for more then just shipping I assumed people would start a recapping industry to support that platform (especially floppy drives).
 
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