VOGONS


First post, by jheronimus

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Hi, all

I'm looking to buy a Dolch PAC 586 luggable PC. Still waiting for some details on the particular machine for sale, but the seller already said that the PSU is not working.

My question is, how non-standard is a PSU in this machine? I know it uses a regular AT motherboard, so maybe the PSU is simply LPX or something?

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Reply 1 of 4, by CkRtech

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Hoping someone can help you, but I assume that there is a bit of a unique factor to it - either in the power supply or prior to it simply because it has to drive the monitor.

What would really be great is if it is simply a blown fuse. Would you be up for restoring the original power supply should you get a killer deal on one with a bad PSU (like the one you mentioned)?

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Reply 2 of 4, by jheronimus

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No, unfortunately, I'm not up to that. So I'll really need to find some sort of a replacement

I've found this teardown video of PAC 486, you can see the PSU at this timestamp. Doesn't look like anything special to me, except for the dimensions. And it looks like there is no separate connector for the LCD, so maybe it just uses molex?

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Reply 3 of 4, by jheronimus

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The PSU in question turned out to be Skynet DLH-920C-1. So yeah, looks like it's not going to be easy to replace. It's actually some sort of an industrial AT power supply with a built-in power switch, so the PSU with shipping will probably cost as much as the whole computer (and in total it will cost as much as a non-broken Dolch).

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Reply 4 of 4, by dtech

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Just came across your thread in a search engine query. I've repaired/refurbished 50 plus Dolch units of various model types over the last 10 plus years. Generally speaking any older Dolch power supply will need to have it's electrolytic capacitors replaced with comparable or higher quality capacitors. There are several additional potential esoteric problems that affect the various models of the Dolch luggables, but virtually any older computer that uses a switch mode power supply will need the caps replaced for reliable operation. If you are in Moscow Russia, you might want to try http://monitor.net.ru/ and see if you can find a local electronics technician that might be willing to replace the caps for you on the side for a few rubles. I happen to know that http://www.sterlingservices.com has some carcasses of the Dolch Pentium based models in their boneyard if you find you need just about any part. These units won't be listed on their site but they do likely have a similar PSU that they could refurbish and sell you, although just about like any company selling hard to find parts you may need to make an attractive offer to make it worth their while to refurbish/test/warranty a PSU versus buying one as-is for a more marginal price. Good luck if you end up purchasing the unit.