VOGONS


First post, by ValleyGirl

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Rank Newbie
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Newbie

Hi Everyone,
Hopefully you guys can help - I am trying to revive an old ibm model 30 (xt version) so i can play all the fun windows 3.0 and dos games from yesteryear :0

anyway, here's what's happening, all original parts:

everything is plugged in and i get:
a 161 set date and time error - for the life of me i can't figure out how to set it, and the screen doesn't give me any clues.
right after that i get a 1701 fixed disk error. i am sure it's the hd. if i remove the hd the error goes away but alas no hd.
then is says non-system disk or disk error no doubt because there's nothing to boot.

but no matter what i put in the floppy drive it doesn't matter i get the same. ideas? this is the system put together. monitor, keyboard, hd, floppy, and riser card. ideas? i can't seem to get past this even if i put a boot disk in the floppy. i figured i just had to format and reinstall stuff on the hd but it doesn't appear to let me get that far. it doesn't let me get into a bios either but i forget if the mbs of this age even had one?

if i remove the hard drive, i get the 161 error, then it asks me to push F1 to continue. if I do, then it takes me to a picture of what looks to me like it asking me to put a disk in the drive. i do - but it doesn't appear to read it. nor is it obvious to me what next to do. i have tried pushing all of the f keys and they are commands but they don't do anything other than make the text appear on the screen.

i am a long time tech, but i will admit its been so long since i have monkeyed with any of this i have forgotten how a lot of this works. any help would be appreciated as i am ripping my hair out here! :0 thanks much!!!

Reply 1 of 2, by luckybob

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Rank l33t
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l33t

A 161 error is basically IBM's version of the cmos battery being dead. There is a dallas chip on the motherboard, it needs to be replaced.

Also, if you have the 8086 version, your floppy disk is going to be 800k ONLY. Here is a link to the setup and diagnostics disk: http://ps-2.kev009.com/selectpccbbs/ Make sure you clean the drive before you start using a lot of disks. Also check for bad caps in the floppy drive itself, its a common problem.

As for the hard drive... they are NOTORIOUSLY lousy drives and failed often. An XT will only accept the 20mb version. Aftermarket options are to watch ebay for a Seagate st-125L. They do pop up on ebay occasionally for cheap, but rarely work. I have one with about 1mb in bad sectors if you are desperate.

I have 6 of the model 25's, which are the same as the 30's except the monitor is built in.

edit:

lots of information here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg1ZSxPOb0A

It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.