First post, by RogrWilco
Hi! So, as part of my journey into retro computing I bought an IBM PS/1 2011 off eBay. This was the first PC my family owned, so I thought it would be a great place to start a possible collection. Maybe not, it seems. Though it was tested as working by the seller, powering on and booting up successfully, it didn't work when I took it out of the box. It won't even power on. I have a hunch it's the power supply, which is built into the monitor of this model, but I have no way to really know. See, while I have a fair bit of know-how when it comes to computers, I know almost nothing about electronics. If I opened up the monitor I wouldn't really know what to look for or how to fix it. I'm happy to try to learn, but don't really know where to start. I'm hoping someone here might be able to help me diagnose the problem and point me in the right direction toward fixing it.
This video shows what happens when I try to power it up. No lights, no fans, but, the first time you turn it on, it makes this electric twang or very brief hum, as heard in the video. It doesn't make this sound on successive tries, unless you leave it for 15 minutes or so, in which case you can hear the electric twang again. This is the only clue I have as to what might be wrong. I'm willing to open up the monitor, though I've been kind of scared off by what I've read online about possibly killing myself by touching an anode on the monitor or capacitor in the power supply. Still, I'd do it if it'll help figure out what's wrong with this thing and possibly fix it.
Wasn't looking to get so into the weeds so soon after first diving into this hobby, but here we are. Hoping you folks can help.