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Ibm ps/2 model 30 286 harddisk options

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First post, by seob

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I recently got a ibm ps/2 model 30 286. It works great but i would love to add a harddisk, but there are a few problems. First the intergrated controller is a esdi controller, and i don't have esdi drives.
I could add a harddisk controller card, but the psu doesn't have a molex plug.
So i would love to hear what my options are.

Reply 1 of 23, by soviet conscript

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You know whats funny. I just yesterday wrote a blog entry on the Model 30 286. I messed around with it for several hours yesterday and previously. I have a factory hard drive in mine that hasnt given me any issues and I considered replacing it with a IDE or SCSI drive but decided not to. In all that time not once did I notice there were no molex connectors on the PSU.

that said, excellent question. replace the PSU? will a standard PSU fit i wonder.

Reply 2 of 23, by PeterLI

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Last edited by PeterLI on 2016-12-15, 19:53. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 3 of 23, by seob

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PeterLI wrote:

I would leave everything as is. As long as the FDD works you can boot with INTERSVR/INTERLNK and use another PC's HDD to launch games / systems. Maybe not very fast but the 10MHZ 80286 in it limits you to early / mid period DOS games anyway. 🤣

This system comes closest to what i had back in the day, a Philips P2230 286-12.5Mhz 1Mb ram 256Kb VGA (later added), 20 Mb HDD, 3.5" FDD, and a 8 bit adlib clone (later added).
Already played a few off my old disks, and until now i only found 1 disk to be defective, a 720Kb maxell that i converted to a 1.44Mb disk back then using a drill to cut the hole.
Going to try and install my sb ct2950 tonight, but have to see how i get it running, using only 1 diskdrive and no harddisk.
Never used Intersvr/interlnk. Do you need a lan adapter for that or is it used with the serial port.
I have a few rs232 fiber converter that i need to test, so that would be a nice test case.

Reply 4 of 23, by soviet conscript

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I actually asked your question in another forum because I was curious myself and I got 2 answers

1) find a 16 bit ISA hardcard (hard drive on a ISA card) that does not require a power connector
2) swap the insides of an AT power supply with the PS/2's power supply

Reply 5 of 23, by seob

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Thanks for asking. I guess i keep the system as original, unless i can find a esdi harddisk for little money. Don't want to swap the psu, since that would make the front power switch useless.

Been trying to install a sb16 pnp, but since the system has only 1 drive this is impossible.

Reply 6 of 23, by soviet conscript

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I have a sb16 in mine but it's jumper configured

Reply 7 of 23, by PeterLI

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Last edited by PeterLI on 2016-12-15, 19:54. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 8 of 23, by seob

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Think i'm going to try a ide card with a compact flash card

Reply 9 of 23, by Rawrl

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You could also just hack a molex connector + sufficient wire off of a dead PSU, then solder it to the underside of the power connector.

http://www.mcamafia.de/mcapage0/addpowr2.htm

Here's a writeup that includes pinouts. They suggest splicing into the PSU cables, but I've always found it easier to bodge things on to solder points.

Reply 10 of 23, by seob

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Found this solution for replacing the harddisk with a xt-isa compactflash adapter. Looks intresting, but you need to solder everything yourself. You also need to flash it's bios. That a bit of a letdown since i don't have the stuff to do this.
Anyway, did somebody already test this board?
https://www.lo-tech.co.uk/wiki/Lo-tech_ISA_Co … ll_of_Materials

Reply 11 of 23, by PeterLI

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Last edited by PeterLI on 2016-12-15, 19:54. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 12 of 23, by seob

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PeterLI wrote:

I bought a PS/2 8530 8086 last month. The ESDI works but is only 20MB. So I installed a ST-01 and ST-296 combo. Works great. Granted: the HDD is too big to be inside and I use a spare AT PSU to power it. And the 50PIN SCSI cable comes out the rear through an ISA slot.

I did see that. But i rather have a solution that is contained within the case, preferably using modern hardware, since those old drive are likely going to break. Especially those 20 and 30 mb harddisk. What i have read is that those are not very reliable compared to the 80 mb up versions.

Reply 13 of 23, by seob

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Ordered parts to build the lo-tech xt-cf controller. Ordered everything double so i can build 2 cards. Keep you updated when i have al the stuff and when i'm going to install it. This solution doesn't need aditional power, so it's perfect for the ibm ps/2 model 30 series.

Reply 14 of 23, by deksar

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Seob, I have the exactly same situation, got a mint IBM PS/2 Model 30 286, harddiskless.. Trying to order lo-tech's XT-CF controller. But before I do so, I wonder what have you done later? 😀 I'd love to hear the complete story.
Best.

Last edited by deksar on 2019-01-26, 18:29. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 15 of 23, by Super_Relay

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I had one of these back in the day. The Australian delivered ones were manufactured locally at a place called Wangaratta about an hours drive from where i live.

10mhz intel 280, 1mb ram 20mb hdd

I put an ess688 sound card in it that happened to have a genuine OPL3 chip on it.

Such a good PC, always fond memories of it

Reply 16 of 23, by mv_cz

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I had this exact PS/2 too, sometimes in 1996 bought as refurbished computer for next to nothing. It was my own first PC. They had tons of these PS/2 systems back then. Even then the original harddrive was very slow, compared to other simmilar systems with IDE drives. I was poor student, so I had no money to buy something "advanced" like soundcard, but when I earned some money I exchanged the whole thing for PS/2 55/SX model. What a disappointment when I realized, that there is no ISA bus, only some weird brown slots (MCA 😀), so impossible to upgrade it with soundcard or SVGA card. Still I've been using this 386 for about two years and then had it under bed till 2002 or so. Donated it to my uncle who was buying some new apple computer and got discount, when he brougt an old computer. It was still working, but after such long time of inactivity, you had to punch the hard drive pretty hard after boot up to release heads, spin-up and start working 😉

Reply 17 of 23, by seob

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What to say, work got in the way, so i still haven't build it. I now have a parts list for a local supplier so i can order the parts, but i think it will take a few months before i am ready to try it.

Reply 18 of 23, by deksar

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any update on this?

Reply 19 of 23, by Stepinwolf

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I have an IBM PS/2 model 30 286 that has had the folloing upgradeds. The processor has been upgraded using a Kingston SX Now board which changes the processor to an intel 386SX-33 processor. The memory has been maxed out at 4 MB. An 8 bit IDE adapter has been installed that plugs into the riser card. It provides both the standard IDE 40 pin connector and a cable with a 4 pin molex connector to power the IDE hard drive. I have also soldered on some standard cabling from an regular PC that can provide two of the molex type drive power connectors and 1 floppy connector. I am hoping to swap out the 8 bit card for a 16 bit ISA card which has both a 40Pin IDE connector for the harddrive and the 34 pin standard floppy connector. It is not working yet. There are a lot of jumpers on that board. There was no Plug and Play back in that time frame. With the 8 bit card, I was able to connect an 80 GB Maxstor hard disk, but it is only recognized as a 500 MB drive. Still compared to the original 20 MB drive, that is not bad. https://woofinstepper.tumblr.com/

Last edited by Stepinwolf on 2019-03-20, 21:05. Edited 1 time in total.