VOGONS


First post, by EvieSigma

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I just got this Packard Bell Legend 2133 in from eBay today, rather unexpectedly, and it is...missing some parts. There is no bracket/rails for the 3.5" floppy drive to attach to and no riser card to install ISA cards into either. Is there someone in the VOGONS community who owns a Packard Bell of this case style and can take internal pictures for me of the 3.5" floppy drive mounting arrangement and the riser card that I need to track down?

Here are some pictures of my unit, for reference:

NmJzx1k.jpg

a0V2sHb.jpg

uBYOaDc.jpg

Reply 1 of 10, by OzzFan

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That's the same case as my first 486! Yours looks to be a newer model though. I'm terrible at taking pictures (and it's currently 3:30AM here), but I hope this helps:

PB400-riser.jpg
Riser card with model number

PB400-floppy-assembly-side.jpg
Side view of floppy assembly

PB400-floppy-assembly-top.jpg
Top view of floppy assembly

Do you need pictures with different views or more details?

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Reply 2 of 10, by EvieSigma

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Yeah actually, I need a picture of how the power switch from the power supply gets to the front of the case. I'm suspecting my machine had its power supply replaced as the power supply has a push-button built right into it that would be impossible to reach from the front of the case.

Reply 4 of 10, by Caluser2000

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EvieSigma wrote on 2021-01-01, 15:45:

Yeah actually, I need a picture of how the power switch from the power supply gets to the front of the case. I'm suspecting my machine had its power supply replaced as the power supply has a push-button built right into it that would be impossible to reach from the front of the case.

It should be easy enough to run a set of leads from the psu to the front of the case.

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Reply 5 of 10, by EvieSigma

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Ah, so I'm definitely missing that arm too. Damn, this is going to be harder to restore than I thought. Custom brackets and plastic parts are made of unobtanium, especially on a relatively rare machine like this!

Reply 6 of 10, by EvieSigma

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I actually just found this Zenith 5-slot riser that looks like it might work...it's cheap enough I'm tempted to just buy it and take the chance. If it really just straight up ISA like it looks to be it should just work, right?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Zenith-Riser-Card-24 … NYAAOSwMjVfcXIT

Reply 7 of 10, by drosse1meyer

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EvieSigma wrote on 2021-01-01, 15:45:

Yeah actually, I need a picture of how the power switch from the power supply gets to the front of the case. I'm suspecting my machine had its power supply replaced as the power supply has a push-button built right into it that would be impossible to reach from the front of the case.

AT power supplies have a hard physical switch of some sort. Most machines have a lead running to the front of the case. This one has an extension rod apparently instead. Note that if you use a lead, there will be full voltage running through that switch..

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Reply 8 of 10, by OzzFan

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EvieSigma wrote on 2021-01-03, 23:00:

I actually just found this Zenith 5-slot riser that looks like it might work...it's cheap enough I'm tempted to just buy it and take the chance. If it really just straight up ISA like it looks to be it should just work, right?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Zenith-Riser-Card-24 … NYAAOSwMjVfcXIT

The second set of connectors on that riser card look longer than the 16bit connectors on the card itself, suggesting that this riser card is larger than a traditional 16bit ISA bus. The riser card in your 486 is the length of a 16bit ISA connector. I think the Zenith card will be too long to fit.

A (mostly accurate) listing of my computer systems: http://www.shelteringoak.com/OzzNet/

Reply 9 of 10, by EvieSigma

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OzzFan wrote on 2021-01-04, 15:36:
EvieSigma wrote on 2021-01-03, 23:00:

I actually just found this Zenith 5-slot riser that looks like it might work...it's cheap enough I'm tempted to just buy it and take the chance. If it really just straight up ISA like it looks to be it should just work, right?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Zenith-Riser-Card-24 … NYAAOSwMjVfcXIT

The second set of connectors on that riser card look longer than the 16bit connectors on the card itself, suggesting that this riser card is larger than a traditional 16bit ISA bus. The riser card in your 486 is the length of a 16bit ISA connector. I think the Zenith card will be too long to fit.

Yeah, now that you say that, you're right. The riser card slot on the Packard Bell is too short for that Zenith riser. Darn!

Reply 10 of 10, by EvieSigma

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I hate to necro my own thread but I did manage to track down the plastic rod for the power supply at least. Still don't have a floppy drive bracket though and I can't even find a 5 slot ISA riser at all, only four. I wonder if the original model only had four to begin with.