VOGONS


Bought these (retro) hardware today

Topic actions

Reply 40380 of 56722, by Martin8bity

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

SHARP MZ-1M01 16-bit card with 8088 for old 8-bit Z80 computer SHARP MZ-2000.

The attachment SHARP_MZ-1M01_FMJ_Martin.png is no longer available

Reply 40381 of 56722, by Robert B

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

New HW found!

1. Micropolis ST506 - 85MB - 1985 - 5.25" MFM HDD - full height. 900435-01-7B - Rated Input Power 32W!!! 😁 Someone opened the HDD for who knows what reason. The top platter is scraped a little but there is no r/w head there, so the chances are that it is still ok. I found some case screws that fit perfectly and after I gently used an air compressor to clean it, I put the lid on, never to be opened again. Ideally I would've needed some screws with a sunken head but these are good too and they also look the part. 😁 At first I thought that some exotic screws would be needed but in the end it was a case of regular chunky threaded screws. Well, a beast like this doesn't need flimsy stuff bolted to it. 😁
2. MagTron Inc MT-4170S - 170MB - 5.25" SCSI HDD - half height. 2 pieces
3. Gainward Silent Copper nVIDIA 6800GT PCI-E
4. Shuttle Spacewalker AK32V2.1 - VIA KT266 - The "good" chipset! 😁 Who in their right mind would prefer the KT266A?!?!??! 😁
5. Finally an ASROCK 4CoreDual-SATA2 REV. G/A 2.00

I tested the HDDs and they powered up nicely. For the SCSI HDDs I have a suitable motherboard and add-on cards to test them, but for the MFM HDD I have nothing to try it on. Read write heads activity could be heard.

After 30 minutes of running the sound they made became better and once they were "hot and toasty" I enjoyed them so much more. Music to my ears. 😁 Imagine running something like this every day. 😀

Reply 40382 of 56722, by pentiumspeed

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Micropolis has rubber bumper sticking issue when it self-park when off. Watch for that. Happened even back in the day!

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.

Reply 40383 of 56722, by Robert B

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Good to know. 😀 For the time being I have no means to put it to use and it will stay in storage for the foreseeable future. Who knows when I'll power it up again.

Reply 40384 of 56722, by EvieSigma

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-09-06, 01:05:

Micropolis has rubber bumper sticking issue when it self-park when off. Watch for that. Happened even back in the day!

Cheers,

Is that only with their MFM drives? I have a massive Micropolis SCSI drive I pulled from an external enclosure and I have no idea if it works or not because the enclosure didn't seem to work.

Reply 40385 of 56722, by BitWrangler

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

Frequently we find that the disk pack, all the mechanics, was the same across a manufacturers MFM, RLL, ATA and SCSI drives of similar vintage and capacity.

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 40386 of 56722, by wiretap

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Picked up one of these. Appears to be complete with all manuals, 5.25" and 3.5" disks, and the DB25 adapter. Mouse looks unused.

8ayfpP3.jpg

My Github
Circuit Board Repair Manuals

Reply 40387 of 56722, by EvieSigma

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
BitWrangler wrote on 2021-09-06, 15:07:

Frequently we find that the disk pack, all the mechanics, was the same across a manufacturers MFM, RLL, ATA and SCSI drives of similar vintage and capacity.

I mean, this SCSI drive is among the last drives Micropolis ever made and has a capacity of like 4.3GB, so it wouldn't be the same mechanism, but I do know Quantum had their rubber bumper issue across a variety of hard drive capacities, from 40MB up to like...250MB.

Reply 40388 of 56722, by devius

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

If it weren't for the slightly worn box that mouse looks like it was manufactured yesterday. Very nice!

Reply 40389 of 56722, by pentiumspeed

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
EvieSigma wrote on 2021-09-06, 14:32:
pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-09-06, 01:05:

Micropolis has rubber bumper sticking issue when it self-park when off. Watch for that. Happened even back in the day!

Cheers,

Is that only with their MFM drives? I have a massive Micropolis SCSI drive I pulled from an external enclosure and I have no idea if it works or not because the enclosure didn't seem to work.

For the type of chassis (this type of cover) with voice coil actuator design like the picture posted, yes.

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.

Reply 40390 of 56722, by pentiumspeed

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

No. Quantum did not have rubber issue. These early 3.5" quantum drives run hot and ruins these platters' coatings to wear off quickly and heads sticks to platters. Easily solved with a quick twist right after turning power on. This is due to case designers not accounting for hot running hard drive needs some air flow.

I always disassemble stuff to find out why even back in the day with dead drives too.

Cheers,

Great Northern aka Canada.

Reply 40391 of 56722, by bjwil1991

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

Won a 3Com EtherLink III + 33.6K modem PCMCIA card with the manual, driver diskette, and the dongles for both the modem and 10-BaseT Ethernet with the BNC token ring.

Discord: https://discord.gg/U5dJw7x
Systems from the Compaq Portable 1 to Ryzen 9 5950X
Twitch: https://twitch.tv/retropcuser

Reply 40392 of 56722, by EvieSigma

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
pentiumspeed wrote on 2021-09-06, 18:08:

No. Quantum did not have rubber issue. These early 3.5" quantum drives run hot and ruins these platters' coatings to wear off quickly and heads sticks to platters. Easily solved with a quick twist right after turning power on. This is due to case designers not accounting for hot running hard drive needs some air flow.

I always disassemble stuff to find out why even back in the day with dead drives too.

Cheers,

Oh right, the rubber bumper thing was a Conner issue, I think. Apple used both Quantum and Conner drives in the old "68k" Macs so I mixed up the problems the drives have.

I managed to resurrect an 80MB Quantum drive in a Macintosh LC III by removing the top cover, gently rotating the platters back and forth via the central hub to release the stiction, and putting it back together. Won't last forever but it works for testing.

Reply 40393 of 56722, by DundyTheCroc

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

Found strange laptop on the local market, marked just as "notebook" on the lid, model 8700T, ID: L4PK8000X15, made in Taiwan by Kapok Computer Co (found that later). The original Pentium MMX is replaced with K6-2 at 400MHz. 2x64MB RAM, Chips B65555A video card, ES1879S+ES692S audio, built in FDD and CD. Battery still holds some charge after refresh with Imax B6. The problem is that I have no charger and charging port is strange 4 pin connector, so I need some help if someone knows how to connect it. Here are some pics:

The attachment laptop.jpg is no longer available
The attachment bat.jpg is no longer available
The attachment connector.jpg is no longer available

Reply 40394 of 56722, by Ligend

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Got this Medion GeForce4 MX460 yesterday. Took an hour to troubleshoot, since it caused crash under Windows XP and 2000 when NVIDIA driver loaded, but fortunately a BIOS update solved the issue.

The attachment IMG_20210906_145552.jpg is no longer available

Front panel and a modem/firewire card was just a bonus.

The attachment IMG_20210906_145633.jpg is no longer available

Reply 40395 of 56722, by dionb

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
wiretap wrote on 2021-09-06, 15:47:
Picked up one of these. Appears to be complete with all manuals, 5.25" and 3.5" disks, and the DB25 adapter. Mouse looks unused. […]
Show full quote

Picked up one of these. Appears to be complete with all manuals, 5.25" and 3.5" disks, and the DB25 adapter. Mouse looks unused.

8ayfpP3.jpg

Ergonomics look horrendous (but I'm biased - I'm a fingertip trackballer), but wow, that's one pretty bit of mid 1990s legacy 😀

Reply 40396 of 56722, by Intel486dx33

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
EvieSigma wrote on 2021-09-06, 17:35:
BitWrangler wrote on 2021-09-06, 15:07:

Frequently we find that the disk pack, all the mechanics, was the same across a manufacturers MFM, RLL, ATA and SCSI drives of similar vintage and capacity.

I mean, this SCSI drive is among the last drives Micropolis ever made and has a capacity of like 4.3GB, so it wouldn't be the same mechanism, but I do know Quantum had their rubber bumper issue across a variety of hard drive capacities, from 40MB up to like...250MB.

Back around 1997 I built a SCSI disk array out of a bunch of Micropolis 9gb. drives. I think it was 8 drives. We purchased them at Fry’s electronics mainly because they were inexpensive.
But they worked good they where just loud. Used then in a WinNT 4.0 server external disk array in an HP enclosure.

Reply 40397 of 56722, by SteveC

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member
SteveC wrote on 2021-08-16, 19:24:

Won this on eBay today - the ThinkPad (560Z) potentially doesn't work but I'm more interested in the cool CD ROM drive 😀

A few weeks later it finally turned up - Another laptop fix - Thinkpad 560 with a pretty cool CD ROM drive

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/StevesTechShed
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SteveTechShed

Reply 40398 of 56722, by EvieSigma

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I finally got this ThinkPad "iSeries" (Type 2621) after *twelve days* spent mostly lost in transit, can't figure out why it won't POST. The only thing I can think of is that it somehow NEEDS a working CMOS battery to boot? I've already cleaned the RAM and the RAM slots, and since the CPU is soldered I can't really clean that with the equipment I have. The fact that I hear the hard drive kick on but nothing else happens just makes it more confusing.

The attachment PXL_20210907_232406165.jpg is no longer available

Reply 40399 of 56722, by ODwilly

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

I know with my 770 a dead cmos makee it throw up about 4 error codes and prevents it from booting

Main pc: Asus ROG 17. R9 5900HX, RTX 3070m, 16gb ddr4 3200, 1tb NVME.
Retro PC: Soyo P4S Dragon, 3gb ddr 266, 120gb Maxtor, Geforce Fx 5950 Ultra, SB Live! 5.1