At 08:19 PM 2/19/1998 Joel Bluming wrote:
>
>Someone gave me an old PS/2 Model 50 Z to fix. The
>Hard Drive (30 Megs) sounds like a sanding disk. Of
>course it won't boot. I get an red circle with a
>line and an arrow pointing to IBM on the screen.
>Does anyone know what type of hard drive it uses,
>what processor, and how to get into the CMOS setup
>(do I need a disk)?. I want to use it to run Linux.


Joel:

My 2 IBM 50Zs are history (thank goodness).

Clear the error screen by pressing <F1>

CMOS is set by a floppy IBM REFERENCE disk.
Find it on the IBM FTP site where you will need
to also download LOADDSKF to unzip the disk
image to a floppy diskette. (Email me and I will
send both files to you).

The hard drive is a proprietary IBM drive which
draws its power from its data pin connector
attached with a CARD (no ribbon). Look in the
Computer Shopper for the drives and find a
NEW one (be careful about part numbers...).

This baby has Microchannel Architecture. No
ISA slots. A 286 running 10MHz, Zero wait states.
Not fast or very expandable. Worth $25 at a garage
sale (worth it if only for the keyboard and monitor).
Cost $2,600 new.

Uses 72-pin FP parity SIMMs. Proprietary. However,
Micron SIMMs usually work (bless the maker), in 50Zs
as well as in other PCs (IBM 72-pin parity SIMMs
will NOT work in other PCs -- different SIMM circuitry
-- so the investment in IBM RAM is a loss).

In view of the foregoing, I would advise you to discontinue
this endeavor and save your sanity for better purposes.
HTH.

Regards,

John Chin