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Ibm 5150

D

dongfeng

Veteran Member
Joined
Nov 16, 2003
Messages
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Location
London, England
Following with my recent success in getting a perfect working XT a couple of weeks ago, I've now picked up a 5150!

It's very grubby, having sat in a warehouse for many years, but it should clean up nicely. All I can tell from the photos is that it's a dual-drive system and it boots into BASIC 1.10. It also has the monochrome 5151 monitor. No disks or keyboard, sadly.

The same guy also had an EARLY 5150, 16-64k and 3-screw case, but the mainboard was dead. I'll probably pass on that due to postage costs. Very rare in the UK, since the IBM's never officially went on sale until 1983!

All I need now is an AT :D
 
You'r lucky!... take some photos when it arrive.

By the way... when was 64-256kB motherboard in 5150 introduced?
 
I will post pictures, certainly! I might do a before/after photo session, showing how to properly clean the computers. I didn't do that with my XT, which I regret.

I think the 64-256kB mainboards came in 1982/1983? Not exactly sure, but someone here will know!

I am also wondering if the diagnostics disk for an XT is the same as on a 5150?
 
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I think that diag disks are the same.
DD that I have used had option to save log onto cassette.
 
dongfeng said:
I am also wondering if the diagnosis disk for an XT is the same as on a 5150?
Click to expand...
The diagnostics disks are very hardware dependent.
In the 80's, if we wanted to see if a PC clone was really the quoted "100% IBM compatible", one thing we always did was to see if the the IBM diagnostics disk ran without error on the clone.

There are subtle hardware changes between the PC and XT, and so there maybe problems. Maybe when IBM made the XT diagnostic disk, it designed it so that it would run on a PC as well.

Anyone ever tried this?
 
Diag disks are universal, or I have version for 5150...

And... can someone list all BIOS versions for 5150?
 
I'm quite certain that the diagnostics disks for an XT work just fine on a PC. Of course the ones created after the XT was introduced are going to check the 'model' byte to determine what is appropriate to test. I'm sure it's not going to check the cassette interface on the XT. :)

The real test would be to get an early diagnostics disk for the PC and run it on an XT.
 
I didn't mind checking c-port.
My diag disk have option to save log on cassette recorder.
 
I have two XT diagnostics disks - 2.02 and 2.05 - I haven't seen one "newer" than 2.05 yet. It would be interesting to see if it works on the 5150, cetainly there was no option for saving to cassette that I can recall.

I'll open the machine up when I get it to find out the date of manufacture.

Luke, do you have a 5150 too? Since you mentioned the cassette port.
 
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Sadly - I don't have 5150, only 5160 but I'd pay well if I had money for 5150.
I don't know what ver. of diag disk I have but I'am sure that there is mentioned option to save log on cassette.
 
I am sure you can find a 5150! It took me 4 years to find a decent machine I could afford, but now I have an XT and a 5150. I also have a dead XT system unit. I am running out of space...

I will check my diagnostics disks later!
 
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Luke said:
can someone list all BIOS versions for 5150?
Click to expand...
According to Upgrading & Repairing PC's (fifth edition):

Release 1: 04/24/81
Release 2: 10/19/81
Release 3: 10/27/82

All used the 'ID Byte' of FF.
None had a 'Sub-model Byte'
 
Luke said:
can someone list all BIOS versions for 5150?
Click to expand...
Guessing what the next question will be: How can you tell which release you have?
I don't have a 5150 yet (very soon though) but on my 5160 (with a BIOS dated 11/08/82) both of the following techniques work:

1. Run CheckIt 2.1 (see http://members.dodo.com.au/~iamextinct/ ) then go to the Sysinfo/Configuration page.

2. Run DEBUG per the following:

Code: 
C:\DOS>debug
-dffff:0
FFFF:0000 EA 5B E0 00 F0 31 31 2F-30 38 2F 38 32 FF FE 28 .[...11/08/82..(
.......
.......
.......
.......
-q
C:\DOS>
 
The 5150 arrived today! It's already been dismantled and I have washed the chassis, dusted off the mainboard and PSU, both drives have been throughly cleaned. So far, it has scrubbed up lovely - tomorrows task will be to clean the case lid and the 5151 display.

It was made in 1984, and appears to have a full 256kB on the mainboard. I think the expansion card has another 256kB on it, but I won't be able to tell anything more unless I get a suitable keyboard for it. Dual FH IBM disk drives and no hard disk. 64W PSU! Stickers on the display show that it used to belong to Enfield County Council, which is near to London, so I guess it was used for admin and office tasks.

One thing I have learnt is that the 5150 does not show the counting of the memory when booting like the XT does. Also, when used without a keyboard, the 5150 boots into BASIC, whereas the XT says "Press F1 to Continue".

Pics to come...
 
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The marks on the display look like scratches, but it's a strange dust that will clean off nicely. Shame about the burn-in though, but it's not that noticable.

5150_dirty.JPG

5150_dirty2.JPG

5150_dirty3.JPG
 
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After testing the 5150 and seeing that it does indeed boot with no problems, it is time to dismantle and give it a through clean!

Mainboard before and after:
5150_mainboard01.JPG

5150_mainboard02.JPG


Also the dual full-height 360kB drives after being cleaned, oiled and run through a 5.25" cleaning diskette.
5150_drives.JPG


And finally, the bare chassis after being washed and scrubbed (don't forget to cover up the date stamp as it is paper!). Also had to use white spirit to remove the stickers from the back. Now there is no dust or dead spiders in the case.
5150_chassis.JPG


Reassembled and being tested:
5150_testing.JPG


Tomorrow - cleaning the case and the 5151!
 
I have a few 5150's I can afford to part with, Luke. One of them has replacement 5.25" floppies, and only one is the very old 64KB board, but that makes them less expensive.

It's nice to see somebody really going all the way with computer restoration...

I have a few that need that kind of treatment, were I to get the time!
 
To me, one of the most interesting things in getting a new item is taking it apart and giving it a through clean. Computers seem to get really dirty and dusty over time, so to get it back to an almost-new-and-gleaming condition is very satisfying :)

I would say it took 2-3 hours to do the above, and maybe another 2 to finish the remainder. Luckily, I have holiday time from work at the moment!
 
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