IBM PS2 Model 70 dead CMOS Battery

I replaced the PSU because that was the big problem it would automatically shut off as soon as it tried the HDD and then even would shut off as soon as it tried the floppy but that is fixed with new PSU but now the CMOS Battery is dead and was wondering if that could cause it not to boot off the reference disk when it is dead.

I wouldn't think so, as booting from a reference disk is the way you reset CMOS settings after changing the battery. There's something else amiss, like bad capacitors on the drive (if you haven't already checked that).

That's what I was thinking it was the floppy drive and it either needs a cleaning or new capacitors which I think the latter is more likely I am just glad I got it this far after replacing PSU now hopefully there is nothing wrong with HDD after I get the floppy drive fixed and working.

On these forums, we have seen various problems caused by a dead/low 'CMOS' battery. So my advice is to replace the battery first.

We have also seen people think that they have created a working reference disk. For example, I remember someone reporting that it took them, like, 5 attempts to get a diskette that worked. For example, running a particular DOS imaging tool that does not work properly in a DOS box within Windows.

modem7 said:

On these forums, we have seen various problems caused by a dead/low 'CMOS' battery. So my advice is to replace the battery first.

We have also seen people think that they have created a working reference disk. For example, I remember someone reporting that it took them, like, 5 attempts to get a diskette that worked. For example, running a particular DOS imaging tool that does not work properly in a DOS box within Windows.

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I made mine on my Windows 98 SE Machine an IBM 300PL PIII 550mhz.

thegenerallee86 said:

I made mine on my Windows 98 SE Machine an IBM 300PL PIII 550mhz.

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Also forgot to mention I am using magic iso to create write images to disk.

The reference diskette is a pain to write outside of a pure DOS machine because if there's any extra weirdness written it doesn't work. Do not let Windows or any modern OS "touch" it, or you will have to write it out again.

Should I try extracting all the files from it first and then copy it to Disk from dos?

NeXT said:

The reference diskette is a pain to write outside of a pure DOS machine because if there's any extra weirdness written it doesn't work. Do not let Windows or any modern OS "touch" it, or you will have to write it out again.

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I believe I downloaded the disk image from Ardent-Tool ( https://www.ardent-tool.com/disks/ ) and then wrote them immediately to floppy with Winimage. It might also work with Rawrite.

When I had to add extra ADF's however on my model 80 I had to write out the disk with winimage, then take the new ADF file, transfer it to a DOS machine and then copy it to the floppy on the DOS machine because as soon as you went into the floppy in Windows to just drag and drop the file the diskette no longer worked.

Folks, the refdisk and ADF copying procedures are SIMMple. And iron-clad. It's been ten years since I broke my Vista laptop, but IIRC it was the last version of Windows that allowed you to create a refdisk with a self-executing file. WinImage works quite well on Win7. Later versions of Windows dislike the DOS accesses used in creating a refdisk. I actually registered my version of WinImage because there is no support under Win7 that can do a refdisk.

You cannot drag an ADF or just copy it to add it to a refdisk, you MUST use "Copy An Option". No matter if you use DOS, OS/2, Win3.x, WinNT, Win9x....

To quote me -
"
Copying Option ADFs to the Refdisk CORRECTLY
Just copying the ADF to the refdisk will NOT work (I know, I've tried). Before installing a new adapter, run Systems Programs (or Setup to non-IBM types) and choose "Copy an Options Diskette" from the main menu and stick in a floppy with the new ADF on it. Now when you install the new adapter, the refdisk HAS the new ADF on it, and it can autoconfigure without flashing that annoying "The description file for the adapter in Slot x was not found"."

ardent-blue said:

Just copying the ADF to the refdisk will NOT work (I know, I've tried).

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It worked fine when I did it for my P70 this week - from Win10 with a USB floppy drive attached.

I’d still recommend “copy an option disk” from a second floppy to minimize error but it did work with my particular setup - just for future reference.