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IBM 5162 (XT/286) hanging on boot

seaken said:
Whew! This is pretty dizzying stuff! I think I have narrowed it down to a MiniPro TI866 programmer. But there are so many advertisements I am having a hard time sorting it out. Which is the best resource for these things? Is AliExpress the right source? Amazon? Ebay?
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I think that you pick the programmer, then go looking for the best price at various places.

seaken said:
I'll take my time sorting it out. But maybe you guys can give me some guidance on which programmer to buy? It does have to support the old IBM PC stuff. Much of what I've seen on videos is for much newer stuff. I'm a little out of my depth and forty years has gone by.
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First, if you haven't already, read [this].

I started off with Willem programmers - see [here]. Together with adapters, that allowed me to program lots of things, including the Intel D8742 (or D8042) used on IBM 5162/5170 motherboards (as the keyboard controller).
And that was meeting my (repeat: my) particular needs.
But having to always change the switches and jumpers was a real pain, and sometimes the programming of a particular device failed, and it turned out that I had either forgot to change the switches/jumpers, or I had done it wrong.
And so I decided to add something more modern, something that would work in Windows 7/10, and where I simply informed the software of the make-model of device, and the programmer took care of everything (programming voltages, etc.)
At the time, I ended up choosing a GQ-4X. And so what I have now are two programmers, the Willem PCB50B and the GQ-4X. The GQ-4X is the preferred programmer, and I use the Willem PCB50B for older devices, devices that the GQ-4X does not support. That couple meets my (repeat: my) needs.

Some of the IBM 51xx motherboards contain PAL chips. Should one fail, then I will probably source a programmed one from one of the people/companies at [here].
 
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Thank you @modem7 , that was helpful.

I think I want to buy a Xgecu T48. But apparently there are some fakes out there. How do I know I am going to get the real thing? I have seen ads for less than $20 but that seems unreasonable. I think I should expect about $75 US dollars.

If anyone can give me tips on how to but the real thing I would appreciate it.

Seaken
 
seaken said:
I think I want to buy a Xgecu T48. But apparently there are some fakes out there. How do I know I am going to get the real thing? I have seen ads for less than $20 but that seems unreasonable. I think I should expect about $75 US dollars.

If anyone can give me tips on how to but the real thing I would appreciate it.
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If I go to www.xgecu.com/EN/ then, at the bottom of that page, I click on 'Programmer Dealer', the first entry lists the official stores at eBay, Aliexpress, and Amazon.
 
Ahh, thank you both. I could not sort that out. The website did not really point me to an "official store", just some dealers mostly in China. But I ended up doing a google search and found some users of this device on EEVblog who pointed to one of the "official stores", on AliExprerss, as did @Malc above for Ebay. Now I have been able to sort through my options better and will be able to make a purchase.

Now I just have to decide if I should buy only the device or add on some of the adapters. I don't think I will be burning a lot of EPROMS in the future and if I do it will be for old computers, nothing more modern. I probably only need the device since it seems to support the D27256-1 chips I need in the 5162.

Seaken
 
Ahh, yes. I was wondering about erasing an EPROM. Is that usually necessary when you buy a new unused EPROM chip?

Seaken
 
I ended up ordering a Xgeco T48 through Amazon. The official stores on Ebay and AliExpress did not offer tarcking for the shipment. I already belong to Amazon Prime so I thought maybe it would work out better for me. I have no idea if I am correct about my assumption but I guess I'll find out. At any rate, I paid about $67. So, if it shows up and is the real thing I will be happy.

I miss the days when we could go into town and order electronics with a real live human that you can talk to. This process of buying online is very uncomfortable for me, especially when I don't really know the product category very well. But thank to you guys on this forum I think I learned enough to make an informed purchase.

Seaken
 
seaken said:
Ahh, yes. I was wondering about erasing an EPROM. Is that usually necessary when you buy a new unused EPROM chip?

Seaken
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No not usually if the Eprom is genuinely new / unused, It depends where you are buying from, Most chinese sellers don't know what 'New' / 'Unused' means, An Eprom eraser is a must have if you are going to be using Eproms now or in the future.
 
Keep your eye on ebay, sometimes you can pick up a good deal on Used Eprom Erasers, I bought mine Used years ago for £5 and it's still working, It's not a big one it holds 5 Eproms but suits me just fine.
 
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