IBM
IBM PS/2 Model 80 restoration & mods. 386DX25
IBM PS/2 Model 80 restoration & mods. 386DX25
#IBM #PS2 #Model #restoration #mods #386DX25
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TOO late?
Shrack are a large manufacturer of industrial automation components. They're still in business today, most of what they make is switchgear and relays.
WD40 is good for removing old glue
Looks like an Alien chestburster lost his skin @23:00 👽. Leaving behind a few annoying remnants for posterity. I really admire your patience with this one here.
Try *wd-40* on the sticky surface *not an ad*
Try wd-40 on the sticky surface
*Too
That foam goo will come off with an oily solvent like mineral terpentine or white spirits. Possibly WD40, or a label and glue remover like GlueGone too.
The original switch, or at least one that seems to match a lot better than your one, was an Arrow 93RP4040B103K. I've checked it against my PS/2s and it's almost a perfect match in terms of the paddle width and thickness (although the length may be a mm or two shorter), as well as the mounting bracket. If anyone's looking for one, there's currently a vendor on the electronic bay website selling 12 packs, although they've only got a couple of lots left as of right … now.
PS/2 now with Forbidden Mudcake inside..
Those poor floppy drives. Ugh. I really need to do mine.
I am fairly certain that model actually shipped with a white power switch. Though most PC/2 systems did have a red power switch.
Isn't it possible to just replace the plastic lever? Or colour / dye the white one red?
In my uneducated opinion, I think they put those foam pads in strategic positions (via trial and error) to prevent resonance, the case suddenly getting unpleasently loud.
You might want use IPA to "soak" the sticky and gooey spots, let the alcohol work for a couple of minutes, before scraping. Time is a factor in chemistry.
You could for exampe use a piece of cloth or a sponge soaked in IPA and put it on the spots where liquid would simply run off.
Next time try nitro thinner or acetone! Ipa is not as good in breaking glue. But you should be very careful on plastic.
Also, the used lithium battery isn't prone to fail cataatrophic like ordinary NiCD. So systens with this battery type should generally be much safer.
I had to put a foam pad in my i7-4770 to make it quiet, because I bought some old DDR3 RAM with plasma tubes that buzz all the time – lol -. The plasma tubes look amazing, but you can hear them buzzing when I try to record my YT vids, ie, I should really cut their power supply.
A suggestion for the sticky foam: Gasoline. It's safe on plastic and can dissolve many types of adhesives. It also liquefies polystyrene, so if you ever have issues of old pvc cabling that has "melted" into the styrofoam packaging like with some Model M and Model F keyboards I've seen on the channel in the past, gasoline will clean it up faster than anything else.
Thanks for letting me live vicariously through your eyes lol. The Model 80 has been a holy grail since I worked on them back in the late 80s-90s. They truly are IBM's Crown of Creation in the PS/2 line, and we sold them almost exclusively as servers, although a few did go to the big wigs at various major reinsurance companies. They would have been insanely expensive for an individual to buy as we live on an island, where everything cost at least two to three times the US price.
Now, some technical things I seem to remember. The hard drive cage, in the systems I worked on, was usually populated by full-height SCSI drives, of about 60MB. I remember they used to make this loud pinging sound as if a metal arm was bouncing off of something, something I never figured out lol.
Great work, man!
Red switch with a loud clack. Yep, that's what belongs in an IBM PS/2. 😉
The melted foam was called "black cheese" at the shop where I worked in the 1990s. Whenever we encountered "black cheese" we used IPA, denatured alcohol, acetone, "Goo Gone Original" and WD-40 in succession until we found a solution that would work. Most cases were metal in those days, so I am not sure how any of those would work on plastic cases.
I love it.
Just glad it isn't my retro 386. It looks like a good way to become poor (not that I need more encouragement on that front)
asatone should work on that foam pal
The 8580 was overpriced, overbuilt, and over the top. I love it. One of my favorite PS/2 machines.
I've found an easy way to remove the foam is with an old flat scraper, and acetone to clean up the mess. The foam was for sound deadening, the full height hard drives were noisy (and HEAVY!). These were the pinnacle of 80386 technology, nothing but the best in these since they were the big professional workstation or small server solution of the PS/2 line.
That power supply is interesting. Never heard of that one before, all of the ones i've ever worked on or owned were all Astec supplies. Those just have a zip tie on them for the "handle" to remove them. These were never meant to be serviced in the field, you just swap the PSU out and send the old one back to IBM for refurbishment. They loved the security torx screws to keep fingers out of the high voltage area. the 8580 was in production for so long that it is one of the few PS/2 machiens that actually got upgrades over its lifetime. From 16 to 20 to 25MHz and 3 different board designs. The Type 3 board can use 2mb or 4mb modules as long as they are 80ns or faster. The OG memory modules were 120ns, the 25MHz machine needed the faster modules for reliable operation, and those were more readilly available when this machine came out in 1989.
I need to dig my 8580 out one of these days. I have a Reply planar to install into it that will give it a 486 and more up to date upgrades like 72pin SIMMs and XGA video onboard.
I dont think missing a bonding and grounding check will kill too many peiple unless the plane is stuck by lightning and the wings catch fire.
Ok never mind.
you know your computer is heavy when it has a built in handle and a weight warning underneath it!
For the rotten foam residue, have you tried WD40 or Acetone? I've had good results using WD40, just let it soak a bit. You need a petroleum solvent for petroleum residue so water or alcohol based solvents won't work.
another great video. But i have to disagree with the red switch. Red ones were only on the first lot of PS2 ie 30 8086 and others from that era. They swapped to white for the later machines
I took a model 80 and went full absurdity with it. It was one of the most fun I have had with a retro project.
I ended up putting in a 4 MB planar memory card and 2 microchannel memory expansions with 12 MB installed total to get 16 MB RAM. The hard drive was completely dead (of course) so I removed the old MFM card and put in an Adaptec AHA-1640 in its place. I also added a SCSI CD-ROM drive in the 5 1/4 bay with some 3d-printed rails so it fit in the hard drive area. For the front bezel, I used the panel IBM supplied for installing a 5 1/4" floppy drive.in the PS/2 80 series. In order to get it to fit the bezel properly, i had to install the rails upside-down on the CD drive, but it was a perfect fit otherwise.
Video was upgraded with a Microchannel XGA-2 card.
Network adapter is a Microsoft LAN Adapter/A for Ethernet
I topped it off with a blue lightning 486slc33/66 upgrade, so this is probably one of the fastest model 80's in existence without a Reply motherboard replacement.
The only non-period-accurate parts I have in it are the hard drive and sound card.
Instead of sourcing the proper hard drive, I went with a bluescsi. I did not want to constantly worry about an old hard drive failing
I also used a modern re-creation of the Sound Blasted MCV called the Resound New Wave MCA for the sound card
That's a very appealing computer for sure. I love the red switch too!
I ordered one of these around 1989 at work to run a relational database system and to run the associated remote data capture system. Eventually it was replaced so I brought it home. After I retired I tried to sell it but there was no interest at all and several PS/2 systems had been on ebay with no interest. I tried firing it up and it POSTed but wouldn't run. So I had to scrap it. It's such a shame.
About a year after I started using it at work I installed a Novell network but that didn't work. We contacted IBM and under our corporate maintenance contract their engineer came and swapped out the motherboard. Apparently an I/O or DMA line was missing in the early design
MXR and DOD effects pedals from the 70s and 80s also have this obnoxious petroleum based foam in them, on metal parts you can use acetone to remove it cleanly. If it's in contact with other metal parts that are not painted it will cause them to corrode, very awful stuff.
Been waiting for this one! I loved my model 80, I learned so much from it.
I worked in IBM mainframe late 80s then moved to PC services early 90s. We had IBM PS2s and also other brand PCs like Compaq and Elonex. The IBM PCs reeked quality, they felt well made and like they would last lifetime…they felt like real IBM computers. Compaq came a very close second but the Elonex felt like cheap disposable rubbish by comparison.
My 30/286 has a white switch too.
I never ran into the model 80's as workstations always as servers due to the "large" number of scsi drives you could cram in them and have a tape backup drive. I also remember the floppy drive cage with edge connectors but I only serviced a hand full of these over the years. Not being an IBM official service rep getting parts, manuals and setup disks were always a huge pain in the ass.
I love my model 80. Had one in college in the early 90's as a replacement for my really slow PS/2 55sx. I just had to get one for my my modern office.
The foam was horrible to remove and as pieces flaked off they would stick to the carpet and stain it. In the end I had to use brake cleaner on paper towels to get it out of my case.
To try and get the most life out of the model 80 as possible I used my thermal camera to find hot chips on the motherboard and MCA cards. I then added stick on heatsinks to those hot components to keep them cool.
Looking forward to your next video in the model 80.
*TOO LATE
Power supply from Zenith. That does go back aways.
hi! i can't believe you just swap the schrack power supply for some generic one….
Schrack is very big company in Europe, that makes most reliable industrial electronics today….and, to be honest i also had no idea that they ware making power supplies back then…
but that power supply is a gem, and if it's original to that system (and works properly) – you should keep it that way!
thanks for the video, cheers mate!
Going to need a fish-eye lens to get that in shot. lol
has anyone ever said you sound a little like christopher walken? This is not criticism btw
Beautiful tower! ❤
Aliens stuff is inside your ibm ps/2.
I should think Acetone would take care of that adhesive really quickly.
PS/2s are so cool, especially when you think about how much these things cost when they were new. I have a Model 60 that I got a few years ago which is very, very similar to the Model 80 but it is rocking a 286 processor. It took quite a while and a complete tear-down to clean up all the deteriorated foam from inside it.