IBM PS/2E aka 9533 seeking help

[tghlk]

Someone has one of these models running OS/2 and it's failed with a 118 post error. I know that's the system board, but is it a correctable error?
Is there a substitute PS/2 system board that can replace the defective one in the 9533?

[BigWarpGuy]

Have you tried the forum at http://www.os2world.com ? It is very active.

Have you considered upgrading to eComStation? It is an advanced form of OS/2. http://www.ecomstation.com .

[tghlk]

The problem with the 9533 is a hardware post error 118 which seems to be related to the memory or system board so my original questions still could use answers.

[AlphaKilo470]

I actually used to own one of those ol' machines. I really like the pizzabox formfactor.

Have you tried upgrading the RAM? Keep in mind that 16mb is as high as that machine will go and the largest SIMMs you can use are 8mb. Personally I consider that unexcusable for 1993 standards but that's just how the machine came out.

[JohnDrake]

do you have the quad PCMCIA card in the unit?

If you pull that, does the system work?

If so, can you find an old ethernet ISA slot card, and use that?

[AlphaKilo470]

That's actually what I did with my PS/2 E when I still had it. I believe I had a 3Com Etherlink III installed in place for a good while until I pulled the computer from the network and replaced the ethernet card with a SoundBlaster AWE32.

Also, I'd reccomend using Windows 95 if you have enough RAM due to the much improved hardware support over Windows 3.1.

[schen]

I had one of these things too with the matching Trackpoint split keyboard and LCD monitor. I put an ethernet card in it and maxed the RAM out too, but it was just hellishly slow even with W95 so I gave up on it and moved on.

[AlphaKilo470]

Yeah, it's really a shame how underpowered that machine was. It ran a 25mhz 486SLC if I recall right and in essence, that translates to a 386 with some extra features added. The coprocessor slot even took a 387 chip. Factor that in with the RAM ceiling and the slow laptop hard drive and you aren't exactly looking at a speed demon. Still, the machine did have a coolness factor still yet to be matched by any other IBM desktop system. If I could find another PS/2 E, especially one with the quad PCMCIA, I'd buy it in a heartbeat no questions asked.

[schen]

Alex, you might be interested in this. I'm about to embark on a up-to-date (somewhat) replacement to the PS2/e replacement. I bought one of those NetVista SFF case you see all the time on ebay with the intention of putting the Micro-ATX board I bought from you into it. Well... not so fast! It turns out the not only did the case peripherals (speaker, front USB, etc.) have proprietary plugs on them, but the standard Micro-ATX board is too big for it!

I was lucky in that somebody was parting out some them and sold the MB and a "low profile" ethernet card for about $20. So I'm going to put the thing together over the holidays, attach a small LCD panel I have, then put it on the end table as a family picture server. The case should slip underneath without a problem and I can hide the server-style trackpoint keyboard as well.

It should be a fun project.

[AlphaKilo470]

Sounds fun. I've seen alot of those small NetVistas in retail environments being used as terminals and such. I didn't realize those cases had so many propiretary parts though.'

FWIW, there's a computer store near my house that sells older Compaq F-ATX cases without PSUs.

Anyways, good luck with that project. Let me know the outcome.