25 Year Old PC help required

Sparks43

Ok this came into my possession today and im hoping somebody might have a bit of experience with this computer.

8mhz cpu
20 Mb hdd

Made by Wyse circa 1987

My hope is that i can get her going again so any info that can help i would appreciate.

Also is there any value in old pcs?

Thanks in advance and sorry for the size of the pics

Sparks43

Last photo of model numbers

partyatmygaff

What condition is it in? Is the only part not currently connected the HDD or are there other parts missing/unconnected? Hard to tell from the pictures tbh, they're too close to be able to see the general state of the computer.

If it's just the HDD that's the issue... HDDs from that era usually connect to a separate controller card on the motherboard. One port is for the power (The one without the gold connectors) and the other two connect to the controller card.

Get more pictures up. It's hard to see what needs doing if you take close ups.

Sparks43

coylemj

If the pins on the male serial port are anything to go by, I'd say there's lot's of corroded connectors on the motherboard so I'm not surprised there are bits failing.

syklops

I'd say the CMOS battery has died. Press F1 to continue to setup, set the options, and go from there.

Sparks43

syklops wrote: »

I'd say the CMOS battery has died. Press F1 to continue to setup, set the options, and go from there.

Do these computers have a cmos?

Need a new rj10 wire to connect the keyboard so i cant press f1 at the moment

Stinicker

Throw Vista on it, she'd be grand :pac: :eek:

syklops

Sparks43 wrote: »

Do these computers have a cmos?

Need a new rj10 wire to connect the keyboard so i cant press f1 at the moment

It has a BIOS, so why wouldn't it?

Sparks43

Stinicker wrote: »

Throw Vista on it, she'd be grand :pac: :eek:

Bloody hell i wouldnt be that cruel to a lovely computer

Although it would take 50,000 of them combined to hit the minimum requirements for vista:eek:

Sparks43

syklops wrote: »

It has a BIOS, so why wouldn't it?

True very good point just have to find it now

Only finished reading the wiki on cmos didn't realize it was that old:eek:

Torqay

It's young enough to play Boulder Dash (the PC version is a year older after all), but you'll need EGA graphics...

What's that card? Some Hercules compatible?

Akarinn

Whats the use really?

Even if you do get it going it will have no use at all.
Throw it out and save yourself the hassle, its not worth a thing anyways.

Sparks43

Akarinn wrote: »

Whats the use really?

Even if you do get it going it will have no use at all.
Throw it out and save yourself the hassle, its not worth a thing anyways.

Of course it will have a use.

The makers were bought by Dell

The Hdd was made by a company that went bust very shortly after

It was built at the same time as the Market crash in 1987

It is part of History

Also i passed my A+ this year and a lot of previous exams questioned you on the old legacy standards,But not in the 701/2

So i am enjoying learning about the older pcs and i plan to get this back as close to when it was shipped from the factory.


Just because something is old does not mean you throw it away.

Torqay

Some people are challenged with grasping the idea of preserving things from the past.

Overheal

I'm sure those pictures would have made the Apollo team at NASA rock hard. The CIA would have had a field day and the Oval Office would be worried about the Russians getting a hold of it.