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Early Vid: Resurrecting an IBM PS/2 Model 50Z (Patreon)

Published:
2025-04-04 01:58:25
Imported:
2026-06

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Bringing an IBM PS/2 Model 50Z back from the dead. Trying out a McIDE-CF for the first time, getting PC-DOS 6.1 installed, and of course another token ring card failure.I'm a really big fan of long-form content and this might be my longest video yet (didn't quite beat the elusive one hour mark though, maybe next time!)Video live tomorrow afternoon! 

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IBM PS/2 Model 50Z

Tearing down a PS/2 Model 50Z. It doesn't power up at all so we'll figure out what's going on with that, get PC-DOS 6.1 installed on it, and hook it up to an IBM 8503 monitor! Check me out on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/clabretro Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio #netro #retrotech #retrocomputer #computers #networking #compaq Rack stuff StarTech Universal Rack Rails: https://amzn.to/404JV1Q StarTech 42U Rack: https://amzn.to/482c3oh StarTech 25U Rack: https://amzn.to/3mEB7hS Tripp Lite SMART1500LCD UPS: https://amzn.to/3KZW3Jw 1U 24 Port Patch Panel: https://amzn.to/3Nm0bFa 1U Brush Panel: https://amzn.to/3mExAA3 1U Rack Shelf: https://amzn.to/3oaDclT Video gear Camera: https://amzn.to/4al3xjA Main mics: https://amzn.to/4dCUuO2 Desk mic: https://amzn.to/3ye8BsV Note: The above are Amazon affiliate links. It doesn't cost you extra, but I'll receive a commission which will help keep the content coming. I only link to things I've personally ordered. 00:00 Intro 00:34 IBM PS/2 Line Overview 04:34 Phyiscal Overview 11:12 McIDE-CF Board 11:48 Disassembly 18:00 First Power-On 18:45 Troubleshooting Power Issue 23:09 Repairing the Planar 28:12 Configuring with the Reference Diskette 33:34 Installing the McIDE-CF 38:38 Installing DOS 47:08 Trying to Install a Token Ring MCA Card 54:35 Using an IBM 8503 Monochrome Monitor 56:58 Future Plans

Comments

IBM Museum

Of course I will be commenting on the video, to add some details. The initial PS/2 lineup was the 8086-based Model 30 (no Model 25, and you have the later Model 30 286), Model 50, Model 60, and Model 80 (the Model 70 was delayed). PS/2s below '50' are not microchannel, so it is the dividing line. The Model 50 (later followed by the 50Z and 55SX, all four "slot" systems) doesn't have an Extended CMOS. Initially, to 286-based Model 50 and 60 had MFM drives, and there was an ESDI (with conventional pinouts, since it could have a 5-1/4" full-height drive) version of the Model 60. The initial Model 80 was also MFM, with an ESDI version. Later on, the 50Z and Model 70 had DBA-ESDI drives. Even the SCSI adapter ("Tribble") put on the Model 80 later was 16-bit...

clabretro

I was looking forward to your comment! I have a couple Tribble cards actually, just don't have the cables yet. What do you think I'm doing wrong with the token ring card setup?

Justin Danielson

I'm six years younger than you and this made me remember my only memory of DOS from back when I was a kid. I set the family Windows 98 computer to boot in MSDOS mode and had no idea how to get it back into Windows. I remember being super scared to have to tell dad that I broke the computer.

IBM Museum

With PC-DOS 6.1, there is a 'QCONFIG' program - but I would pull all adapters except for Token-Ring (you could actually load all three slots to test many adapters at once) and drop into ROM-BASIC. The adapters can give an invalid POS-ID, but I think you have the wrong ADF (it should be 'E001' for the IBM 16/4 adapters and clones). Another trick is to have a "tweener" (short for "in-between") able to get online and with a 1.44Mb diskette drive (even a USB version, just be aware that some of the cheap ones won't do 720Kb images, which also was removed after Windows XP), and 'Save as' with a right-click to select the diskette drive. I break some rules with Reference Diskettes, and you don't want to do a directory listing from a Windows system, or you will learn the 'REFSTAMP' utility - You could also use DOS Shell as a first step to make sure the E001 ADF is on your Reference Diskette image.

Brook McKnight

“The software is what kills you…” truer words never spoken

IBM Museum

I've also just gone over 2.5K subscribers and going to take my channel back active! There is some Token-Ring content I can do, but I also want to get into FDDI, since I have adapters in microchannel, EISA, ISA, and PCI form-factors.

John Kiniston

I think that’s the wrong battery for this system, the new one was lithium and the old nicad.

IBM Museum

You want to confirm that your 16/4 adapters are identifying as 'E001', and that the ADF matches that POS-ID - With the 50Z, you now have a microchannel system that has working drives, but you can prepare for RIPLing over a network (most of the client systems I was running with ICLAS were just capable of DOS). Another option is the 'Trace & Performance' ROMs substituted for the microcode on the Token-Ring adapter to run a couple utility programs that show details of the Token-Ring network. Token-Ring is a better network when it comes to microchannel - Ethernet adapters of that time are only 10Mbps, although they can be used with modern switches to not have data collisions like with a hub. Ironically, the later IBM gear for UTP cabling was a 'hub' as well. Once you get away from the STP cabling and MAUs, it really opens up. Step 1: Boot to DOS Shell from your CF card, then use it (or a directory command) to verify that the E0001 ADF is there. You might want to also re-copy it from the 'Ardent-Tool' from the 16/4 adapter page (not the 'Auto' or any later version). Step 2: If multiple adapters are not able to configure, check the POS-ID. The adapter slot can also have pins that aren't making contact to give the wrong POS-ID or not see the adapter (like you experienced with the CF card adapter). Step 3: Try a newer battery, the Motorola RTC/CMOS might be acting weird at lower voltage.

IBM Museum

IBM came out with Token-Ring in October 1985, when I was busy with Navy bootcamp. During the years that the PS/2s were released, I was busy on minesweepers, often in the Persian Gulf. They sent me to Z-248 school (the Zenith 286-based system that had a backplane), and told us that the manuals covering DOS 3.3 were still being printed, but our 3.2 manuals were close enough (DOS 3.3 is the minimum for PS/2 systems, BTW).

Alf Lundggren

We used DOS 6.22 and WIN 3.1 with Tokenring so it should work with right drivers. A personal thing, my first PC had Norton Commander instead the DOS thingy you are using... So much easier and you can use mouse!

Jack Beckman

"301 - I'll need to look that up". Heh. Keyboard error, as you immediately found out, and 601 is of course the missing floppy drive. If you want to run OS/2 you'll need a minimum of 4 MB of RAM, so DOS is your only real choice now (maybe with Win 3.1 on top once you add in that other 2 MB). And even then with a 286 you'll be limited to OS/2 1.x; I've never run anything less than 2.0 myself so it might be interesting to see, but probably not useful to you (I remember the DOS compatibility subsystem being called the "DOS Penalty Box" back during 1.x).

King Austin Kelly

This video made me sub to pateron, i really am getting way too into this whole token ring series!!!