A year ago I fixed a C286-LT which is very similar, it had the same problem with leaky caps on the little dc-dc converter board. Furthermore, you may also want to inspect the external PSU unit, the one I had also had leaky caps, and at some point didn't want to power on anymore.
You are so thorough! I love that you took the time to see if fresh capacitors made a difference on the hard drive and LCD. Always love your videos because you have this perpetually undaunted vibe. Keep up the great work!
I'd love to see you try resurrecting the battery! Since it's at least 10 cells in series, some of those probably got reverse-charged at some point in their lives, however it would be cool seeing it tricke-charged (for this battery around 17-40 mA) until voltage no longer rises at a low current. Perhaps it's still usable? Would take 2-3 days to recharge if the capacity is still close to original though.
I got the 286 version of that laptop and the Sanyo version of the 386 version. The 286 has a more primitive LCD which for some reason is brighter, but white is yellow, black is blue and some grayscales come out reddish. I did a little bit of Turbo C++ programming on it in 2008. The Sanyo 386 is my go-to .D64 to Real C64 Disk Drive machine (one reason is that once a disk disintegrated in the 286s Floppy Drive and the spring sprang somewhere where there was power, killing the drive - I think it even killed the controller) Same adventures with the caps in the PSU here... both machines came with Conner drives that were fixable and work fine now. The Sanyo has a 2MB RAM expansion, but no FPU. It also came with an 80MB HDD while the Commodore just had 20MB.
I have to say that I've heard of lots of desktop Commodore computers, but this is the first time hearing of a laptop. I couldn't find much info about this machine, although I see it for sale on e-bay. Thanks for exploring what looks to be a last ditch effort by Commodore to grab computer market share by re-branding before it was shut down. I didn't catch the date on that system, would really like to know when it was made.
I had a similar hard disk to that which I rediscovered a couple of years ago and wanted to recover the files from. Fortunately it was still unopened and the fault appeared to be that the drive couldn't supply enough current to unpark the heads. Possibly cap related, but I managed to get it working long enough to back everything up by popping the top off and manually un-parking the heads during bootup. Once the heads were over the platter it ran fine!
Sounds like Conner. Pretty much half the Conner drives I own have by now encountered this very fault. Sticking a piece of sticky tape between the read arm stop and the little magnet holding it in parking position fixed all of them, it seems, for good. (as a few of them I repaired like 10 years ago and they still work)
Lots of Toshiba and Seagate laptop hard drives from the 90s have the same problem. The rubber endstop for the head arm actuator, to stop it audibly banging, is dissolving and has become soft & sticky. My preferred method is not to open them up, but instead bash the side of the drive against a table just as the head starts moving as the drive is powered up. That's usually enough to get the head able to move freely and the drive can start up normally. Then data can most often be recovered and I put a CF card in its place :)
Fantastic. I loved the attempted hard drive repair after it was known bad. It's a shame it didn't do something weird and interesting. Hopefully on the next one!
So many CRTs! Im trying to find one. I just want one i can keep on my desk so i can play games. Dont need anything fancy. Just want something. I also would love to have it to watch my vhs tapes on too. I miss the 90s and early y2k.
Hello RetroChannel, I just bought a 286 lc yesterday. The pc turn on and apparently the logic works, however the screen (with retro light) remain clear (no characters on screen). When I press f1 for a moment the screen flash and apparently it continue to load but the screen is always turned on but clear… Brightness and Contrast apparently works but not like your: I never be able to really lower the light 🤪
@24:16 looks like the top screw of the voice coil is missing, might be why the arm/heads came off the platter as it allowed for more travel than designed. since it doesnt look like its designed to move the heads off the platers like modern drives that have that plastic parking mechanism at the end
@@TheRetroChannel well after seeing the groves it probably has gone too far, but who knows, ive seen the most dead drives partially come back to life long enough to get some data off it.
That "dirty screen effect" is pretty standard for such screens (passive matrix?) I have a Toshiba laptop which is absolutely perfect in every single way...except for the screen. They were horrible!
I had that exact same problem with the contrast knob on a C286-LT. Turning it too far would turn the computer off. I never found out what the cause was.
@@TheRetroChannel I don't anymore, and that machine sadly had more serious problems than just the contrast. Its hinges had fallen apart, and both the hard and floppy drives failed.
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A year ago I fixed a C286-LT which is very similar, it had the same problem with leaky caps on the little dc-dc converter board. Furthermore, you may also want to inspect the external PSU unit, the one I had also had leaky caps, and at some point didn't want to power on anymore.
Incredible. Never knew these existed. What a find!
You are so thorough! I love that you took the time to see if fresh capacitors made a difference on the hard drive and LCD. Always love your videos because you have this perpetually undaunted vibe. Keep up the great work!
Yeah it was above and beyond the call of duty - lol -, and very interesting if it was possible to fix others that simply.
I'd love to see you try resurrecting the battery! Since it's at least 10 cells in series, some of those probably got reverse-charged at some point in their lives, however it would be cool seeing it tricke-charged (for this battery around 17-40 mA) until voltage no longer rises at a low current. Perhaps it's still usable? Would take 2-3 days to recharge if the capacity is still close to original though.
I HAD SO MANY COMMODORES from c16 64 128 plus the 128d amiga and then later 286 and 386 but not known this laptop so cool!
The Cx86LT series by commodore are rebranded OEM versions of Sanyo laptops -> Sanyo MBC-17NB (80286) or MBC-18NB (386SX)
Yep. I've been doing some research on them, and it's given me a few ideas for the next video
I NEVER get tired of Commodore videos!
That little expansion port is for a modem, my Zeos branded version has it installed. I think that was the only thing that went in there.
Teach me to comment before watching the whole thing, you say it's for a modem 😂
@@V6Thema He did ask
The "unknown" caps look like Rubycon ZL series. These are designed for high frequency applications so a very good choice for an SMPS.
I got the 286 version of that laptop and the Sanyo version of the 386 version. The 286 has a more primitive LCD which for some reason is brighter, but white is yellow, black is blue and some grayscales come out reddish. I did a little bit of Turbo C++ programming on it in 2008. The Sanyo 386 is my go-to .D64 to Real C64 Disk Drive machine (one reason is that once a disk disintegrated in the 286s Floppy Drive and the spring sprang somewhere where there was power, killing the drive - I think it even killed the controller)
Same adventures with the caps in the PSU here... both machines came with Conner drives that were fixable and work fine now.
The Sanyo has a 2MB RAM expansion, but no FPU. It also came with an 80MB HDD while the Commodore just had 20MB.
wow that keyboard looks beautiful
The “dirty screen” effect is standard for really old poorly aged passive matrix LCDs, a VAIO of mine from 2000 has it
I have to say that I've heard of lots of desktop Commodore computers, but this is the first time hearing of a laptop. I couldn't find much info about this machine, although I see it for sale on e-bay. Thanks for exploring what looks to be a last ditch effort by Commodore to grab computer market share by re-branding before it was shut down. I didn't catch the date on that system, would really like to know when it was made.
I had a similar hard disk to that which I rediscovered a couple of years ago and wanted to recover the files from. Fortunately it was still unopened and the fault appeared to be that the drive couldn't supply enough current to unpark the heads. Possibly cap related, but I managed to get it working long enough to back everything up by popping the top off and manually un-parking the heads during bootup. Once the heads were over the platter it ran fine!
Sounds like Conner. Pretty much half the Conner drives I own have by now encountered this very fault. Sticking a piece of sticky tape between the read arm stop and the little magnet holding it in parking position fixed all of them, it seems, for good. (as a few of them I repaired like 10 years ago and they still work)
@@senilyDeluxe I just dug out the drive and yep - Conner! I'll have to try that and see how it goes, thanks for the tip!
Lots of Toshiba and Seagate laptop hard drives from the 90s have the same problem. The rubber endstop for the head arm actuator, to stop it audibly banging, is dissolving and has become soft & sticky. My preferred method is not to open them up, but instead bash the side of the drive against a table just as the head starts moving as the drive is powered up. That's usually enough to get the head able to move freely and the drive can start up normally. Then data can most often be recovered and I put a CF card in its place :)
I've got the ZEOS version of this, and have been trying to get it up and running again. Even went and made my own power supply for it.
I presume that is an MFM drive. Back in 1989 I used to build desktops and enter the bad sector table when setting the Miniscribe MFM 20MB hard disks.
Fantastic. I loved the attempted hard drive repair after it was known bad. It's a shame it didn't do something weird and interesting. Hopefully on the next one!
The screen looks typical for monochrome laptops in the early '90s. In fact, it looks better than a lot of them from that time frame.
So many CRTs! Im trying to find one. I just want one i can keep on my desk so i can play games. Dont need anything fancy. Just want something. I also would love to have it to watch my vhs tapes on too. I miss the 90s and early y2k.
Hello RetroChannel, I just bought a 286 lc yesterday. The pc turn on and apparently the logic works, however the screen (with retro light) remain clear (no characters on screen). When I press f1 for a moment the screen flash and apparently it continue to load but the screen is always turned on but clear…
Brightness and Contrast apparently works but not like your: I never be able to really lower the light 🤪
@24:16 looks like the top screw of the voice coil is missing, might be why the arm/heads came off the platter as it allowed for more travel than designed. since it doesnt look like its designed to move the heads off the platers like modern drives that have that plastic parking mechanism at the end
Ah yes, you might be right. I didn't look that closely at it as I figured it's already too far gone
@@TheRetroChannel well after seeing the groves it probably has gone too far, but who knows, ive seen the most dead drives partially come back to life long enough to get some data off it.
@@TheRetroChannel can you stop it going that far with something like another screw?
I've not a stack of those new old stock power supplies.
486slc cpu? Love to see if it can be updated to that and maybe some more RAM. The video was great! Thanks for making it!
That "dirty screen effect" is pretty standard for such screens (passive matrix?) I have a Toshiba laptop which is absolutely perfect in every single way...except for the screen. They were horrible!
Lithum Cell in the early 90??? Nickel Hydrid perhaps (1,2Volt)
I had that exact same problem with the contrast knob on a C286-LT. Turning it too far would turn the computer off. I never found out what the cause was.
Check those caps if you still have it
@@TheRetroChannel I don't anymore, and that machine sadly had more serious problems than just the contrast. Its hinges had fallen apart, and both the hard and floppy drives failed.
@@ruawhitepaw ouch
well atleast you tryed but it was a good laptop
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