New Zealand Vintage Computer Forums

A little bit of history here:
http://www.trademe.co.nz/Computers/Vint ... 866430.htm

The seller says "The IBM 5150 started the personal computer game and was first released in August 1981".
Legitimised it for big business yes, but to say it started "personal computing" is a big call.

Ruh-roh...

"This auction is for the 5150 system unit and 2 x 5153 colour monitors though these may not be operational. The PC itself powers up but I dont have a monitor that I can attach."

But he has a p icture of the 5153 plugged into the unit... is he just afraid of powering up the monitor? Or is he actually telling us both monitors don't function? OR that the computer itself is buggered? Hmmmm....

Indeed. Strange to say there is no monitor when there is clearly one plugged in there! I would read that to say "..no WORKING monitor...". If I was bidding or going to bid I would certainly question that contradiction with the seller via the TradeMe site.

I would also ask him if he hears any beeps when the unit powers up with the keyboard plugged in. Just what these beeps are can reveal if the machine is passing it's POST. There is no battery powered CMOS in the 5150 to confuse the issue. One short beep indicates it's ok. Drive A should then start to spin. Anything other than that, and there is a problem.

As I read it, there are two 5153s, but he thinks they don't go; you'll notice power is not connected to the one in the photo. He doesn't have another CGA monitor to check it with.

I asked about POST codes, and he has responded that there are none; only PSU fan noise.

lizardb0y wrote:As I read it, there are two 5153s, but he thinks they don't go; you'll notice power is not connected to the one in the photo. He doesn't have another CGA monitor to check it with.

I guess what he means is that he tried them on the machine, but because they showed nothing he's not sure if it's the monitor(s) or the computer. No beep means something is amiss. It might not even be getting as far as the POST routine. If this is the case nothing would show on the monitor.

Stll, these 5051s are fairly straightward machines with off-the-shelf (for the early 80s) components. Problems tend to be fixable.