17 Oct
2012
17 Oct
'12
3:23 p.m.
Hello list,
?
some years ago, I got a CADMUS 9700 computer, a rather heavy system of the 80's from a
german manufacturer called PCS.
The system is built around the DEC QBUS, but uses a Motorolla 68000 type CPU.
Finally, I found some time to have a look at it. Unfortunately, I didn't went far with
my exploration.
After having taken an hour to find out how to open this thing (plastic covers without
screws are NOT fun, when they seem stuck),
I cleaned it as it was horribly dusty und rusty. It must have spent some time in an humid
environment.
Deconnecting the drives and?applying power to?the switching supply turned on?the
blinkening?kight of the ?green "RUN" button, but
pressing it did not do anything.
Afterwards, I deconnected the supply, checked that power connectors within the chassis
were correctly seated and reconnected
the power plug to the power-supply. Now, the green light did not blink anymore. In fact,
since then, nothing ever happended again.
The system just seems dead. I guess that the supply has a problem.
It's difficult to check it, though, without schematics. It has a small ribbon cable
which connects to a small PCB with several ICs
on which can be found the "RUN"-button. I have no idea, which signals that
supply needs in order to enter a state at which it should
be on. The small PCB with the buttons and ICs could also be defective.
?There is also a key-switch, but I played with both positions and it does not influence
anything on my system.
The systems seem rare. At least, I could find only little information on the net and not
documentation at all.Has anybody a clue on how to power-up this thing?Are there other
owners of PCS systems, who can tell me who the system behaves upon applying power to the
PSU and if it is sufficient
to press the RUN-button to turn it on?
?
Kind regards,
Pierre
?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pierre's collection of classic computers : http://classic-computing.dyndns.org/
18 Oct
18 Oct
2:56 a.m.
We also had problems with our 9900/4's 24V/+-12V power supply (needed for
the SMD 8" disk drive). It turned out that
1. the metal clamps that press the transistor cases to the heat sink were
corroded and fell off (and may produce a short circuit!)
2. some electrolytics in both PSUs were shorted and needed replacement
3. a CMOS NAND gate (CD4011) was bad
4. later on (after the PSU did work again), the TDA4718 went bad
I think 3. and 4. were caused by the short circuit described in 1.
On Wed, 17 Oct 2012, P Gebhardt wrote:
and?applying power to?the switching supply turned
on?the
blinkening?kight of the ?green "RUN" button, but pressing it did not do
anything. Afterwards, I deconnected the supply, checked that power
The RUN button is only to halt the machine in combination with the INIT
key switch position.
just seems dead. I guess that the supply has a
problem. It's difficult
to check it, though, without schematics. It has a small ribbon cable
which connects to a small PCB with several ICs on which can be found the
"RUN"-button. I have no idea, which signals that supply needs in order
to enter a state at which it should be on. The small PCB with the
buttons and ICs could also be defective. ?There is also a key-switch,
That key switch is the power-on and reset switch. If really nothing
happens, check the standby voltage (12V).
but I played with both positions and it does not
influence anything on
my system. The systems seem rare. At least, I could find only little
information on the net and not documentation at all.Has anybody a clue
Then you haven't looked hard enough ;-)
From our museum's site, there's the following
links to our PCS docs:
ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/cm/pcs/
on how to power-up this thing?Are there other owners
of PCS systems, who
can tell me who the system behaves upon applying power to the PSU and if
it is sufficient to press the RUN-button to turn it on? ? Kind regards,
As said, the RUN button does essentially nothing. But have a look at the
documents, they describe quite well how everything works, and they contain
the description and pinout of the various connectors.
If you search the usenet archive, you'll find a posting on d.a.f.c.
from somebody, dated 29.3.2005, that sais
"[...]
Elkos sind generell ein Problem, ich habe ja bei meiner Sammlung
auch die Tage schon mehrere repariert:
PCS Cadmus 9700 - Elko mit Kurzschlu?, Nebeneffekt abgebrannte Leiterbahn,
sonst nix.
[...]"
Christian
3:45 a.m.
Hello Christian,
Wow, thank you *very* much for your detailed information and the link to the documents !
When I find some time during this winter, I will try to find the faults and let you know
about the progress.
Kind regards,
Pierre
?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pierre's collection of classic computers : http://classic-computing.dyndns.org/
________________________________
Von: Christian Corti <cc at informatik.uni-stuttgart.de>
An: General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts <cctalk at classiccmp.org>
Gesendet: 11:56 Donnerstag, 18.Oktober 2012
Betreff: Re: PCS CADMUS 9700 System power-up difficulties
We also had problems with our 9900/4's 24V/+-12V power supply (needed for the SMD
8" disk drive). It turned out that
1. the metal clamps that press the transistor cases to the heat sink were corroded and
fell off (and may produce a short circuit!)
2. some electrolytics in both PSUs were shorted and needed replacement
3. a CMOS NAND gate (CD4011) was bad
4. later on (after the PSU did work again), the TDA4718 went bad
I think 3. and 4. were caused by the short circuit described in 1.
On Wed, 17 Oct 2012, P Gebhardt wrote:
and?applying power to?the switching supply turned
on?the blinkening?kight of the ?green "RUN" button, but pressing it did not do
anything. Afterwards, I deconnected the supply, checked that power
The RUN button is only to halt the machine in combination with the INIT key switch
position.
just seems dead. I guess that the supply has a
problem. It's difficult to check it, though, without schematics. It has a small ribbon
cable which connects to a small PCB with several ICs on which can be found the
"RUN"-button. I have no idea, which signals that supply needs in order to enter
a state at which it should be on. The small PCB with the buttons and ICs could also be
defective. ?There is also a key-switch,
That key switch is the power-on and reset switch. If really nothing happens, check the
standby voltage (12V).
but I played with both positions and it does not
influence anything on my system. The systems seem rare. At least, I could find only little
information on the net and not documentation at all.Has anybody a clue
Then you haven't looked hard enough ;-)
From our museum's site, there's the following
links to our PCS docs:
ftp://ftp.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pub/cm/pcs/
on how to power-up this thing?Are there other owners
of PCS systems, who can tell me who the system behaves upon applying power to the PSU and
if it is sufficient to press the RUN-button to turn it on? ? Kind regards,
As said, the RUN button does essentially nothing. But have a look at the documents, they
describe quite well how everything works, and they contain the description and pinout of
the various connectors.
If you search the usenet archive, you'll find a posting on d.a.f.c. from somebody,
dated 29.3.2005, that sais
"[...]
Elkos sind generell ein Problem, ich habe ja bei meiner Sammlung auch die Tage schon
mehrere repariert:
PCS Cadmus 9700 - Elko mit Kurzschlu?, Nebeneffekt abgebrannte Leiterbahn,
sonst nix.
[...]"
Christian
4841
days inactive
4842
days old
2 comments
2 participants
participants (2)
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cc＠informatik.uni-stuttgart.de -
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