PC motherboard repair needed

[The Doctor]

Hi,

I have ~8-10year old PC with Clarian Chip that runs a special scientific equipment. It has stopped powering on and although I’ve changed the power pack it is completely dead. I’m wondering if it’s the mother board and would like to see if someone is able to check some of the major circuit on the mother board or even the on/off switch. The computer is specially configured to run with a scientific instrument (hass no HD and boots from a floopy) and it may not be possible simply to swap to another computer. There are a number of old ISA full length card which make it difficult to replace so I’m really looking to see if I can track down the problem before looking at a replacement. My comany is happy to pay for someone's time to have good look at it with a circuit tester.
Thanks, call Simon on 1955 611202 or 07801438719 any time.

[dx100uk]

you indicate poss issues with it actual getting mains through the on/off switch?

is this a click on/off switch or just a momentary touch switch?

i'e DOES it go click/click when you press it in
or is feels the same whanever you press it

also 'WHAT' is the PC please maker model etc etc.

dx

[The Doctor]

Thanks,

Yes the on/off does "klick" but doesn't have two different feelling as most such switches do in my experince. However, I have tried to bypass it by unplugging from the mother board then putting ajumper plug across the two terminals on the mother board and it still doesn't power up. The PC has no make or marking as it was made specifically for the scientific instrument's manufacturer.

[dx100uk]

sadly i'm down south at present so's cant help by coming to you

however i have extensive knowledge of early and custom pc's

photos would be nice

but, have you tried doing a dir of the floopy disc in a modern day pc
once we know the files it will be pretty easy to make the special scientific equipment

work from a modern day pc i'm sure unless its specifically tied to a language or uart interface.

i'm happy to converse direct if you want to take this off list
however me thinks requery might like to see this or even be able to help too

dx

[Fran]

I had this repaired by Peter and he did a good job for me. 602622 PNP he advertises in the Groat and the Courier

[The Doctor]

Have just sourced an old PII with two ISA slot and will try to tranfer th cards. Will see how that goes!

[dx100uk]

ok so's its not that old!

that will just be a specialised comms card for the bit of kit that it drives prob via its own OS on the floppy's

shouldn't be too much bother

though i would copy the discs and use the copies.
you might well have to reconfig the software for differing ports and comms rates etc etc
that way you will not lose the org config files for the motherboard it did run on.

btw: its not unknown for the giant bios back-up batteries to fail in early 8088/286 etc machines
that will stop the pc booting .

we still use acouple of 8088 pc's to drive early matchmaker machines & a couple of 286's to interface with early electron microscopes

don't forget ebay, they do come up.

i've got access to lots of spares if you find yourself short of a card or to or early memory

dx