I have an IBM 5150 that needs some work

[thegenerallee86]

I just recently bought an IBM 5150 and am in the process of trying to replace the battery on one of the expansion boards because it had leaked all over. It is a Varta 3/V60R battery and was wondering if this: V80H2 Memory Back UP 2 Pin NiMH Battery 3.6v 80mAh (Rechargeable) - $6.10 (batteryguy.com) would be a good replacement for it and if you know of better replacements? Also this is what I know of the machine from the guy I bought it from:

 

High density floppy disk controller (appears to be for an external unit as ribbon cable runs out the back)

Color graphics card 1501486  XM

Qubie’ modem

Diamond flower. MF-100 multi I/O card, game controller and 384kb of dram. 

Data tech hard drive controller

MR535-U00 Mitsubishi 42MB MFM 5.25-inch Internal Hard Drive

I am replacing the battery before I even turn it on for the first time and also check the PSU as well before I turn it on too I have Multimeter / Soldering and Heat gun station / along with an oscilloscope to check everything out with. What else should I check before I turn it on?

[Tempest]

I've been restoring a 5150 for the last few years.  That battery should work but make sure your current battery only has 2 legs, the one on my card had three.

I had to replace the power supply on mine since it was having issues when placed under too much load (it worked, but it made a whistling noise until it warmed up). 
 

My 5150 has the following in it:

 

Multitech memory/clock  card (brings the system up to 640K)

ATI EGA Wonder video card (for use with my 5151 monochrome monitor)

Joystick card (forget the company. Sun something)

IBM disk controller card (I have a 5.25" and 3.5" drive)

XT-IDE (use this with a SD to IDE card for a hard drive)

 

It's a fun machine to play around with, especially making games run on the slow phosphor green screen monitor.  But it's very slow and you'd be surprised what either won't run or runs really really slow. 

 

[thegenerallee86]

47 minutes ago, Tempest said:

I've been restoring a 5150 for the last few years.  That battery should work but make sure your current battery only has 2 legs, the one on my card had three.

I had to replace the power supply on mine since it was having issues when placed under too much load (it worked, but it made a whistling noise until it warmed up). 
 

My 5150 has the following in it:

 

Multitech memory/clock  card (brings the system up to 640K)

ATI EGA Wonder video card (for use with my 5151 monochrome monitor)

Joystick card (forget the company. Sun something)

IBM disk controller card (I have a 5.25" and 3.5" drive)

XT-IDE (use this with a SD to IDE card for a hard drive)

 

It's a fun machine to play around with, especially making games run on the slow phosphor green screen monitor.  But it's very slow and you'd be surprised what either won't run or runs really really slow. 

 

Yeah I only see 2 pins on the one I removed and this is what it looked liked after I removed it:

[+OLD CS1]

That battery damage looks gnarly. I hope it cleans up good for you.

[Ed in SoDak]

           ^^^^

What @OLD CS1 said. That green stuff on the resistors and chips nearby is very suspect. Clean it with vinegar in q-tips followed by removing the vinegar with a couple drops of water on clean q-tips, repeated as needed. It may have migrated to within the parts, ruining them. If not fully cleaned, it can continue its attack.

 

Hopefully it did not take out board traces. Those may be hiding underneath the chips and resistors. I've seen it totally eat away copper traces to nothing but a green scum trail. You might be able to find problem spots and parts with the DMM showing high Ohms that should read zero Ohms along traces and by flaky or unstable readings on chip pins or resistor legs, etc. Cables can be hit too, you'll see the green inside the wiring insulation if it's bad.

Edited June 16, 2022 by Ed in SoDak

[thegenerallee86]

On 6/15/2022 at 9:43 PM, Ed in SoDak said:

           ^^^^

What @OLD CS1 said. That green stuff on the resistors and chips nearby is very suspect. Clean it with vinegar in q-tips followed by removing the vinegar with a couple drops of water on clean q-tips, repeated as needed. It may have migrated to within the parts, ruining them. If not fully cleaned, it can continue its attack.

 

Hopefully it did not take out board traces. Those may be hiding underneath the chips and resistors. I've seen it totally eat away copper traces to nothing but a green scum trail. You might be able to find problem spots and parts with the DMM showing high Ohms that should read zero Ohms along traces and by flaky or unstable readings on chip pins or resistor legs, etc. Cables can be hit too, you'll see the green inside the wiring insulation if it's bad.

Well I just took it out again after I had some time to do some cleaning and cleaned it with a toothbrush soaked in 70% rubbing alcohol and I think I got quite a bit of it off and also found an AST SixPackPlus Memory expansion card to replace it in case it does not work, but I will keep trying to fix it anyways. 

[Keatah]

Those fucking VataBombs! So insidious, the shit gets everywhere, into the components themselves. Eats away the copper under the trace - leaving the green insulation mostly intact aside from maybe a color change, so you don't know. The left-behind scum is partly conductive, so sometimes hi-impedance CMOS circuitry will still work albeit intermittently depending on atmospheric conditions. Heaven help you if it gets into a multi-layer board!