Today I cleaned up the computer lab area and started the process of restoring the 3B2/400.
I started by clearing up a fairly large workspace to hold the 3B2, a terminal, some tools, and the maintenance manual (a pdf file on my netbook).
Then the real work: removed the cover, and started removing option boards. I removed:
- An 8 port serial board
- 2x 4 port serial, 1 parallel boards
- An ethernet board
- A SCSI board
I fiddled around with the connectors I could see just to insure they were tight, and plugged it in and fired it up.
At least the console was working... I got system diagnostics and it tried, but failed, to boot up.
There were three major problems:
- The NVRAM battery was dead. I ordered a couple of new ones.
- The primary disk (a CDC Wren 83MB?) is showing CRC errors.
- When I tried to boot from the Essential Utilities boot floppy, it gets most of the way there, then dies.
I'll try to get some pictures of the terminal screen up in the next couple of days.
In the meantime, I'm hoping that I can fix most of this with a new battery, and a thorough tear down and rebuild.
Pictures and commentary are in the group's wiki.
