commodore pc-40

[Elvicat]

Oki have this really old pc that's a Commodore PC-40, not the II or III as there seems to be thouse to but just this version, right i'm after some info on this pc like manuals motherboard info like dipswitch, jumper things like that, anything that might help, it's running but with the wrong memory config as the bios battery had leaked and i've put in a newer one that seems to work so far but as you can tell the bios info went away.
Oh and how do you tell what type of 5½ floppy drive you have i'm gonna guess it's a 360k it also has a 720k 3.5, yeah i know it's old but so it the computer
any help here would be great


edit*
Just checked the back of that pc, and it said PC 40-01 so i guess it's model I heh

[miadon]

http://www.computermuseum-muenchen.de/computer/commodore/pc4040.html I can't find 40-01 :/

[Elvicat]

i've seen that one a few times and i think the model of this is 1, on the same side is the model 40 III but it's not even close to what mine looks like

[miadon]

I can't find that model number anywhere not even on enthusiast websites. you dont suppose it was some clone do you?

[Elvicat]

no i don't think so, as i've read there are pc-40's around and i've checked the back for more info, found out it's made in germany.
btw i've found some places that actually meantion this model but very litle
also i don't find anything eather if i type in 40-01 but... on ocational sites there are pc-40 models

[eldoth_terevan]

There were a couple of models that they kept changing the names on. Best thing to do is post some pictures of the unit, and its motherboard if possible. Better even to post them on some old CBM fanboard.

[Elvicat]

well here's the pics, first one is abit big but ok detail
inside:


and outside

[bilbous]

you could always try doing a search on the bios code or anything else it displays on the screen while POSTing

Another possibility is there may be some kind of code on the back. Every electronic device in NA has one, I forget what it is called right now but European equipment might have something similar.

[miadon]

A possibility (altough unlikely) is you have a prototype model, before the PC40-III came out.

[Elvicat]

miadon as i said there are model I,II and III out there, III however seems to be most common...

on another note, i've manage to scavange for some hard drives it might use, if they are working that is... so i'm playing with that at the moment 

[evil scotsman]

you could always try doing a search on the bios code or anything else it displays on the screen while POSTing

Another possibility is there may be some kind of code on the back. Every electronic device in NA has one, I forget what it is called right now but European equipment might have something similar.

I think what you are looking for is the FCC ID, printed on most, but not all electronic equipment, the FCC ID is usually printed on a sticker carrying the FCC logo, and is a two part code, 3 numbers followed by 1 - 14 numbers, XXX-XXXXXXXXXXXXXX. There are FCC search sites for identifying products using the FCC ID number.

The motherboard may also have identification numbers, or codes, but these are usually pretty difficult to find, however i've had some success in the past when looking up older system motherboards using some of the codes i've found.

The BIOS code is another method of finding the motherboard, however depending on the age of the motherboard this may not easy either, since prior to 80386 systems a lot of manufacturers used their own bios IC's, and these were not always recorded.

From the photo it looks like the bios is certainly pre 386, as it's a pair of eeprom devices with hand written labels, probably a 286, so i'd guess at the 5" fdd being 360K and the 3.5" fdd being a 720K single sided, but possibly a 1.44K as those may have been available, orpossibly a replacement if supported by the drive control card.

Looks like fun to play with, but it's not gonna run PS 

[Elvicat]

yep it's a 10mhz 286

i'll take a closer look on the back and mobo areas if i see any fcc codes.

and no i't cant hande 1.44mb diskettes but it does use a 1.44 drive atm as the old one had broken down  but the bios itself can only handle 720kb diskettes
btw anyone have any idea how to identify what how big floppies the 5½ drive can handle without using it?

and from what i saw at post it's a award bios but with commodore edits

news on the hd front, i got 1 of the drives correctly inisiated aka real low level format and got it to the right size, seems to work but for some odd reason when it's starting to boot dos it just stands there... if i boot of a diskette i can see the hd just fine...
the other hd dosn't have the right size but it boots fine 

[bilbous]

Hmm would not expect it to boot dos at all. I guess it could if it is a 286. Commodore had its own operating system IIRC might have better luck if you could locate a copy of that. I had a coleco adam which booted from a cassette. I think many of those things used ROM BASIC to run programs although I think the Commodore 40 was second or third generation for that company. Did Commodore turn into Amiga? Probably not I guess.

[Elvicat]

erm billbous, it's a commodore pc  not to confuse with the commodore 64-128 range
and i finnaly managed to get the bigger hd to boot old dos 6.22

[miadon]

well I doubt the 5.25" is a 360k if it can handle 720k 3.5". But my guess is that it is a 1.2Mb 5.25" drive.

 (from what I have seen on commodore sites and knowledge of floppy disk history)