mchin@homxc.UUCP (10/28/87)
Has anyone heard of hardware problems in IBM's PS/2 line of computers? I've only heard second hand of some problems with their disk drives and I was wondering if this was true? Michael Chin ihnp4!homxc!mchin
st138ak@sdcc12.ucsd.EDU (st138ak) (10/29/87)
In article <1911@homxc.UUCP>, mchin@homxc.UUCP (M.CHIN) writes: > > Has anyone heard of hardware problems in IBM's PS/2 line of computers? I've > only heard second hand of some problems with their disk drives and I was > wondering if this was true? > > Michael Chin > ihnp4!homxc!mchin Interesting question. I'm rather surprised I hadn't read anything about this before. We recently (2 months ago) bought a bunch of IBM PS/2 Model 50s and a few Model 60s. The first thing that went wrong was on the 60s--a configuration error would appear every time you booted the system. The computer thought the date and time were not set. After going through the whole process of setting date and time and reconfiguring the system numerous times, I figured that it wasn't ME. So, I called the company which has our service contract (and believe me, anyone with the new PS/2 is well advised to get a full service contract), and their response was, "Oh yeah, you keep getting a configuration error, right?" It turns out that they knew of the problem, and so did IBM. IBM sent out patch diskettes, which were supposed to solve the problem. Wrong. They sent out incorrect patch diskettes, and it wasn't until yesterday that we finally got the right patch diskette to finally fix the problems. (This is after almost 2 months of living with the problem.) The other problem we've experienced is another error message, which turned out to be a hard disk problem on one of our PS/2 Model 50s. The repair guys thought the hard disk had crashed (which would have been ironic, since that particular computer had been used once, only to install WordPerfect. The problem really turned out to be a bad controller board, which had actually burned out in a couple of places-- certainly not from overuse on our part. The repair guy assumed that the board was installed with the bad spots at the plant. This really does wonders for my confidence in these machines.... why didn't we buy Macs? If I discover any more problems, I'll be happy to post them. By the way, a number of departments on this university bought the PS/2 line, and from what I hear, everyone's having the same problems. However, in at least one case, the hard disk on a Model 50 did crash, and it took IBM over a month to ship a new disk -- timely replacement and service is *not* a hallmark of IBM's commitment to the PS/2s. Diane - Academic Personnel st138ak@sdcc12
chan@encore.UUCP (10/30/87)
In article <844@sdcc12.ucsd.EDU> st138ak@sdcc12.ucsd.EDU (st138ak) writes: >In article <1911@homxc.UUCP>, mchin@homxc.UUCP (M.CHIN) writes: >> >> Has anyone heard of hardware problems in IBM's PS/2 line of computers? I've >> only heard second hand of some problems with their disk drives and I was >> wondering if this was true? >> >> Michael Chin >> ihnp4!homxc!mchin I read somewhere recently (within the last month) that IBM had problems with power supplies on a lower-end model (Model 30, I believe). According to the article, there isn't sufficient "juice" available on the backplane to allow more than a single slot to be used (of which four(?) are available); I forget the exact details of which board was referred to -- a lan controller? Had anyone else read this article? Perhaps this problem and the disk drive problem in question are related. In any case, IBM seems to have addressed this problem. If more details are requested, I'm sure I could find the article and provide more info. +----------------+ Jerry H. Chan linus--+ +--+-------------+ | Encore Computer Corp. necntc--| | | E n c o r e | | 257 Cedar Hill St. ihnp4--+-encore!chan | +-------------+--+ Marlboro MA 01752 decvax--| +----------------+ (617) 460-0500 talcott--+
todd@uhccux.UUCP (The Perplexed Wiz) (11/02/87)
In article <2109@encore.UUCP> chan@encore.UUCP (Jerry Chan) writes: >I read somewhere recently (within the last month) that IBM had problems with >power supplies on a lower-end model (Model 30, I believe). According to the >article, there isn't sufficient "juice" available on the backplane to allow >more than a single slot to be used (of which four(?) are available); I >forget the exact details of which board was referred to -- a lan controller? The problem involved the board needed for the Model-30 desktop publishing configuration. BTW: The info on the PS/2 BIOS error problem was documented in the 10/5/87 issue of InfoWorld. For those of you who haven't gotten a patched DOS disk yet, InfoWorld suggests that you enter the DOS 'date' command immediately BEFORE TURNING OFF the system. ...todd -- Todd Ogasawara, U. of Hawaii Faculty Development Program UUCP: {ihnp4,uunet,ucbvax,dcdwest}!sdcsvax!nosc!uhccux!todd ARPA: uhccux!todd@nosc.MIL BITNET: todd@uhccux INTERNET: todd@uhccux.UHCC.HAWAII.EDU