Hi,
I have an IBM PS/2 Model-70 386 that my boss just handed me and wants me to get info from.

I get error code 161 / 163. From what I understand, I there's a dead battery and I need to run the reference disk. Do I NEED to replace the battery to run the reference disk or is there a way around it?

I just need to get in there to pull out some info, so even if it's a bad work around it might be worth it this once.

Please forgive my ignorance on the subject. I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to this stuff.

Thanks for any help,
Andre Pappas

Here is a specialist newsgroup for PS2
comp.sys.ibm.ps2.hardware
Do a news group search in google or post your problem there, I am sure they can assist, good group.

Hi,
Battery "might" be a rechargeable.
If left on for a while, it may hold a charge long enough to retain startup (reference) information so you can do your task. For the harddrive settings, open case, read harddrive (or do an internet search for harddrive specs.) Or, transplant to a system that autodetects it.

Type the following quotated strings into Yahoo search (or Google) and you'll find many "reference disk" sites:

"ibm ps2" "reference disk"

Try this:

http://www.tavi.co.uk/ps2pages/battery.html

Looks like a photo battery should do the job.

H,
Sometimes you can get it to boot simply by hitting the F1 key when it shows a picture of the floppy slot on screen. If not simply insert the reference disk and start it up. It will hold the info until you turn it off again.

Here's a link to the reference disks. http://www.can.ibm.com/helpware/vintage.html

good luck James

Very good information up here:

http://members.aol.com/mcapage0/mcaindex.htm

Download the program
QBMCA - MCA-Adapter Identification Software

You create a floppy disk to boot up to. It will identify the components in the computer. Each component in an MCA (Microchannel Architecture) computer needs and ADF description file to load it.

First you need the Reference disk available here.
http://members.tripod.com/~ps2page/

There should be a 4 digit number TYPE number in the back of your computer, mine is an 8570-(with 3 more digits).

Download the 85xx reference disk.

Good luck,
DR