MicroLab 286

For a time I was not able to find out anything about this MicroLab. I thought it was a white box from a local computer shop, like some mom&pop store that serviced local small businesses. But I recently found out that this was a clone brand that was competing with the likes of NEC and Gateway for cheap business computers of the time, about 1989.

This computer was sold by PAN-UNITED CORP. in Edison, NJ. They were basically resellers, like Leading Edge, and the manufacturer was some source in Taiwan. I have not been able to find the actual manufacturer of the motherboard. The label on one of the ISA slots is from March 23, 1990. There were a few articles in PC Magazine in 1989 comparing these machines to other 286 machines.

I think I got this machine at the same time as the NEC Powermate. It may have come from the batch of stuff I got from an old business in Kingston along with some PS/2’s and some printers. I think I powered it up once and the fans did come on so I thought maybe it would work but I set it aside and it has set along with the NEC Powermate for a few years.

I started to work on this machine a couple of weeks ago. I had previously had some success with my old AST 486-33 and the Leading Edge Model D 8088 clone. I had been reading about some 286 projects on VCFED so I decided I would finally start work on this machine. But, unfortunately, I screwed up a few years ago and I did not notice that there was a barrel battery on the motherboard and I failed to remove it. The battery has leaked and there is a lot of corrosion.

I disassembled the drives, cards, connectors and power supply. I cleaned up and tested the power supply and it is working. I removed the motherboard and cleaned the case. Now I will clean the motherboard before I try to reassemble and power up.

I removed the battery and cleaned up the corrosion. It took a lot longer than some other motherboards I have cleaned. The green residue took a long time to remove. And I think there is still some residue in the keyboard connector and a couple of the ISA slots. I cleaned it until the green was gone from the traces and then I tried to power it on.

I attached the power supply, a VGA card and my IBM VGA monitor, and my IBM Model M keyboard. I powered it on - the power supply fan is working but the motherboard is not posting. Nothing. No beeps (note - no beeper on MB and speaker not connected) and no report to video. Is this motherboard dead? Maybe. There was a lot more corrosion than I have worked with before. This board may be beyond my ability to repair.

The motherboard is not completely dead. I attached a speaker to the board and powered it on again. There is a constant three-beep. Still no video but the three-beep continues until I power down. I was hoping for more of a definitive beep code. But at least we’re getting something so I know the board is at least responding to something. I need to try and figure out what the three-beep means and what type of board this is. Maybe I can get some help on VCFED.

The computer came with one 3.5” floppy, one 5.25” floppy, and an IDE 3.5” hard drive. There was no floppy or IDE controller on the motherboard. The drives were connected to an ISA controller card. When I took it apart I noticed that the floppy cables were missing. The IDE cable was connected to the hard drive. There was no video card installed when I started taking this apart for cleaning. I may have removed the video card previously, I can’t remember. The keyboard port is the standard AT 5-pin din connector. I did not get any keyboard or monitor with this computer, just the CPU box.

So, now I have to decide what I am going to do with this machine. When I cleaned up the Leading Edge Model D I thought that maybe I could use the hard drive from this MicoLab in that machine if this machine did not work. Well, it is not working. So, maybe I will do that and use the drives on the Leading Edge Model D.

I also found an unused 486 motherboard in my stack of stuff. I do not know where it came from. But it is not as corroded as the MicroLab 286 MB and I may decide to clean it up and put it in the MicroLab case. The format of the 486 motherboard is very close to the non-working 286 and should fit the case. I think I will at least try to power it up like I did with the 286 and see if it is viable before I decide what to do.

I also found an old 286 motherboard that was stacked with the 486 motherboard. This 286 board was removed from the old VIP computer that I had originally bought for my folks while they were still in Seattle. I purchased this VIP direct from an add in Computer Shopper and got a VGA white monitor along with it. It has since been disassembled and is missing all the drives and video card. The case remains along with the power supply. The battery was leaking so I removed the battery, a long time ago, and attempted to clean it up. I have not attempted to power it up since. There was still some green residue so I was attempting to clean it again while I was working on this MicroLab motherboard.

I decided to try and power it up while I had everything still setup from the tests with the MicroLab motherboard. It works! There is still some green residue but the motherboard is working. I will continue to try and clean this board. Maybe I will put that VIP machine back together and use the drives from this MicroLab in that VIP computer. The VIP case is a mini-tower and I do not have any other mini-towers with any 286/386/486 machines. The next mini-tower I have is for the AT&T Pentium 200MMX. So, it might be cool to use the VIP mini-tower for a 286 and use the MicroLab case for something else, like the 486?

Before breaking down I hooked up the 486 motherboard and powered it on. I had attached the same speaker that I attached to the previous 286 board. But when I turned it on I got no beeps. And no video. When I turned it off I saw a red led on the board blink. It lit up and then went off again. But otherwise no response from the board. It looks like I have some work to do with this board. But it is well identified and I may be able to find some manuals for it. But at least for now this board will not work to resurrect the MicroLab computer. I may go ahead and put it in the case for storage though.

So, it seems that this MicroLab is a bust and I will need to work on the VIP 286 instead. Time to break down the work area and switch over to the VIP.

07/04/22

I was beginning to clean up a different 486 that I got at the surplus, it is in a full tower 25” high. I wondered if the motherboard would fit in another case. I placed it in this MicroLab case and it will fit. So, I am going to upgrade this case to the 486 motherboard. See the other document for more on cleaning up the 486.

7/10/22

This MicroLab 286 has been replaced and is now the “MicroLab 486”.