On screen:

Does the top of the capacitor look slightly raised? Is that a resistor burnt out?

The capacitor is dead ; it should be replaced & there's likely more need replacing ~ the resistor is burnt, it should be replaced

giantclam wrote on 2023-09-23, 23:30:

Does the top of the capacitor look slightly raised? Is that a resistor burnt out?

The capacitor is dead ; it should be replaced & there's likely more need replacing ~ the resistor is burnt, it should be replaced

Thanks for confirming. There's a TV repair shop on the next street, as its 30 years old now should I get all the caps replaced even if they look OK?

yes, I would

Me too.

Once they are done then you can start to see whats wrong with it, if it is beyond the caps and resistor.

Not the cap photo'd but other caps on the boards are apparently very rare. Managed to find a pack of 10 in Poland for £12 delivered. Who would have thought it so hard to get capacitors in the UK

ldare1000 wrote on 2023-09-26, 14:03:

Not the cap photo'd but other caps on the boards are apparently very rare.

whoever told you that .. erm, wasnt exactly correct
"TV repair shop on the next street" should hava all the caps needed on hand

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-09-26, 14:48:

ldare1000 wrote on 2023-09-26, 14:03:

Not the cap photo'd but other caps on the boards are apparently very rare.

whoever told you that .. erm, wasnt exactly correct
"TV repair shop on the next street" should hava all the caps needed on hand

They didn't, they said the purple ones on the board were obscure

I have to eat my words - now I see what the issue your tech found. 25SC47M Sanyo 47uf 25V 105C, probably right on the 19V power supply rail input. This cap is rated at a huge 3A ripple current. Thing is docking station should never need those.
Then again there was this https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/com … ligent_docking/ 🤣
but I think this is your dock https://www.reddit.com/r/vintagecomputing/com … 00m_an_obscure/
description and bq2003 battery charging chip inside explains those caps, they are most likely mainly for battery charger.

One cdrom will use max ~10W on 12V rail. 78st105 power converter right next to it does 5V 7W, Audio amp maxes out at 2.5W at 12V. Imo any lowesr xx-xxx uf 25V 105C caps will work just fine in there as long as you remove old battery as its probably dead anyway.

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-09-24, 21:48:

Me too.

Once they are done then you can start to see whats wrong with it, if it is beyond the caps and resistor.

Replaced the resistor and caps and still exactly the same 😭

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-09-26, 14:48:

ldare1000 wrote on 2023-09-26, 14:03:

Not the cap photo'd but other caps on the boards are apparently very rare.

whoever told you that .. erm, wasnt exactly correct
"TV repair shop on the next street" should hava all the caps needed on hand

Not really.
They will carry a stock of commonly used items these days, but they wouldnt bother stocking parts for things they might well never replace these days.

ldare1000 wrote on 2023-10-15, 22:25:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-09-24, 21:48:

Me too.

Once they are done then you can start to see whats wrong with it, if it is beyond the caps and resistor.

Replaced the resistor and caps and still exactly the same 😭

Well now you know its electrically sound. It might seem like an unnecessary step but its not.

There are many things it could be from here on in.
The device seems to be detected on boot. Right?
So the PC has a CDROM drive on boot and is recognised by the scsi controller (and that controller is proven to work?)

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-10-16, 15:42:

Not really. They will carry a stock of commonly used items these days, but they wouldnt bother stocking parts for things they mi […]
Show full quote

rasz_pl wrote on 2023-09-26, 14:48:

ldare1000 wrote on 2023-09-26, 14:03:

Not the cap photo'd but other caps on the boards are apparently very rare.

whoever told you that .. erm, wasnt exactly correct
"TV repair shop on the next street" should hava all the caps needed on hand

Not really.
They will carry a stock of commonly used items these days, but they wouldnt bother stocking parts for things they might well never replace these days.

ldare1000 wrote on 2023-10-15, 22:25:

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-09-24, 21:48:

Me too.

Once they are done then you can start to see whats wrong with it, if it is beyond the caps and resistor.

Replaced the resistor and caps and still exactly the same 😭

Well now you know its electrically sound. It might seem like an unnecessary step but its not.

There are many things it could be from here on in.
The device seems to be detected on boot. Right?
So the PC has a CDROM drive on boot and is recognised by the scsi controller (and that controller is proven to work?)

My next test should be to try an alternative scsi cd rom but they are quite pricey, this would probably help confirm the scsi controller is good.

Some communication is definitely taking place as via the dos scsi drivers, the exact cd rom make and model are returned.

My bet is dock is in good working order but the scsi drive isn't. I can't really proceed tho.

Interesting little problem...

I wouldnt be at all surprised if by the end of this you do find it is indeed a dead CD ROM drive, but going through the motions to find that out might be "cheap" but by the end you will have gained nothing so is expensive because you will have nothing to show for it.

Unfortunatly I dont have a SCSI CDROM I could lend to you to test the assumption.

Believe it or not the dock itself if the most valuable part of what you have, the CDROM isnt all that remarkable.
By the looks of the pictures it looks like its an intergrated CD drive as part of a laptop. Is it?

ElectroSoldier wrote on 2023-10-22, 16:54:

Interesting little problem... […]
Show full quote

Interesting little problem...

I wouldnt be at all surprised if by the end of this you do find it is indeed a dead CD ROM drive, but going through the motions to find that out might be "cheap" but by the end you will have gained nothing so is expensive because you will have nothing to show for it.

Unfortunatly I dont have a SCSI CDROM I could lend to you to test the assumption.

Believe it or not the dock itself if the most valuable part of what you have, the CDROM isnt all that remarkable.
By the looks of the pictures it looks like its an intergrated CD drive as part of a laptop. Is it?

It's a Texas Travelmate 4000m Docking Station. I have an almost perfect working 486 Texas Travelmate. I'm booting off a flopping and using a pcmcia card as a hard drive.