24 Jun
2001
24 Jun
'01
8:35 p.m.
Hi everybody,
one of my dad's colleagues presented him with a Sharp PC-4600 Laptop and now
it's my task to get it into "usable" condition. This covers several items:
1. Making the thing mains independent
There was no accu pack inside the box when we got it. It starts up all right
when powered by a wall socket PSU of the recommended voltage (9 V DC), but
for portable use it'd have to have its own power source. What rating should
the cell pack have? Can I still get an original one or do I have to build my
own from several cells?
2. Providing mass storage
The computer is equipped with two 720k 3.5" disk drives. Is it possible to
upgrade to a 1.44MB drive and/or to install a hard disk? Where would the
latter one connect? (There are several unused connectors inside and I've also seen
a solder type jumper with the letters FDD/HDD on the PCB, so there should be
a way...)
3. Getting the keyboard to work properly
There is a keyboard problem. One key press ends up with two characters being
entered (always the same for each key), as there are:
key cap results
german without with
german driver
Esc 8\ 8\
F6 ^Z ^Z
F7 ^@ ^@
1 91 91
2 02 02
3 -3 ?3
4 =4 ?4
5 <del> 5 <del> 5
6 <tab> 6 <tab> 6
7 q7 q7
8 8\ 8\
9 91 91
0 02 02
? -3 ?3
? =4 ?4
<del> <del> 5 <del> 5
<tab> <tab> 6 <tab> 6
q q7 q7
I've already unplugged and reseated the keyboard connector. Anybody already
encountered and successfully repaired this?
The machine has the german QWERTZ keyboard layout so I've also tried
installing a german MSDOS keyboard driver, but when it's installed, from the first
keypress on as long as nothing is being entered, the machine continuously
produces short beeps (about 2/sec) which get on your nerves in very short time.
Is there a (perhaps Sharp-specific) driver that will not cause this problem?
I hope than somebody out there can help me. Many thanx in advance
Arno Kletzander
P.S. I'm on the digest only, so answers will take about one day...
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