TOSHIBA T5200

Info, mods, pics, tips etc

Models

Model	Type	Comment
PA8054U	T5200C or T5200/200 (200MB HDD) model
PA8052U	Plasma, 100MB
PA8052EA	Plasma, 100MB	No search results on google for this but it definitely exists (I have one!)
PA8050U	Plasma, 40MB
PA8050E	Plasma, ??

T5200 vs T5200C - differences

Both machines are identical except for the display assembly (and LCD/PDP converter). The displays should be swappable (but has anyone ever tried??)

T5200	T5200C	Part	Comment
		Display	Color LCD has 2 dials instead of one
		Display	T5200C display is more matte than the plasma
		Display/lid	Lid is fatter on the T5200C
		LCD display is smaller than the plasma (10.4" vs 11.5")

📖 Maintenance Manual

http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals/Toshiba/Other/Toshiba%20T5200%20-%20Maintenance%20Manual.pdf

🔌 Power Supply

P/N: 5200-0010

Components

PC001, PC002: 0N3105

BIOS

Accessing the BIOS

Hold down Esc while powering on the system to force an error, then hit F1
Alternatively, launch TEST3.EXE from MS-DOS

BIOS Variants

Note the "05" up top right, and the ability to choose plasma font set on the other variant!

BIOS chip

Chip could be from AMD or Texas Instruments

🔋 CMOS Battery

I replaced mine with a 3V CR2032 battery (with battery holder) and diode (if you're worried about the machine trying to "charge" the battery).

Memory (RAM)

1MB of RAM is soldered on the RAM board - the system will run just fine with no SIMMs installed
6x 40-pin SIMM slots (proprietary and impossible to find 😥) and 1x 30-pin parity slot (optional)
Apparently a maximum of 16MB is supported (but I've only seen up to 14MB)
SIMMs appear to be the same type as used in the Toshiba T8500 desktop PC and Acer 735C
You can skip the RAM check/count on boot by hitting SPACE

Memory board

SIMM variants

Front and back of 4 different modules:

Others I've seen online:

RAM Mod

Here are details on a mod to add 8MB of RAM using a standard 72 pin 8MB Parity SIMM. (Requires at least 2MB of proprietary SIMMs already fitted)

Use this info at your own risk, don't blame me if you damage your T5200!

https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=57998&start=20

https://www.vogons.org/download/file.php?id=45121&mode=view

You might be able to use a 16 bit ISA memory expansion board for memory below 16MB but that might not work and would be very slow even if it did.

Each pair of SIMM slots has a single label on the component side so there are 6 slots but only 3 labels (IS17, IS16 & IS15 - ignoring the short 30 pin slot). The middle pair is IS16 and one slot I have referenced as "A" and the other as "B" although they are not labelled

Web links:

https://www.iclocator.com/rfq.html/-5405EDC5-0471-4E05-9AC9-37B072077022?pagename=rfq&e=33oueXFqWRA

https://old.pinouts.ru/Memory/simm_40pin_pinout.shtml

https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/creating-a-bmp-image-thats-viewable-in-windows-3-1.66758/

Motherboard/Mainboard

CPU

132-pin PGA Intel i386 DX @ 20MHz

CPU Upgrades

You can fit a 33Mhz or 40Mhz upgrade CPU in the T5200, it will just run at 20Mhz unless the CPU has built in clock doubling. The hardware mods improve the performance of some of the upgrade CPUs but aren't essential and the CPUs will work if you plug them in without any mods albeit with reduced performance.

Brand	Model	Comment	SysInfo benchmark score (higher is better)
Intel	i386 DX @20MHz	Stock CPU	21.2
Texas Instruments	TXI486DLC/E-33GA
Texas Instruments	TX486DLC-40BGA
Texas Instruments	TX486DLC-40GA	(Note, installs sideways)	23.9
Texas Instruments	TI486DLC/E40BGA
Cyrix	Cx486DRx2 20/40GPL
Texas Instruments	SXL2-50		32.1 (stock, 54.3 using custom BIOS that allows it to run at 40MHz https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=57998#p643529
Cyrix	Cx486DLC

Math Co-Processor

Optional i387

Hard Disk Drive (HDD)

BIOS only supports 3 types of Conner drives, available in 40MB, 100MB and 200MB (rarer) capacities
Replacement drive must match one of the 3 approved conner HDDs - it must match the CHS setting in the BIOS and its model number must start with CP (Conner Peripherals).

Make	Model	Capacity
Conner	CP-344/CP-3044	40MB
Conner	CP-3104	100MB
Conner	CP-3204F	200MB

HDD upgrades/mods

XT-IDE option

An ISA card with IDE connector/SD card slot/CF card slot

https://conventionalmemories.com/wiki_cm/CF_adapter_for_Toshiba_portables

https://conventionalmemories.com/wiki_cm/3inONEder_for_Toshiba_portables

https://texelec.com/product/lo-tech-xt-cf-lite-rev-2/

Set the IO_ADDR to 300H
Prepare a CF card (install MS-DOS in VirtualBox, convert the VDI to .IMG, use Win32DiskImager to write to the CF card

Options:

fire up the T5200 and go in to the BIOS setup and see what hard drive options you have - write them down - and buy a matching Conner CP series IDE drive.
write the AT version of XTIDE to a boot ROM and configure it in a network card, set the T5200 to no hard drive, and install any generic IDE hard drive.
find another Conner IDE drive and ask someone on here to hack the ROM, then burn the new ROM and replace the one on your motherboard (or maybe get away with drive overlay software)

Drive Overlay software is a program that sits in the boot sector and reconfigures the drive before DOS starts.

💾 Floppy Disk Drive (FDD)

26-pin (non-standard) FDD connector, which carries data + power
These drives are prone to failure, and rarely work anymore
ℹRecommend the floppy drive mod below which involves hacking a ribbon cable to allow a standard 34-pin floppy (or Gotek USB floppy emulator) to work

Pic	Make	Model	Note
	Toshiba	ND-356S-A
	Citizen	0SDA-32C

Floppy mod

How-to: https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?p=642629#p642629

Gotek USB floppy emulator (pictured):

Adapters like this may also work:

https://floppyemulator.com/products/34-26-pin-flat-cable-adaptor/

Display

🟧 Orange Gas Plasma Display (T5200, T5200/100, T5200/200)

Display Area: 9.1"W x 6.8"H; 11.5"
Model: Panasonic MD480T640PG3
diagonal Resolution: 640 x 480
Gray scales: 16 Contrast: 100 : 1
34 pin plug
T5200 and T3200SX have the same displays, VGA 640x480, 16 shades of intensity.

VGA / Video Card / HRGS

Board: FH3HR4 / FH3HR3

Capacitors C2 and C4 are 16v 47uF and do not appear to be related to the plasma display
C2 does not appear to be related to the plasma display (maybe it's for the VGA port?)
R127 and R134 (SMD resistors on rear) do not appear to be related to the plasma display
"You dont really need a video driver for your Paradise PVGA1 (?) because these Toshiba models do have - although indeed having one of the first Paradise SVGA compatible chipsets - only 256kb of video RAM, iirc. which means youre limited to a max of 640x480x16 at max, if I am not mistaken."

I/O card

System will NOT POST without this card present
Display will NOT power on without this card present
System will emit 4 short beeps and 2 long beeps if card is not installed

🔐 Combination Lock

Fans / Cooling

3x 4cm x 2cm 12v dumb fans

ISA slots

One 16-bit (top)
One 8-bit (bottom)

Rear Expansion Slot

Connection is ISA but in a non-standard layout
Often unpopulated, but modems were the most common expansion. I've also seen parallel ports.
The interface connector for the mainboard is made by KEL and 3m makes compatible connectors as well. Part numbers: KEL 8801-060-170L-F or 3M P50-060S-RR1-EA

Image	Expansion card	Comment
	Modem	MultiTech MT224TL 2400/1200/300-BPS, INTERNAL CARD MODEM FOR TOSHIBA T3100, T3100/20 & T5100 COMPUTERS
	Toshiba Expansion box connector
	Expansion box card ?
	ConventionalMemories' 3inOneder card	An XT-IDE card that replaces the HDD with a CF card, includes a soundcard and gameport (https://old.reddit.com/r/retrobattlestations/comments/n8ilxg/all_the_features_my_toshiba_was_missing_on_one/)
	LAN card
	CF XT-IDE card	by ConventionalMemories
	Modem	Holmes Microsystems Inc
	Arctic Systems SynPhonix speech synthesizer
	Modem	Toshiba modem (8-bit?)

Modem

Issues

there is a single line vertical artifact on screen.

Quite often in these screens this may be a "cold solder" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soldering#Electronics ). You can try to check these "fat" solders on top of the screen - every now and then one of them can be repaired.

Capacitors

Converter board (plasma)

Number	Voltage	Capacitance
C00	?	?
C202	?	?
?	250V	?
?	25v	100uF

Converter board (Colour LCD - T5200C)

Number	Voltage	Capacitance
C2	25v	22uF
C17	10v	1000uF
C1	35v	330uF
C14	35v	330uF
C6	25v	820uF

Plasma display board

Number	Voltage	Capacitance
C2	250v	3.3uF
C6	?	?
C7	?	?
C9	16v	47uF
C10	?	?
C15	16v	47uF
C32	16v	47uF
C36	250v	3.3uF
C37	250v	1uF
C38	250v	1uF

VGA (HGRS) card FH3HR4

Number	Voltage	Capacitance
C2
C4

Motherboard

Number	Voltage	Capacitance
C1
C2
C11
C299
C12

Power Supply

Software

Media appearances

Toshiba ad, 1990, Australia:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPWLVBK-W3Y

An ad featuring the T5200 amongst a lot of women's legs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rmI2FAk5Ic

FAQs

What's the max resolution (external monitor)?

How does the A/B/PRT switch work?

How to change combination lock code?

Why are many games/MS-DOS "letterboxed", leaving the top and bottom of the screen unused?

Can you use another video card?

Yes, you can plug in any ISA video card (not sure if this disables the plasma/onboard VGA card though?)

Can I upgrade the video RAM?

Maybe? I believe the internal display's video RAM is on the mainboard. You might be able to replace the RAM chips for external display on the HGRS board.

Can it run DOOM?

Yes. But very slowly 🐌. Upgrading the CPU will help, and I recomment FastDOOM - a port of DOOM that's optimised to be as fast as possible on old machines: https://github.com/viti95/FastDoom/

Note: DOOM 2 has a hard RAM requirement (8MB I think)

🖼️ Photos

I've taken a bunch of nice, big photos of the guts of this machine here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/ahrCAmGZybXRYxjD6

🔗 Links

http://www.le-grenier-informatique.fr/pages/les-telechargements/utilitaires.html

https://xtideuniversalbios.org/

https://forum.vcfed.org/index.php?threads/toshiba-t5200-100-with-cp30174e.52335/#post-641502

🪛 DISASSEMBLY

🔩 SCREWS

Screen - bottom/hinge: 2x 10mm
Screen - top (under rubber pads) 2x 8mm
Plasma frame: 4x 10mm

Accessing RAM/CPU/FPU/BIOS/PC Speaker

Remove 4x 8mm screws from base, along front of machine
Wiggle keyboard to release it
Remove 2x 10mm screws to remove the keyboard plate

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