Did you test-run the machine before you bought it? Did this problem happen from the very beginning? If so, you may want to have a discussion with the seller.
He may have never powered the machine down and didn't realize the battery was dead.
Does this machine have a single-board-computer in the Card Cage?
If so, the cmos batteries on all sbc cards do die. Later cards have battery sockets but the early ones are soldered on.
The cmos settings will need to be reset every time the sbc boots, but won't be read until the card re-boots. But when you re-boot with a dead battery, the card will probably re-load the default settings putting you back where you started.
The cmos has a setting for the display that may be effecting the way the screen looks. Replacing the battery and getting the correct settings might make the display problem go away.
If this is a SBC 556 card, send a PM to SportyBob, he can remove the old battery and install a socket for a replaceable battery for you.
The floppy ribbon cable is a standard B drive cable, the one
without the twist. This link will describe that cable:
Floppy Interface Cable
These are nice little machines, after you work out the problems, you will really like it.