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by userbinator 3081 days ago
From your link:

The 80186 would have been a natural successor to the 8086 in personal computers. However, because its integrated hardware was incompatible with the hardware used in the original IBM PC, the 80286 was used as the successor instead in the IBM PC/AT.

In other words, the few "PCs" which did use a 186 weren't fully PC-compatible.
2 comments
jonsen 3081 days ago
It was possible: "Being IBM PC/XT compatible and running MS-DOS 5.0 from ROM, the HP 200LX can run virtually any program that would run on a full-size PC compatible computer as long as the code is written for the Intel 8086, 8088 or 80186 CPU and can run using CGA graphics. It can also run programs written for the 80286 CPU, provided they do not require the use of protected mode.":

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_200LX

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dfox 3081 days ago
It is not that you cannot build 186-based PC-compatible computer, but on the other hand using 186 for PC is somewhat pointless because you cannot use most of things that 186 adds to 86/88 in order to remain PC compatible.
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