Ugh! I will never get tired of those biceps and darn smile. I am still just mesmerized by your patience with these old devices. I built so many baby AT systems in those cramped cases, but I really enjoyed doing the work.
Mike! Watching the video now, just want to say how much I enjoy your presentation style and the way you dive into the systems you explore!! Such a blast. Cheers!
I really love that third system. Three digit CPU clock displays were a pretty short-lived phenomenon, but they were a great marketing tool. It was like having a light-up badge on the case that said "look how fast I am!"
The reason the characters of the copyright string are doubled (or in one case I've seen, quadrupled) in the BIOS is a holdover from when the BIOS was a pair of chips. That way, the copyright is preserved in full on both chips.
I don't think that first machine actually had OpenOffice. Rather when you install certain versions of Microsoft Office it will add two icons to the Start menu, the one you picked up on is called "Open Office Document" and it just means that it will allow you open a document made with MS Office. Also that first machine had a 2.5 GB drive, and with early versions of Windows 95 only having FAT16 and thus a maximum partition size of 2048 MB, it's possible that the first drive has about 500 MB of unpartitioned space. Worth checking out. I guess even today hooking up your CDROM drive to a sound card if possible is a good idea. This way, you can have one drive on each of the primary IDE channels and not have them being slowed down by a CDROM drive. So one internal drive on the primary and an external CF or SD card for copying files to the PC on the secondary is a good option. Great video as always.
I love how you take us along the journey and expose yourself to the innards of these systems the same time you do. No sneak peeks for you prior, just open them up as you record and use that footage. So genuine, Mike!
Why they ever stopped with the removable motherboard trays I will never understand. Such a GREAT thing back then.. I'm actually pretty sure I had a system at one time pretty much identical to this one.. I never had that hdd cover on the 5 1/4 bay, but basically the same motherboard i/o cards, sound card with the matching cdrom.. man, the good times. I really miss the 90s.
My week is not complete until Mike voids some warranties. Nice retro selection today. Don't be afraid to put the dirty bezels and cases in the dish washer.
You are a fantastic baby at daddy! You care for their power supplies making sure they are fully healthy, you are gentle while cleaning their ports, and you certainly make bath time lots of fun! In all seriousness, thanks for the videos, I look forward to them each week!
I am always envious of finding the first chassis you showed off. That by far was my favorite AT chassis design of the day. Surprising to find an X5-P75 in that system, given that a lot of SiS 471 motherboards didn't have support for a x4 multiplier.
The doubling up of characters in the copyright message at the start of the BIOS is so that if the contents are split into odd and even images (e.g. for programming into two ROMs) then each ROM gets a copyright message at the start of it.
Tomorrow I'm going to replace the processor in my old PC from 2008. It's supposed to rain here in Poland, so there will be time to replace them. I learned a lot from you. Thanks . Regards . Jutro mam zamiar wymienić procesor w moim starym PC z 2008 roku . U nas w Polsce ma padać deszcz , więc będzie czas na wymianę . Dużo od Ciebie się nauczyłem . Dzięki . Pozdrawiam . I wrote in Polish for better translation. Napisalem po Polsku dla lepszego tłumaczenia . 🤗🤝👍🍂
I admit, I'm a sucker for baby ATs as well. You have to be careful around those things because they multiply the more vintage computer shows you go to.
Always love your one-liners Mike - the first system was the ultimate nostalgia trip for me pal, my first system ever was almost identical, case and all ! Great vid as usual 🤗
It would make an interesting subject for a short video. The IDE controller in system 1 has both! The IDE connector on the left is marked 'VL-IDE' whereas the one on the right is marked 'ISA-IDE'.
Hi MikeTech. Thanks for another trip down memory lane. I used and upgraded one of the CWI computers, back in 1999, which belonged to a friend of mine. The name on it wasn't CWI, but some brand which was used in the UK, where I live. The PC in question had a Pentium 120 CPU, which I upgraded to a 166 MMX. The O/S was the first iteration of Windows 95, which I upgraded to the 'C' version, which was a significant improvement. I offered to let him have my 'old' copy of Win 98, after I bought the 98SE version, but he declined. I well remember upgrading my COMPAQ DeskPro 4000 with some larger EDO RAM sticks; from 32 Mb to 128 Mb. Tech has definitely advanced and improved since then. My first PC - an Apricot 286 Workstation - came with Win 3.1. I still have the complete set of 10 Floppy disks and the DOS 5 Boot disk, all safely wrapped in foil and stored inside a tin. I've got an old Laptop which is no longer usable, so may install 3.1 on it, just for the fun of it.
S2 - Yep, PC Chips M507. I had one of those exact boards, fake cache slugs and all. The COAST makes it not an issue though and it just becomes a bog-standard Triton I based Socket 7 board (which does have the 'header' for replacement VRMs on the right of the CPU socket but good luck finding one). 'Fun fact' about it though, it doesn't have a PS2 header despite having the pads there for one. Why? Because the IO chip has a bug that makes it so it stops responding when it receives input from both the mouse and keyboard at once. So you're relegated to serial mice with this one.
I have a Baby AT hanging out in my room, love their mid-90's vibes! I do enjoy those old Caviar drives but definitely not the Varta barrel batteries. I've noticed the NiCD ones tend to be much worse! I know the motherboard maker PCChips did fake cache chips, ugh!
Hah, I noticed the thumbnail after watching the video. That's funny. 😂 Great installment and excellent repairs too. It is pretty great seeing the care and attention given to these venerable machines.
Hey Mike, in case you aren't familiar with the G4 iMacs shown in your last video, just want to make sure you are aware they can be tricky to work on without damaging anything. Not much room inside so it's easy to pinch wires. If you take apart the LCD, make sure to look up how to do it without breaking the plastic rivets
@@jeffb6786 Well, actually the Pentium's data bus was 64 bits wide, and the 72-pin SIMM's data path was only 32 bits wide. Thus, you needed a matched pair of them to create one memory bank with a 64-bit data path.
@@miketech1024 🤣🤣🤣 That first system was nicely equipped for it's time. Would make quite the Dos gaming machine. Thou shall not speak ill of the intel Pentium 😉 That 3rd one. Don't think I've ever seen a inverted AT case lol
Great video Mike as usual. Regarding a use for a pile of modems, this video might give you some brain food for ways of inter-networking them within a VLAN or something for a cool retro comm project: v=lTHYDzqjTvE TL, DR: Guy uses modem on ancient PC to dial into a slightly less ancient PC which is actually on a LAN and routes through that for internet access using a phone-line switch. He also sends himself a fax like an absolute Analogue Chad.
At one time I had like 50 extra's of these empty, so I chucked them in a dumpster with the ATX power supply. Even had some that looked identical to your 3 three. I kept all the ones that had working systems inside I restored... so it's not like I still don't have like 50 of these things. Clock battery probably died in them 20 years ago. All of mine have 32mb and Win95 and Opera on them configured with working drivers for / with ethernet cards, modem cards, and sound cards for every one of them... I had planted to rent them out as internet surfing computers at one time... never did it... I'm wondering what I will ever do with them now. I'm tempted to reformat them to some command line Linux box to do... what? Personal webservers?
Such a big, strong, handsome man yet so gentle, tender, patient and loving towards those babies! He will make a great dad one day. He treats those baby(ATs) so well!
These baby systems take me back. My brother had one though college in the mid 90s running Windows 3.1 and a 2x CD-ROM drive. I don't even remember how big the hard drive was. It was so slow, I feel bad for him. But it survived like a champ.
Love everything... Except Video Boost. Kind of creepy. Does the original stay on the phone? Does the new one overwrite the original? Can this feature be turned on/off? ⬆️⬇️ 7 years of support - OUTSTANDING!
You could tile a couple of walls with all those dial-up modems you've collected! Another fun video. Watching this made me cringe with all those sharp, finger and wrist slicing metal panels. I don't miss the days of building and working on these things!
Excellent videos Mike, keep up the good work. I am myself now going to rebuild my original and first PC (that i luckily still have the original case, 3.5 drive and power supply for), a Baby AT case as well with a Turbo button and 3 number display. (was there not btw some socket 7 ones that supported the Turbo function??) It used to be a 486 AMD DX2-66 with 1 MB Vesa graphics, 8 MB RAM, and a Ultrasound MAX amo, sadly i am missing the motherboard back plate for the case. I will be using a socket 7 motherboard (QDI P51430VX/250DM Explorer II v.2.1S) with the same AMD pentium 133 mhz as in your video, and also a cache module. Not sure about what parts i will use for the rest? hmm. That second case has a motherboard plate would work on my Baby AT case as well with a just couple screw holes added i believe (have some pics of the correct one for the case).
First off - NOT A KIDDO! Was a PC Tech from the mid 80's! Can you say Bulletin Boards?!? Decent work. HD's of the era: When they fail they usually will give you a minor warning and completely fail, or they'll utterly fail. PC Tools had better diagnostic tools than MS! Windows will usually give you some indication of 'copy'/'move'/'data transfer' errors by spewing up 'alt key' characters. At the time as far as I know - NO ONE USED MS Scan Disk! At first it would corrupt your drive, then it got better... If you are going to 'archive' these systems - you need to take the HD failure into account. WD Dynamic Drive Overlay was a blessing!!! Back in the day optimizing these system (maximizing performance) was hard to sometimes impossible; driver existence and/or compatibility was primary issue; also configuration of devices attached to system; results sometimes in POST, sometimes not lol From the parts Id say your either Central/East Coast USA. IF you find a system with the primary drive that has a "Disks" or "Drivers" folder with subfolders of all the installation disks - that's Possibly a system I setup and/or serviced. There was a prototype VESA board - around the Pentium 100 days - throw any speed of ram on it and it would sync it all up to 'expand' your memory lol Then Auto-Banking came in lol There was one prototype hard drive - you could slot a single Dimm into it LOL OH! LOL USB 0.89 (or so) isn't compatible with USB 1.0!! LOL I have it in my head that they appeared on HP systems and you have no choice but to use the 'original drivers' that came with them.
Just found your channel - nice zippy pace! Subscribed! I loved these baby ATs too because computer tech was evolving so rapidly. The unmistakable sound of the metal shell coming off! Where's that Matrox card? Which slot for this VLB SCSI adapter! This thing is maxed out! :)
Maybe you should simply swap the cases between the first two systems. That would seem to solve the issues you have (lack of 7 segment display on the first one and loose board on the second one).
The missing LED panel - there's an article on hackaday where someone filled that hole with a small OLED screen ("OLED Display Lets Vintage PC Engage Turbo Mode In Style").
Haha, it is saying Open Office Document. Not that Open Office is installed. Open Office would run like a dog on this. It is pretty slow with 128mb of ram (I know from a fun experience. Funny enough, it took like 10 minutes for it to boot in Windows (XP) and like 2 minutes on Ubuntu.
I happen to have a similar system like your first one but no real way to test the PSU outside of the machine. I turned it on for a minute and it works. If the PSU was bad, would it start smoking or doing stuff after say 5 minutes of it being on?
That 4x reveal drive is not an IDE drive ( i saw that is was connected to IDE) My dad had the same drive in 1995.(with the same soundcard). It should be a Panasonic drive or perhaps mitsumi..
When you checked the auto bulb and said it had "a crazy low resistance", bear in mind that a cold bulb filament has a MUCH lower resistance than it does when it's white hot. I did a little math based on you saying it was a 60 watt bulb that runs at 12 volts, and determined that it draws 5 amps of current, and its resistance when lit is actually 2.4 ohms, not the 0.3 ohms your meter shows when testing it cold
Thank you for another awesome video. I found two dell Vostro 3902s in the dumpster and took them home. I tested them and they worked fine. I have one problem though. they did not have power supplies and I've been looking everywhere for one with no luck. Do you have any suggestions on any other power supply I can use even if its not a dell one?
I have been looking for some 3-to-5 drive adapters like that. Anyone know of a source for those either new, new-old-stock, or even used in good condition?
bru you give life to 2nd hand hardware like it was brand new ! damn it you're too skilled haha wish to see you in featuring with Cathod Ray dude for exemple !
I had a variant of that first case, and some of those exact stickers. I couldn't remember if mine had the display in it though some of these would have the hole and mounts for one . but the sticker in the front would be blank in that area. so who knows. I did notice that you decided to start opening up the power supplies. might be a good call rather than leaving things to chance.
I love you brother. Just subscribed to your Patreon. I've watched every one of your videos. So much fun in so many ways. I wrote my first program when I was 15 in 1968 on an Olivetti Underwood Program 101. Seen it all since then, Mainframes, minicomputers, PCs and Macs. Thanks for all your hard work. Mark
I once accidentally convinced a fledgling engineer that the word ‘cromulent’ was an actual technical term in networking. Wasn’t even trying, it just happened from sheer casual use. Then I realized that episode is older than these kids…
I absolutely love that "computer" case badge on the first machine!
Ugh! I will never get tired of those biceps and darn smile. I am still just mesmerized by your patience with these old devices. I built so many baby AT systems in those cramped cases, but I really enjoyed doing the work.
Easy there 😂
Same thing, these biceps are nice._
I have to agree I am a nerd who also can't look away from a nice bicep and same goes for the bf. Never seen tech videos we could both enjoy 😂😂😂
I watched for the computers, stayed for the qt 😅
Mike! Watching the video now, just want to say how much I enjoy your presentation style and the way you dive into the systems you explore!! Such a blast. Cheers!
I am with chris on this thought. And your channel growth is reflecting that.
*whispers: ummm can u just do a video shirtless. k thx*
Hahaha I have thought the same 😂
Give him a big fat patreon donation and maybe he will 😂
@@theslicefactor4590 if only I still had money to do so with…tried helping all the wrong people over the years. Oh well.
Love that he only works on computers wearing a tank top!
@@MarkusHalvorson Well those computers get so hot so I can see why. Shirtless would help even more with all that heat 😁
I really love that third system. Three digit CPU clock displays were a pretty short-lived phenomenon, but they were a great marketing tool. It was like having a light-up badge on the case that said "look how fast I am!"
Every upload from Mike is a feast for the eyes, technology that's looked after so well by Mike and of course the hottest man on RUclips (Mike)
16:40 now THAT'S some beautiful caviar! This needs to be top shelf in a display case.
Mike: "Hello everyone"
Me: "Hello beautiful" 😏
😍
He’s soo dreamy 😍
I have that exact same 2nd case! I recently obtained it on eBay for $75 and turned it into a 486 DX4-100 DOS gaming machine! 👍😁
The reason the characters of the copyright string are doubled (or in one case I've seen, quadrupled) in the BIOS is a holdover from when the BIOS was a pair of chips. That way, the copyright is preserved in full on both chips.
I don't think that first machine actually had OpenOffice. Rather when you install certain versions of Microsoft Office it will add two icons to the Start menu, the one you picked up on is called "Open Office Document" and it just means that it will allow you open a document made with MS Office. Also that first machine had a 2.5 GB drive, and with early versions of Windows 95 only having FAT16 and thus a maximum partition size of 2048 MB, it's possible that the first drive has about 500 MB of unpartitioned space. Worth checking out. I guess even today hooking up your CDROM drive to a sound card if possible is a good idea. This way, you can have one drive on each of the primary IDE channels and not have them being slowed down by a CDROM drive. So one internal drive on the primary and an external CF or SD card for copying files to the PC on the secondary is a good option.
Great video as always.
Once again your humour cracks me up. Hmmm, ghost-busted PSU? The sacrificial HDD's have more lives than a cat
I love how you take us along the journey and expose yourself to the innards of these systems the same time you do.
No sneak peeks for you prior, just open them up as you record and use that footage.
So genuine, Mike!
starting to feel like getting into this, maybe not as old but 2010 upwards such as alienware retro and sony vaio for starters.
7:50, ahh beautiful BIOS ROM
Why they ever stopped with the removable motherboard trays I will never understand. Such a GREAT thing back then.. I'm actually pretty sure I had a system at one time pretty much identical to this one.. I never had that hdd cover on the 5 1/4 bay, but basically the same motherboard i/o cards, sound card with the matching cdrom.. man, the good times. I really miss the 90s.
My week is not complete until Mike voids some warranties. Nice retro selection today. Don't be afraid to put the dirty bezels and cases in the dish washer.
I've been tempted to run a motherboard through there. 🤣
Heloo Mike ! I'm already watching. Post-video commentar . Już oglądam . Komentarz po filmie . 🤭🤗
You are a fantastic baby at daddy! You care for their power supplies making sure they are fully healthy, you are gentle while cleaning their ports, and you certainly make bath time lots of fun! In all seriousness, thanks for the videos, I look forward to them each week!
Just like the very first PC rig I ever created in the mid 90's. Good times.
28:46 cache on a stick
you're getting cuter day by day
I am always envious of finding the first chassis you showed off. That by far was my favorite AT chassis design of the day. Surprising to find an X5-P75 in that system, given that a lot of SiS 471 motherboards didn't have support for a x4 multiplier.
RUclips just recommended me your channel. I love it. Good job and thank you for the nice content!
The doubling up of characters in the copyright message at the start of the BIOS is so that if the contents are split into odd and even images (e.g. for programming into two ROMs) then each ROM gets a copyright message at the start of it.
Tomorrow I'm going to replace the processor in my old PC from 2008. It's supposed to rain here in Poland, so there will be time to replace them. I learned a lot from you. Thanks . Regards . Jutro mam zamiar wymienić procesor w moim starym PC z 2008 roku . U nas w Polsce ma padać deszcz , więc będzie czas na wymianę . Dużo od Ciebie się nauczyłem . Dzięki . Pozdrawiam . I wrote in Polish for better translation. Napisalem po Polsku dla lepszego tłumaczenia . 🤗🤝👍🍂
Baby ATs are my favorite
I admit, I'm a sucker for baby ATs as well. You have to be careful around those things because they multiply the more vintage computer shows you go to.
One of the key aspects of these videos that make them so great is that you can tell how much Mike enjoys doing this. Excellent video! Thank you. ❤️
I miss these old school cases... I'm such a sucker for switches/buttons of all types and ESPECIALLY having an LED readout of the CPU's frequency.
23:36 - That’s not how you spell “America”, AOL.
If you want easy cleaning, use an Australian classic eucalyptus oil! Will clean it right up!
Always love your one-liners Mike - the first system was the ultimate nostalgia trip for me pal, my first system ever was almost identical, case and all ! Great vid as usual 🤗
I absolutely love your videos
It’s honestly great to see these vintage machines again
Engaaaageeeee the turbooooo button
I wonder if an I/O controller on the VLB makes a hard drive connected to it faster than one connected to a controller on ISA
It would make an interesting subject for a short video. The IDE controller in system 1 has both! The IDE connector on the left is marked 'VL-IDE' whereas the one on the right is marked 'ISA-IDE'.
Hi MikeTech. Thanks for another trip down memory lane. I used and upgraded one of the CWI computers, back in 1999, which belonged to a friend of mine. The name on it wasn't CWI, but some brand which was used in the UK, where I live. The PC in question had a Pentium 120 CPU, which I upgraded to a 166 MMX. The O/S was the first iteration of Windows 95, which I upgraded to the 'C' version, which was a significant improvement. I offered to let him have my 'old' copy of Win 98, after I bought the 98SE version, but he declined. I well remember upgrading my COMPAQ DeskPro 4000 with some larger EDO RAM sticks; from 32 Mb to 128 Mb. Tech has definitely advanced and improved since then. My first PC - an Apricot 286 Workstation - came with Win 3.1. I still have the complete set of 10 Floppy disks and the DOS 5 Boot disk, all safely wrapped in foil and stored inside a tin. I've got an old Laptop which is no longer usable, so may install 3.1 on it, just for the fun of it.
0:58 LMAO
Pack it up kids!
S2 - Yep, PC Chips M507. I had one of those exact boards, fake cache slugs and all. The COAST makes it not an issue though and it just becomes a bog-standard Triton I based Socket 7 board (which does have the 'header' for replacement VRMs on the right of the CPU socket but good luck finding one).
'Fun fact' about it though, it doesn't have a PS2 header despite having the pads there for one. Why? Because the IO chip has a bug that makes it so it stops responding when it receives input from both the mouse and keyboard at once. So you're relegated to serial mice with this one.
That board is hilarious!
I have a Baby AT hanging out in my room, love their mid-90's vibes! I do enjoy those old Caviar drives but definitely not the Varta barrel batteries. I've noticed the NiCD ones tend to be much worse! I know the motherboard maker PCChips did fake cache chips, ugh!
That last system has half EDO and half FPM, so will be forced to run in FPM mode instead of EDO
Your thumbnails are always something to look forward to hehehe. I needed a laugh this morning, so burnt out from work…
Hah, I noticed the thumbnail after watching the video. That's funny. 😂
Great installment and excellent repairs too. It is pretty great seeing the care and attention given to these venerable machines.
Hey Mike, in case you aren't familiar with the G4 iMacs shown in your last video, just want to make sure you are aware they can be tricky to work on without damaging anything. Not much room inside so it's easy to pinch wires. If you take apart the LCD, make sure to look up how to do it without breaking the plastic rivets
Great channel, love watching your content. I'll still be watching when you reach 100ksubs!
41:10 I'm guessing that in Pentium systems that used 72-pin SIMMS for RAM, the SIMMS had to be installed in identical pairs.
Nope, you could have just one stick of RAM if that's all you had. There was no dual-channel back then, and RAM was incredibly expensive.
@@jeffb6786 Well, actually the Pentium's data bus was 64 bits wide, and the 72-pin SIMM's data path was only 32 bits wide. Thus, you needed a matched pair of them to create one memory bank with a 64-bit data path.
Hope you have enough formula and diapers lol
That first case is kinda neat looking
These kids are expensive!
@@miketech1024 🤣🤣🤣 That first system was nicely equipped for it's time. Would make quite the Dos gaming machine.
Thou shall not speak ill of the intel Pentium 😉
That 3rd one. Don't think I've ever seen a inverted AT case lol
Great video Mike as usual. Regarding a use for a pile of modems, this video might give you some brain food for ways of inter-networking them within a VLAN or something for a cool retro comm project: v=lTHYDzqjTvE
TL, DR: Guy uses modem on ancient PC to dial into a slightly less ancient PC which is actually on a LAN and routes through that for internet access using a phone-line switch. He also sends himself a fax like an absolute Analogue Chad.
At one time I had like 50 extra's of these empty, so I chucked them in a dumpster with the ATX power supply.
Even had some that looked identical to your 3 three.
I kept all the ones that had working systems inside I restored... so it's not like I still don't have like 50 of these things.
Clock battery probably died in them 20 years ago.
All of mine have 32mb and Win95 and Opera on them configured with working drivers for / with ethernet cards, modem cards, and sound cards for every one of them... I had planted to rent them out as internet surfing computers at one time... never did it... I'm wondering what I will ever do with them now.
I'm tempted to reformat them to some command line Linux box to do... what? Personal webservers?
34:10 Power supply and light bulb. If the power supply can't handle a 20W or even a 40W light bulb it isn't going to serve a Pentium very well.
the other one that looks upside down is odd to look at xD
37:57 "the funhouse inversion continues in the back" LMAO MIKE XD
Such a big, strong, handsome man yet so gentle, tender, patient and loving towards those babies! He will make a great dad one day. He treats those baby(ATs) so well!
🤮 gag
17:05 "...hopefully it works..." Well, the drives *are* Western DEADical drives, I wouldn't have held out much hope. But you lucked out.
These baby systems take me back. My brother had one though college in the mid 90s running Windows 3.1 and a 2x CD-ROM drive. I don't even remember how big the hard drive was. It was so slow, I feel bad for him. But it survived like a champ.
Love everything... Except Video Boost. Kind of creepy. Does the original stay on the phone? Does the new one overwrite the original? Can this feature be turned on/off? ⬆️⬇️
7 years of support - OUTSTANDING!
You could tile a couple of walls with all those dial-up modems you've collected! Another fun video. Watching this made me cringe with all those sharp, finger and wrist slicing metal panels. I don't miss the days of building and working on these things!
Excellent videos Mike, keep up the good work. I am myself now going to rebuild my original and first PC (that i luckily still have the original case, 3.5 drive and power supply for), a Baby AT case as well with a Turbo button and 3 number display. (was there not btw some socket 7 ones that supported the Turbo function??) It used to be a 486 AMD DX2-66 with 1 MB Vesa graphics, 8 MB RAM, and a Ultrasound MAX amo, sadly i am missing the motherboard back plate for the case. I will be using a socket 7 motherboard (QDI P51430VX/250DM Explorer II v.2.1S) with the same AMD pentium 133 mhz as in your video, and also a cache module. Not sure about what parts i will use for the rest? hmm. That second case has a motherboard plate would work on my Baby AT case as well with a just couple screw holes added i believe (have some pics of the correct one for the case).
First off - NOT A KIDDO! Was a PC Tech from the mid 80's! Can you say Bulletin Boards?!? Decent work. HD's of the era: When they fail they usually will give you a minor warning and completely fail, or they'll utterly fail. PC Tools had better diagnostic tools than MS! Windows will usually give you some indication of 'copy'/'move'/'data transfer' errors by spewing up 'alt key' characters. At the time as far as I know - NO ONE USED MS Scan Disk! At first it would corrupt your drive, then it got better... If you are going to 'archive' these systems - you need to take the HD failure into account. WD Dynamic Drive Overlay was a blessing!!! Back in the day optimizing these system (maximizing performance) was hard to sometimes impossible; driver existence and/or compatibility was primary issue; also configuration of devices attached to system; results sometimes in POST, sometimes not lol From the parts Id say your either Central/East Coast USA. IF you find a system with the primary drive that has a "Disks" or "Drivers" folder with subfolders of all the installation disks - that's Possibly a system I setup and/or serviced. There was a prototype VESA board - around the Pentium 100 days - throw any speed of ram on it and it would sync it all up to 'expand' your memory lol Then Auto-Banking came in lol There was one prototype hard drive - you could slot a single Dimm into it LOL OH! LOL USB 0.89 (or so) isn't compatible with USB 1.0!! LOL I have it in my head that they appeared on HP systems and you have no choice but to use the 'original drivers' that came with them.
love your channel and your type of humor, Mike :) just finished my 2003 build, hope i'll find older systems too
Just found your channel - nice zippy pace! Subscribed! I loved these baby ATs too because computer tech was evolving so rapidly. The unmistakable sound of the metal shell coming off! Where's that Matrox card? Which slot for this VLB SCSI adapter! This thing is maxed out! :)
Maybe you should simply swap the cases between the first two systems. That would seem to solve the issues you have (lack of 7 segment display on the first one and loose board on the second one).
This brings back memories. I started building PC's in the 486 era. We had an AMD 486 DX2 100 with 12 megs of ram. It did not run Windows 95 well.
The missing LED panel - there's an article on hackaday where someone filled that hole with a small OLED screen ("OLED Display Lets Vintage PC Engage Turbo Mode In Style").
Haha, it is saying Open Office Document. Not that Open Office is installed. Open Office would run like a dog on this. It is pretty slow with 128mb of ram (I know from a fun experience. Funny enough, it took like 10 minutes for it to boot in Windows (XP) and like 2 minutes on Ubuntu.
I happen to have a similar system like your first one but no real way to test the PSU outside of the machine. I turned it on for a minute and it works. If the PSU was bad, would it start smoking or doing stuff after say 5 minutes of it being on?
Hey Mike! I was wondering - if you still have the PC - would you mind sending me a clear, close up pic of the hand-drawn "Computer" badge. Thanks!
That 4x reveal drive is not an IDE drive ( i saw that is was connected to IDE) My dad had the same drive in 1995.(with the same soundcard). It should be a Panasonic drive or perhaps mitsumi..
Gotta love that WD Click Of Death...
The last one I had, I filled it with water and a few drops detergent, made a transparent top. Bubble bubble ...
33:33 - The light bulb probably triggered overload protection because the cold filament draws more current than hot._
As always, fantastic stuff! As an hobby archivist myself, thanks for uploading the BIOS!
When you checked the auto bulb and said it had "a crazy low resistance", bear in mind that a cold bulb filament has a MUCH lower resistance than it does when it's white hot. I did a little math based on you saying it was a 60 watt bulb that runs at 12 volts, and determined that it draws 5 amps of current, and its resistance when lit is actually 2.4 ohms, not the 0.3 ohms your meter shows when testing it cold
Thank you for another awesome video. I found two dell Vostro 3902s in the dumpster and took them home. I tested them and they worked fine. I have one problem though. they did not have power supplies and I've been looking everywhere for one with no luck. Do you have any suggestions on any other power supply I can use even if its not a dell one?
The thumbnail is 13/10.
37:18 this is so goofy I love it.
1:30 beautiful sound.
I'm sure this was also heard in a galaxy far, far away in a trash compactor : )
27:00 yes, keep us up-to-date. and wow, refreshing fix I really enjoyed it.
0:30 My first PC case. 386 DX/33 with 4MB Memory & 40 MB HDD.
Even the keyboard needs a BIOS on the motherboard? This is definitely new for me.
I have been looking for some 3-to-5 drive adapters like that. Anyone know of a source for those either new, new-old-stock, or even used in good condition?
(system 1) how much would that pc cost you back in the day?
Computer-brand computer, for all your computations large and small.
bru you give life to 2nd hand hardware like it was brand new ! damn it you're too skilled haha wish to see you in featuring with Cathod Ray dude for exemple !
19:54 CattyWompus, technical term. 🤣🤣
I had a variant of that first case, and some of those exact stickers. I couldn't remember if mine had the display in it though some of these would have the hole and mounts for one . but the sticker in the front would be blank in that area. so who knows. I did notice that you decided to start opening up the power supplies. might be a good call rather than leaving things to chance.
Hey mike I had a pentium 100 system from 96 that had a tower with the optical drive at the bottom, which made more sense when kept on a desk.
The hardware is too weak for retro games. just for fun with a retro soldering iron and a retro brush.
Those hidden files are Microsoft Office full text search databases.
20:17 I'd love to see the process on adding that clock sometime Mike!
In third computer are interesting ram sticks with alpha and omega signs
Actually I always thought that it's "captain tape" :D
you know that in the UK and Europe most switches are that way round ;)
Sorry getting to you late today... work related things took longer then normal ❤
I love you brother. Just subscribed to your Patreon. I've watched every one of your videos. So much fun in so many ways. I wrote my first program when I was 15 in 1968 on an Olivetti Underwood Program 101. Seen it all since then, Mainframes, minicomputers, PCs and Macs. Thanks for all your hard work. Mark
Thank you so much!
13:40 - I'm using this word in my everyday vocabulary.... starting Monday. "Cromulent". 🧐😉
I once accidentally convinced a fledgling engineer that the word ‘cromulent’ was an actual technical term in networking. Wasn’t even trying, it just happened from sheer casual use. Then I realized that episode is older than these kids…
I’m here for the Mini AT case p0rn! 😁😁
You lost my interest the moment you said vinegar
Too late. My ghost will haunt you, muahahaha! ;-)
5:09 damn son, you got a license for those?
guitar picks- the number one tool for retro tech
They probably wiped the D: drive.