Old Conner and also Quantum HDDs as found in compact Macs are known to have their heads stick to a rubber bumper that's gone sticky. It can be fixed by covering the rubber with tape to isolate the sticky surface. I've fixed some Conners that way myself, and there are a bunch of videos about it on YT. You can verify by opening the drive and moving the heads out of the parking position as soon as the platters are up to speed. The drive will only try initializing for a short time after reaching target RPM. Give it a shot! :) And good luck.
I hope you can maybe tell me some others. I've seen a few, most bad, most featuring the host making excuses about why the comp he found in the dumpster won't work, and why it's going to take time to get it figured out. I don't need that shit. It's one of the most boring kinds of vids I've seen on TH-cam. To me, there's too much time spent with the channel owner getting off on his own storytelling, while he assumes we're all listening with awe and baited breath. I want the kind of vids that MikeTech offers.... a quick rundown on the machine, when and where it came from, then the teardown, then, if possible, the fixup, all in the same video.
@@keithbrown7685 i will for example lazyGame reviews (its called lgr i think) the retro recall phill's computer lab vintage geek cat and andrew -he sometimes does retro stuff budget builds official - those are few good channels i usually watch for retro stuff there are others of course
I was working at a repair shop in the late 90's. A Best Buy opened nearby, and they sold Packard Bell systems. Geek Squad wasn't around back then, so our manager got us certified to service Packard Bell. We had to get A+ certs, and go through product related CBT's. At the end of them a certification would be printed out and would be faxed to Packard Bell to prove we watched the CBT's. The machines brought in for service had strange problems the diags wouldn't reveal. My guess is they were firmware related, so swapping a main board would only resort in getting another board with the same firmware issues. The service contract did not cover software issues, so their resolution was run the restore disk if no hardware was defective. It was frustrating, because I wanted to tell the customer they spent $2000 for a dud system.
I had a Packard Bell Force 565 which was identical to the Legend 750. Apparently, Packard Bell made different series for Best Buy, Circuit City and Sears so the stores could avoid having to price match each other. I upgraded my system to a 486DX4 using the extra CPU socket, maxed out the memory sockets, added an original Sound Blaster, and added a 512MB Western Digital hard drive to the expansion bay. That machine is what got me into computers and led to me going into IT. Seeing your video kinda makes me wish I had hung onto that old machine.
Your channel really is a treat. Your knowledge is remarkable, and the kindness/genuine interest you express all make for your videos being so enjoyable to watch. Thank you for making such great content!
The leaning tower of battery, gotta love that jury rigged soldered iffyness, crude yet effective. I laughed so much at the sticker on the suspect PSU. I remember in the early 90's a friend wanted to see what would happen to a 286 if you ignored the thermal limit, the thing went bang so hard it put a 1/2" dent in the thick steel case, needless to say we retreated to behind the living room door during the test 😂, lessons were learned.
Also learned as a kid that Capacitors explode when you put too much power to them.... The bigger the cap, the bigger the boom! I once took a 10,000 mfd cap to 110vac...
I’m so glad I got a chance to meet you! Your exhibit was amazing! Thanks for preserving the use-case of those machines so well! It’s something that people very seldom get a chance to see.
Hi Mike, I recently found your channel and really enjoy your content. I used to be a sys admin back in the Windows NT4 and Windows 2000 server days. I was really confident when I started working for them as I used to run an NT4 server at home, so managing a 2000 sever was quite the crash course. They let me have a copy of 2000 server to play with at home, and to also upgrade my home network. It took me about a week to learn everything on 2000 server, such as active directory, IIS, and other areas that I would be using daily. Nothing better than just diving in when learning a new server operating system.
Thanks! Yup, just diving in and getting your hands dirty has always been the best learning method for me as well. That’s why there’s a 23u server rack in my house lol. It has served me very well throughout my career!
rubber polishing wheel - brilliant !!! I have this tool but never used it for cleaning pcb or remove soldermask. Top Tip for me in this Video. The other thing is CR2032 for bios on 4pin connector. Normaly it was used for 6V battery (those maindboards wich i have) and it has 2 silicone diodes in serie for voltage drop (to around 4.8V). Using 3V Battery it will not keep the time for long. Old RTC`s are taking a lot of current (my 386 takes around 40uA). My tip is to use 3x AAA NiMH connected to place where old BAT was. You can buy 3xAAA holder with OFF swich and place it in comfortable place.
@@miketech1024 No. Its easyer to just buy 3xAAA holder(you have fancy ones with doors and switch) and solder the wires or pins where old battery was. You can than use AAA aku and they will be charged during use. I sugest to mesure RTC curent draw on 486 and older systems. If its over 5uA than CR2032 is to small (in my opinion). You need bigger BAT. AAA have now 1000mAh. Last week i paid 3€ for 4xAAA 700mAh. When using CR2032 in place of original BAT you need to add diode to prevent charging. BAT85 has small voltage drop and its better then silicon one.
It doesn't shock me in the slightest that the last system was last used in 2021. There's still a Win95 PC somewhere in the mill I work in that runs a signmaker. I just don't ask questions about that thing.
Another fantastic video! The first 386 is a beaut! These Packard Bells used to be bland and disposable to me, but now the styling and case designs are delightful in retrospect.
Mike - I recently discovered your channel and spent a couple hours watching your videos. I've been an enthusiast since I was a young child (in the 80's and 90's) - and my love for technology has blossomed into a career as a network engineer/administrator/MSP. It is great to see all of these "vintage" systems from my childhood - stuff that I used to tinker with and get working - then would gift to my friends for them to also explore. Thank you for sharing your passions with us. This brings back many wonderful memories as well as reveals how far technology has advanced since I was a kid.
Wow 10k that’s great! Congratulations! 🎉🎉Looking at all the old systems makes me think of all the infomercials on owing a home computer I used to watch late at night. Packard Bell is a name I haven’t heard in a while. OMG SIM CITY! Loved playing that game! Memories, memories and more memories I get every time I watch your videos! Not only memories I get a good laugh from your humor!
Nice to be here Mike, I envy your clean workbench LOL I can never keep work spaces clear, always something going on that needs finishing. I find myself working in every space in the house, including the kitchen table (which I almost never eat at!) Another task, sigh - have to check out your channel and see what you have. You should be making some good moolah with those machines, vintage rocks! Cheers brother and keep it up, should reach 100K in no time.
Man, I hope you can get that Legend 750 going! It looks like it could use a multimedia upgrade and a relaxing future life of Sierra and LucasArts adventures. I have a Legend 125 (486DX/25) in the same case as your Legend 300 386, they are truly adorable!
Hi Mike, Another fine Video, I certainly remember those old Conner & Seagate Hard Drives at: 1:27, 13:50 & 24:30 that were measured in Megabytes from when I first got into Computers back in the early 90’s, I do have a few boxes of Hard Drives and believe I have a few of those Old Drives in amongst them, I need to put out some Videos for my Subscribers at some point as I have far too much interesting Retro Tech for it to be gathering Dust! 😂🇬🇧
We had a couple of second hand Packard Bell (Packaged Hell we called them) around my house growing up. I've seen one of those PNY upgrade chips before, I think it was in a custom PC but I can't remember, I do remember it being dead, so it was probably discarded at the time. All of these systems are cool, by a brand that's largely forgotten in the US despite being somewhat of a staple in the 90's, seems like these days everyone just uses their phone or has a custom gaming PC, what a weird world we live in.
Mike, Thanks for the trip down the memory lane! I had a Packard Bell 386 (maybe 286?) in the early 90's. Don't remember the model number now. It was a huge horizontal beige desktop metal case. That was my first PC, upgrading from Commodore 64. Just a thought, when cleaning things with cotton cue tips, which may leave "lint" or stands of cotton behind if it gets caught on rough surfaces, there are spongy foam tipped cue tips available for cleaning electro-mechanical devices.
I feel like I saw a million of those gray bezel Packard bells around 94 to 97ish. Sears and Montgomery Ward sold the heck out of them. Or at least tried to.
I'm amazed how the corrosion in that Packard Bell only affected the solder and not the board! You probably need to remove and ressolder ALL components in that area just in case there's solder points that look OK but are in fact broken/loose. I found my only 3Dfx Voodoo 2 PCI in a computer very similar to those, odd machine to have a 3Dfx card.
Years ago I took apart/refurbished a PB desktop system from the same era and case as the 3rd machine. It had a 75 mhz Pentium, I remember. Different model name too, Multimedia something.
Nice to see you trying a capture setup. I can respect that unorthodox coin battery hack even if it looks silly. Unfortunate that the Conner didn't survive. Hope you enjoy your trip!
I had a mid-tower Packard Bell computer that I bought in 1997. The case was one of the most unique and I have to say, almost beautiful cases of any computer for it had a dark grey foot that was wider than a typical tower case with a tower sitting on it like the Empire State Building. Inside the AT-style motherboard was located in the bottom with a daughter card rising up for the PCI slots. It was a product of a bygone era with a 6 GB HD, a CD player, 2 MB of EDO ram saved discretely for the Video in addition to 40 MB of EDO system memory, it had no bloatware, a collection of games, a program shell to make Windows 95 simpler to use, and the buggy IE 3.0. The power supply had the noisiest fan of any computer that I've experienced - but it was great for sleep at night for white noise! I increased the memory to 64 MB (The maximum memory of 128 GB costs over 1,400 dollars in the 1990s so I never went that far) I added an IDE expansion card with multiple HDs attached, and I installed Windows 2000 and even used the computer as a server which worked well as the computer was rock stable. Hopelessly outdated even by the year 2000, I still had a lot of fun puttering around with that computer.
I'm a great fan of those old machines. I watch your videos every friday as a relaxing minutes after a long and hard week. And, a month ago I decided to restore an old machine from 1998, it's a FIC Sahara II, very rare machine here. And I've done it! =)
I’ve never owned a Packard Bell but I can see the appeal…. I love those desktop form factors even more so than AT cases. I really should track one down for my hoard….I mean collection. 😅
Great video! I worked on my fathers old Legend 406CD not long ago. It had been stored in the basement furnace room for upwards of 20 years and I'd actually forgotten I had it. There was some work done down there a decade or so ago and the computer had been moved to a non-optimum location and the plastic cover I had on it was not replaced. It was pretty dirty as a result. Luckily, it's not real damp there so the motherboard didn't suffer. It's a bone stock computer, with only 8mbs of onboard RAM, 75mhz Pentium processor, and a 860+mb hard drive. I was able to upgrade the RAM to 32mbs ( I think it tops out at 75mbs) and I installed a PCI S3 trio64v+ video card. Works well. I even have the monitor with the mounted speakers (though its condition is unknown), and the keyboard. Booted right up to Windows 95. The floppy and the CD drive work . . . but if someone wondered if a hardware device could scream like a human, the CD drive will certainly answer that question. I still need to do some more cleaning on the motherboard, even though it was fairly pristine. It's a fun project in progress.
I had a few PB with the early Pentiums. They reminded me of a mobile home with the skirting at the bottom. The tower looked similar. Can't wait for this weeks episode and see what OEM is next.
Did you acquire these three Packards in the same place? I may have learned something today...I'm not sure what...but...I'm sure it was something...like..that battery in #2, that was something to be sure. In 2007, I bought a 90's mini tower Packard Bell that was...somehow...running XP. It was before I knew a bit more than I know now about computers. We took it to our instructor at the Comm. College computer course we were taking...and he was a little surprised that i was ABLE to run the XP. Thank you for an informative video, Mike.
A lot of those old Am5x86 upgrade chips you find are going to be flaky or completely dead today. Those upgrades originally often came with grossly inadequate heatsinks, or no heatsinks at all. And since they were double or triple the height of a normal 486, getting a heatsink to work on them was a nightmare. Those Am5x86 chips most definitely needed active cooling, especially when run at their rated clock speed. Not having anything, or grossly inadequate cooling lead many of them to thermal death. I have one such Evergreen 586 that died from thermal death, it got so hot that it desoldered itself from the interposer and lifted traces, precluding replacing the chip with a different one.
@@miketech1024 If you're feeling adventurous, you can still buy those PQFP Am5x86 chips for like $25-30. Cut the legs on the old chip, remove the remaining and solder a new one on to see if the interposer part still works.
Good to see that the PB400 might be recoverable! Most of the 400-series Packard Bell boards I've seen for sale to replace my dead Vartabombed PB430 are dead too, so seeing one that looks like it could be salvaged is great. I'm having to use a Pentium board to restore the PB430 I got to replace my childhood PB410. If you decide to go that route, it's a lot easier to get the PISA riser for a 4x4 case than the 3x3 models, at least. Also, the PB450 (the third system) was offered in both PCI and ISA flavors. Yours looks to be an ISA model, obviously. I don't know if you just need the PB450 PCI riser to get PCI on that machine, but those are hard to get anyway, so it's probably a moot point.
Man this beings back memories that Packard Bell on the bottom was my first computer i ever bought i was so excited about finally able to get a computer and after getting it set up i stayed up all night setting things up and playing some games i got for it back then if you ever come across one for a decent price let me know I'd love to get back into retro computers ❤😎
One of your best videos... Your sense of humor makes my day! Would love to know more about you. Who is this Mike guy? 😊 Congrats on 10k, you've definitely earned it.
Thanks! I’m just a guy whose been interested in tech since around age 5. I turned those early experiences into a career in tech. Currently work as a Senior Systems Engineer in DevOps/Cloud (mostly Linux, Kubernetes and CI/CD stuff) for a Fortune 500.
@@miketech1024 I have NO CLUE what most of that is LOL...way above my pay grade and knowledge level. You are Meteor Lake level and I'm holding steady at 286. By any chance do you have an IG or FB account?
Nice. I have a Packard Bell Legend Multi Media A940-3x3E450 (in the same form factor as the last case). Still working 100% with the original factory loaded stuff on it. Just need to retrobrite some stuff because the inside is super clean already.
I don't know why, but I've always had an affinity for those tiny (under 1 GB) hard drives. Very interesting how the CPU on system #3 just died---I've had mobos give up the ghost on these old systems, but never a CPU. Maybe that conversion kit just wasn't well-suited for the application?
6:32 heh :D The first machine was lovely, the second one... Oh my goodness. It will need a lot lot LOT of work. 26:27 this unironically looks nice! I've never used DriveSpace, just seen the buzzword. Sounds like it slows down performance badly. Wonder what's gonna happen with the weird CPU from the third machine. Good luck with it!
I have the same troublesome floppy drive in my retro build. The motor that controls the worm gear gets crunchy inside and will sometimes fail to seek. I was able to pop off the rear of the motor and take it apart and clean everything up. I used some 1000 grit sandpaper on the rotor and haven't had any issues since.
As far af VCF events go, VCF Midwest is the most popular one of all as far as I know. The PNY CPU upgrade was clocked at 100MHz, btw. I saw it flash on the screen as it booted up.
I have almost the same Packard Bell with two exactly the same as your PB450 MBs and it is VERY picky about the bios battery. I had a problem in that I was getting the wrong amount of RAM and errors on excess memory after a complete shutdown and restart. And that was only with the battery connected. I tried 3v through the external battery connector, 3v in the native place, 4.5v (3xAA) in both configurations - nothing helped. As a result, the board worked correctly only with a Li-Ion battery connected at one end to the plus of the COINCELL battery, and the other to the ground (NOT to the minus of the battery)
The signal for the VGA capture looks decent from what I saw, but the filtering applied to the scaled up video is very very soft, and it looks like it's even attempting to sharpen it or trying to use a sharpening filter, but those aren't very ideal for those sorts of videos sources. I don't have any specific recommendations since i don't know your software or anything but something like a nearest or point scaler would look a lot better, as it'll have the unfiltered "blocky" look. There are also some scalers that can smooth the edges of the pixels to prevent shimmer/irregular sized pixels, but i don't know if many/any video editors support these. Also not a huge deal either way as it's more a matter of preference, but preserving the 4:3 aspect ratio can look better.
Another great video! Packard Bell, too! Have an awesome time at VCF! I really want to get out to one of those one of these days. I'm not at all surprised you hit 10,000 subs. This channel is the best. 😊
My first PC was a Packard Bell 486 SX-25. As I recall, Packard Bell made cheapie computers, the parts used were whatever their buyer got a good deal on that week. But it did work, and I spent a lot of time on local BBSs with it. Hey, anybody remember BBSs? :D
My Legend 125 looks identical to the 300SX but came with a 486SX 25. It's one of my favorite 486 era machines. I maxed out the cache and VRAM and added a DX2-80.
The third system might have unpopulated L2 cache sockets, which would improve performance. Also, the PNY QuickChip is a nice upgrade for certain tasks… when they work, that is.
But that drivespace has *got* to go. I don't care if I lost the space that ds compression sortof gave. I think the settings reside in one or both of the configuration files. I wouldn't just comment them out either, I'd off them. doublespace and drivespace were from outer space.
That bottom Dell were actually pretty great machines... I had a Compaq that was similar and even though it was only a P166 it actually felt more like a 233Mhz Pentium II.
I have been waiting for a week now for my computer case to get here, it got delayed even more so I got bored and set up a test bench, everything worked and then I found out my headset broke, even more money down the drain. Luckily tomorrow I’m celebrating my birthday so I will get some cash.
That last system is the same case as my second system. I'm guessing it probably ran some industrial CAD where upgrading the system was just too complicated.
That power button is basically Farnsworth's "Finglonger" invention from Futurama
LOL that is perfect!
They broke often too.
Good news, everyone?
Old Conner and also Quantum HDDs as found in compact Macs are known to have their heads stick to a rubber bumper that's gone sticky. It can be fixed by covering the rubber with tape to isolate the sticky surface. I've fixed some Conners that way myself, and there are a bunch of videos about it on YT.
You can verify by opening the drive and moving the heads out of the parking position as soon as the platters are up to speed. The drive will only try initializing for a short time after reaching target RPM. Give it a shot! :) And good luck.
I'm really glad that the number of quality channels about retro computing is growing! This one instantly became one of my favorites ❤
I hope you can maybe tell me some others. I've seen a few, most bad, most featuring the host making excuses about why the comp he found in the dumpster won't work, and why it's going to take time to get it figured out.
I don't need that shit. It's one of the most boring kinds of vids I've seen on TH-cam.
To me, there's too much time spent with the channel owner getting off on his own storytelling, while he assumes we're all listening with awe and baited breath.
I want the kind of vids that MikeTech offers.... a quick rundown on the machine, when and where it came from, then the teardown, then, if possible, the fixup, all in the same video.
@@keithbrown7685 "This Does Not Compute" is a good channel, I would recommend it
@@keithbrown7685 i will
for example lazyGame reviews (its called lgr i think)
the retro recall
phill's computer lab
vintage geek
cat and andrew -he sometimes does retro stuff
budget builds official -
those are few good channels i usually watch for retro stuff there are others of course
In the 90s, I lusted for a Packard Bell, but couldn't afford one. Now I wouldn't take a free one, but the nostalgia value is still there.
I was working at a repair shop in the late 90's. A Best Buy opened nearby, and they sold Packard Bell systems. Geek Squad wasn't around back then, so our manager got us certified to service Packard Bell. We had to get A+ certs, and go through product related CBT's. At the end of them a certification would be printed out and would be faxed to Packard Bell to prove we watched the CBT's. The machines brought in for service had strange problems the diags wouldn't reveal. My guess is they were firmware related, so swapping a main board would only resort in getting another board with the same firmware issues. The service contract did not cover software issues, so their resolution was run the restore disk if no hardware was defective. It was frustrating, because I wanted to tell the customer they spent $2000 for a dud system.
I had a Packard Bell Force 565 which was identical to the Legend 750. Apparently, Packard Bell made different series for Best Buy, Circuit City and Sears so the stores could avoid having to price match each other. I upgraded my system to a 486DX4 using the extra CPU socket, maxed out the memory sockets, added an original Sound Blaster, and added a 512MB Western Digital hard drive to the expansion bay. That machine is what got me into computers and led to me going into IT. Seeing your video kinda makes me wish I had hung onto that old machine.
Oh I wish I still had even a quarter of my childhood collection! If only we'd have known...
Your channel really is a treat. Your knowledge is remarkable, and the kindness/genuine interest you express all make for your videos being so enjoyable to watch. Thank you for making such great content!
The leaning tower of battery, gotta love that jury rigged soldered iffyness, crude yet effective. I laughed so much at the sticker on the suspect PSU. I remember in the early 90's a friend wanted to see what would happen to a 286 if you ignored the thermal limit, the thing went bang so hard it put a 1/2" dent in the thick steel case, needless to say we retreated to behind the living room door during the test 😂, lessons were learned.
Also learned as a kid that Capacitors explode when you put too much power to them.... The bigger the cap, the bigger the boom! I once took a 10,000 mfd cap to 110vac...
It was absolutely awesome meeting you two at VCF SE this year!
I’m so glad I got a chance to meet you! Your exhibit was amazing! Thanks for preserving the use-case of those machines so well! It’s something that people very seldom get a chance to see.
The flex is back in the thumbnail 💪 It's almost becoming legendary 😅👀
Hi Mike, I recently found your channel and really enjoy your content. I used to be a sys admin back in the Windows NT4 and Windows 2000 server days. I was really confident when I started working for them as I used to run an NT4 server at home, so managing a 2000 sever was quite the crash course. They let me have a copy of 2000 server to play with at home, and to also upgrade my home network. It took me about a week to learn everything on 2000 server, such as active directory, IIS, and other areas that I would be using daily. Nothing better than just diving in when learning a new server operating system.
Thanks! Yup, just diving in and getting your hands dirty has always been the best learning method for me as well. That’s why there’s a 23u server rack in my house lol. It has served me very well throughout my career!
rubber polishing wheel - brilliant !!! I have this tool but never used it for cleaning pcb or remove soldermask. Top Tip for me in this Video. The other thing is CR2032 for bios on 4pin connector. Normaly it was used for 6V battery (those maindboards wich i have) and it has 2 silicone diodes in serie for voltage drop (to around 4.8V). Using 3V Battery it will not keep the time for long. Old RTC`s are taking a lot of current (my 386 takes around 40uA). My tip is to use 3x AAA NiMH connected to place where old BAT was. You can buy 3xAAA holder with OFF swich and place it in comfortable place.
I do need to keep a stock of some 6v battery holders for systems like these.
@@miketech1024 No. Its easyer to just buy 3xAAA holder(you have fancy ones with doors and switch) and solder the wires or pins where old battery was. You can than use AAA aku and they will be charged during use. I sugest to mesure RTC curent draw on 486 and older systems. If its over 5uA than CR2032 is to small (in my opinion). You need bigger BAT. AAA have now 1000mAh. Last week i paid 3€ for 4xAAA 700mAh.
When using CR2032 in place of original BAT you need to add diode to prevent charging. BAT85 has small voltage drop and its better then silicon one.
Got a couple of legendary guns right there.
It doesn't shock me in the slightest that the last system was last used in 2021. There's still a Win95 PC somewhere in the mill I work in that runs a signmaker. I just don't ask questions about that thing.
Great to see your channel growing. I enjoy every video.
Thanks! 🙂
Another fantastic video! The first 386 is a beaut! These Packard Bells used to be bland and disposable to me, but now the styling and case designs are delightful in retrospect.
Mike - I recently discovered your channel and spent a couple hours watching your videos. I've been an enthusiast since I was a young child (in the 80's and 90's) - and my love for technology has blossomed into a career as a network engineer/administrator/MSP.
It is great to see all of these "vintage" systems from my childhood - stuff that I used to tinker with and get working - then would gift to my friends for them to also explore.
Thank you for sharing your passions with us. This brings back many wonderful memories as well as reveals how far technology has advanced since I was a kid.
6:43. Ah yes, that legendary Packard Bell support.
Was it as good as Dell support? Dell support was really good. It still is. And the Pope wears purple boxer shorts.
Thanks for putting in the time to keep these systems going another day
These are nice systems you got there! 🎉 It's always so entertaining to watch you.
Thanks!
Lmao I chuckled a bit at "And looks like the seal is broken, bye bye warranty!"
Wow 10k that’s great! Congratulations! 🎉🎉Looking at all the old systems makes me think of all the infomercials on owing a home computer I used to watch late at night. Packard Bell is a name I haven’t heard in a while. OMG SIM CITY! Loved playing that game! Memories, memories and more memories I get every time I watch your videos! Not only memories I get a good laugh from your humor!
Nice to be here Mike, I envy your clean workbench LOL I can never keep work spaces clear, always something going on that needs finishing. I find myself working in every space in the house, including the kitchen table (which I almost never eat at!) Another task, sigh - have to check out your channel and see what you have. You should be making some good moolah with those machines, vintage rocks! Cheers brother and keep it up, should reach 100K in no time.
Man, I hope you can get that Legend 750 going! It looks like it could use a multimedia upgrade and a relaxing future life of Sierra and LucasArts adventures. I have a Legend 125 (486DX/25) in the same case as your Legend 300 386, they are truly adorable!
Hi Mike, Another fine Video, I certainly remember those old Conner & Seagate Hard Drives at: 1:27, 13:50 & 24:30 that were measured in Megabytes from when I first got into Computers back in the early 90’s, I do have a few boxes of Hard Drives and believe I have a few of those Old Drives in amongst them, I need to put out some Videos for my Subscribers at some point as I have far too much interesting Retro Tech for it to be gathering Dust! 😂🇬🇧
We had a couple of second hand Packard Bell (Packaged Hell we called them) around my house growing up. I've seen one of those PNY upgrade chips before, I think it was in a custom PC but I can't remember, I do remember it being dead, so it was probably discarded at the time. All of these systems are cool, by a brand that's largely forgotten in the US despite being somewhat of a staple in the 90's, seems like these days everyone just uses their phone or has a custom gaming PC, what a weird world we live in.
Hey, I BUILD custom gaming PC's for the last 35 years! Nice sideline for us old dudes... (That happen to be gamers!)
Watch your channel for several weeks now, and it's fantastic! I enjoy watching video's , can't wait for the next one :)
Mike, Thanks for the trip down the memory lane! I had a Packard Bell 386 (maybe 286?) in the early 90's. Don't remember the model number now. It was a huge horizontal beige desktop metal case. That was my first PC, upgrading from Commodore 64. Just a thought, when cleaning things with cotton cue tips, which may leave "lint" or stands of cotton behind if it gets caught on rough surfaces, there are spongy foam tipped cue tips available for cleaning electro-mechanical devices.
Thanks! Yeah I need to get some of those. They would save me the ‘check for rogue cotton strands’ step!
36:05, Mike you should dampen the magic eraser before cleaning, stops paint fading/wear :)
I use Windex with it.
I feel like I saw a million of those gray bezel Packard bells around 94 to 97ish. Sears and Montgomery Ward sold the heck out of them. Or at least tried to.
It made me so happy to see 2021 on that last system
I'm amazed how the corrosion in that Packard Bell only affected the solder and not the board! You probably need to remove and ressolder ALL components in that area just in case there's solder points that look OK but are in fact broken/loose. I found my only 3Dfx Voodoo 2 PCI in a computer very similar to those, odd machine to have a 3Dfx card.
Yeah it’s going to be a project! Oh I really hope I find a 3dfx card in this lot…
Years ago I took apart/refurbished a PB desktop system from the same era and case as the 3rd machine. It had a 75 mhz Pentium, I remember. Different model name too, Multimedia something.
Nice to see you trying a capture setup. I can respect that unorthodox coin battery hack even if it looks silly. Unfortunate that the Conner didn't survive. Hope you enjoy your trip!
Thanks! Yeah I definitely have done similar or worse hacks myself. This one did have a real modern art feel to it!
I had a mid-tower Packard Bell computer that I bought in 1997. The case was one of the most unique and I have to say, almost beautiful cases of any computer for it had a dark grey foot that was wider than a typical tower case with a tower sitting on it like the Empire State Building. Inside the AT-style motherboard was located in the bottom with a daughter card rising up for the PCI slots. It was a product of a bygone era with a 6 GB HD, a CD player, 2 MB of EDO ram saved discretely for the Video in addition to 40 MB of EDO system memory, it had no bloatware, a collection of games, a program shell to make Windows 95 simpler to use, and the buggy IE 3.0. The power supply had the noisiest fan of any computer that I've experienced - but it was great for sleep at night for white noise!
I increased the memory to 64 MB (The maximum memory of 128 GB costs over 1,400 dollars in the 1990s so I never went that far) I added an IDE expansion card with multiple HDs attached, and I installed Windows 2000 and even used the computer as a server which worked well as the computer was rock stable. Hopelessly outdated even by the year 2000, I still had a lot of fun puttering around with that computer.
i came for the arms and stay forever on your videos 😂
I'm a great fan of those old machines. I watch your videos every friday as a relaxing minutes after a long and hard week. And, a month ago I decided to restore an old machine from 1998, it's a FIC Sahara II, very rare machine here. And I've done it! =)
Thanks! Great job! I love when these things get saved.
That 300SX has a wonderful FDD seek test noise.
Some of my favorite sounds ever!
Happy to see the twin of the system danooct uses! Keep it up!
Congrats on the 10k subscribers!
i think I just found my new favorite channel. Thanks for existing!
I’ve never owned a Packard Bell but I can see the appeal…. I love those desktop form factors even more so than AT cases. I really should track one down for my hoard….I mean collection. 😅
Great video! I worked on my fathers old Legend 406CD not long ago. It had been stored in the basement furnace room for upwards of 20 years and I'd actually forgotten I had it. There was some work done down there a decade or so ago and the computer had been moved to a non-optimum location and the plastic cover I had on it was not replaced. It was pretty dirty as a result. Luckily, it's not real damp there so the motherboard didn't suffer. It's a bone stock computer, with only 8mbs of onboard RAM, 75mhz Pentium processor, and a 860+mb hard drive. I was able to upgrade the RAM to 32mbs ( I think it tops out at 75mbs) and I installed a PCI S3 trio64v+ video card. Works well. I even have the monitor with the mounted speakers (though its condition is unknown), and the keyboard. Booted right up to Windows 95. The floppy and the CD drive work . . . but if someone wondered if a hardware device could scream like a human, the CD drive will certainly answer that question. I still need to do some more cleaning on the motherboard, even though it was fairly pristine. It's a fun project in progress.
Sounds like fun!
That's the best video to watch after going for a walk.
I had a few PB with the early Pentiums. They reminded me of a mobile home with the skirting at the bottom. The tower looked similar. Can't wait for this weeks episode and see what OEM is next.
Congrats on 10k! Not surprised considering the quality and consistency. Keep up the great work!
Thanks!
Did you acquire these three Packards in the same place?
I may have learned something today...I'm not sure what...but...I'm sure it was something...like..that battery in #2, that was something to be sure.
In 2007, I bought a 90's mini tower Packard Bell that was...somehow...running XP. It was before I knew a bit more than I know now about computers. We took it to our instructor at the Comm. College computer course we were taking...and he was a little surprised that i was ABLE to run the XP.
Thank you for an informative video, Mike.
Yup, then came from the Franklin eWaste haul.
The first one was my 1st PC when I was 11. Slow and noisy as hell but I used it for so much school work and games etc.
A lot of those old Am5x86 upgrade chips you find are going to be flaky or completely dead today. Those upgrades originally often came with grossly inadequate heatsinks, or no heatsinks at all. And since they were double or triple the height of a normal 486, getting a heatsink to work on them was a nightmare.
Those Am5x86 chips most definitely needed active cooling, especially when run at their rated clock speed. Not having anything, or grossly inadequate cooling lead many of them to thermal death. I have one such Evergreen 586 that died from thermal death, it got so hot that it desoldered itself from the interposer and lifted traces, precluding replacing the chip with a different one.
I think something like that happened. It was running concerningly hot, even at idle.
@@miketech1024 If you're feeling adventurous, you can still buy those PQFP Am5x86 chips for like $25-30. Cut the legs on the old chip, remove the remaining and solder a new one on to see if the interposer part still works.
Good to see that the PB400 might be recoverable! Most of the 400-series Packard Bell boards I've seen for sale to replace my dead Vartabombed PB430 are dead too, so seeing one that looks like it could be salvaged is great. I'm having to use a Pentium board to restore the PB430 I got to replace my childhood PB410. If you decide to go that route, it's a lot easier to get the PISA riser for a 4x4 case than the 3x3 models, at least.
Also, the PB450 (the third system) was offered in both PCI and ISA flavors. Yours looks to be an ISA model, obviously. I don't know if you just need the PB450 PCI riser to get PCI on that machine, but those are hard to get anyway, so it's probably a moot point.
Man this beings back memories that Packard Bell on the bottom was my first computer i ever bought i was so excited about finally able to get a computer and after getting it set up i stayed up all night setting things up and playing some games i got for it back then if you ever come across one for a decent price let me know I'd love to get back into retro computers ❤😎
My first (and second) PCs were Packard Bells. A favorite brand at Best Buy back in the day. The first Legend you looked at seemed awfully familiar....
One of your best videos... Your sense of humor makes my day! Would love to know more about you. Who is this Mike guy? 😊 Congrats on 10k, you've definitely earned it.
Yes, I’d like to know who Mike is, too!
Thanks! I’m just a guy whose been interested in tech since around age 5. I turned those early experiences into a career in tech. Currently work as a Senior Systems Engineer in DevOps/Cloud (mostly Linux, Kubernetes and CI/CD stuff) for a Fortune 500.
@@miketech1024 I have NO CLUE what most of that is LOL...way above my pay grade and knowledge level. You are Meteor Lake level and I'm holding steady at 286. By any chance do you have an IG or FB account?
You are really lucky and you make a really good video 👍🏻
That Legend 81CD Supreme was the first computer I had, and have been looking for one forever !
Nice. I have a Packard Bell Legend Multi Media A940-3x3E450 (in the same form factor as the last case). Still working 100% with the original factory loaded stuff on it. Just need to retrobrite some stuff because the inside is super clean already.
congrats on the 10k
Thanks!
another awesome video!
Eagerly awaiting the 4 hour long motherboard repair queue video, 'grats on 10K Mike
Thanks! It's going to be a repair marathon at this point lol.
6:36 - That mark in the monitor of yours, always make me try to clean up my monitor!
Right there above the "Mi" in the Minesweeper word!
My dad's 486 DX/33 had the exact Connor HDD as the second system has!! Neat seeing one again...
I don't know why, but I've always had an affinity for those tiny (under 1 GB) hard drives. Very interesting how the CPU on system #3 just died---I've had mobos give up the ghost on these old systems, but never a CPU. Maybe that conversion kit just wasn't well-suited for the application?
I think we are really waiting for your repair videos!!
the legend 300SX, aka the Legendary Danooct1 FDD Grinder
I was thinking the same thing! Time to test some DOS viruses.
6:32 heh :D
The first machine was lovely, the second one... Oh my goodness. It will need a lot lot LOT of work.
26:27 this unironically looks nice!
I've never used DriveSpace, just seen the buzzword. Sounds like it slows down performance badly.
Wonder what's gonna happen with the weird CPU from the third machine. Good luck with it!
I have the same troublesome floppy drive in my retro build. The motor that controls the worm gear gets crunchy inside and will sometimes fail to seek. I was able to pop off the rear of the motor and take it apart and clean everything up. I used some 1000 grit sandpaper on the rotor and haven't had any issues since.
Congrats on the 10k, Mike! 😊
Thanks!
The Louvre is really gonna be pissed when they look back at this moment
They were warned!
As far af VCF events go, VCF Midwest is the most popular one of all as far as I know.
The PNY CPU upgrade was clocked at 100MHz, btw. I saw it flash on the screen as it booted up.
Going to try my best to make it to VCF Mid-West this year.
I have almost the same Packard Bell with two exactly the same as your PB450 MBs and it is VERY picky about the bios battery. I had a problem in that I was getting the wrong amount of RAM and errors on excess memory after a complete shutdown and restart. And that was only with the battery connected. I tried 3v through the external battery connector, 3v in the native place, 4.5v (3xAA) in both configurations - nothing helped. As a result, the board worked correctly only with a Li-Ion battery connected at one end to the plus of the COINCELL battery, and the other to the ground (NOT to the minus of the battery)
Jeez! I looked away when i seen that power supply. I got a proper fright.
The signal for the VGA capture looks decent from what I saw, but the filtering applied to the scaled up video is very very soft, and it looks like it's even attempting to sharpen it or trying to use a sharpening filter, but those aren't very ideal for those sorts of videos sources. I don't have any specific recommendations since i don't know your software or anything but something like a nearest or point scaler would look a lot better, as it'll have the unfiltered "blocky" look. There are also some scalers that can smooth the edges of the pixels to prevent shimmer/irregular sized pixels, but i don't know if many/any video editors support these. Also not a huge deal either way as it's more a matter of preference, but preserving the 4:3 aspect ratio can look better.
The first PC i got was off a friend and was almost exactly the same as the third/last one! Brought back nostalgia!!
Yeah! New video! Great!
Another great video! Packard Bell, too! Have an awesome time at VCF! I really want to get out to one of those one of these days. I'm not at all surprised you hit 10,000 subs. This channel is the best. 😊
Thanks so much! VCF SE was an absolute blast! I'm hitting VCF West this weekend and going to try my best to hit VCF Midwest.
OOOOH you just reminded me that Futurama came back... when you said good news everyone
That last Packard Bell is absolutely beautiful looking. Matches a PB keyboard I have.
Missed seeing your weekley post this friday 😢 Share a quick video on what you found at VCF!!
I remember seeing PB crap on the shelf at Costco in the early 90s
Awesome. Looking forward to the MB repair.
This video is Legend, Mike, pure Legend. 😂
My first PC was a Packard Bell 486 SX-25. As I recall, Packard Bell made cheapie computers, the parts used were whatever their buyer got a good deal on that week. But it did work, and I spent a lot of time on local BBSs with it. Hey, anybody remember BBSs? :D
Fantastic retro Packard-Bell PCs, I'm impressed!😊
5:15 reminds me of danooct1's PB386, has a wonderful floppy seek.😊
My Legend 125 looks identical to the 300SX but came with a 486SX 25. It's one of my favorite 486 era machines. I maxed out the cache and VRAM and added a DX2-80.
That battery mod is peak 90's hacker lol.
The third system might have unpopulated L2 cache sockets, which would improve performance. Also, the PNY QuickChip is a nice upgrade for certain tasks… when they work, that is.
Definitely going to give the manual a read-through. Hopefully it’s just a configuration problem.
@@miketech1024 It could be, one of my motherboards does something very similar (doesn't always POST) with the QuickChip installed...
But that drivespace has *got* to go. I don't care if I lost the space that ds compression sortof gave. I think the settings reside in one or both of the configuration files. I wouldn't just comment them out either, I'd off them.
doublespace and drivespace were from outer space.
The last machine was probably a dedicated controller for a cnc mill. Companies rarely upgrade controller pc's if the work.
Yay! Friday afternoon old computer fun!
looking forward to the motherboard/trace repair
Great channel, do you plan on doing a video where you show off where you keep all these computers that you save? Love the nostalgia, keep them coming.
That bottom Dell were actually pretty great machines... I had a Compaq that was similar and even though it was only a P166 it actually felt more like a 233Mhz Pentium II.
The first packard bell was my first computer.
Hey, the video was recorded on my birthday! Thanks again for the vids! Also, congrats on the 10k, to a 100k and a million!
It's a week late, but Happy Birthday!
@@keithbrown7685Thanks! :D 3 weeks late yay
Nice video Mike - You’re totally pro ! All the best for You 🤗😘
I have been waiting for a week now for my computer case to get here, it got delayed even more so I got bored and set up a test bench, everything worked and then I found out my headset broke, even more money down the drain. Luckily tomorrow I’m celebrating my birthday so I will get some cash.
Happy bday!
That middle one is the first case I've seen with a vertical 3.25 drive on that right hand side of the drive bays
That last system is the same case as my second system. I'm guessing it probably ran some industrial CAD where upgrading the system was just too complicated.
You shouldn't need the low melt desoldering alloy. Regular leaded solder works, but non-leaded solder should work aswell, after some practice
ASMR of retro pc's!