Just want to thank you for these videos on the Deskpro. They’ve inspired me to revive my old xl590 and I’m happy to say it is alive and well (it put up a good fight but then that’s what this machine has always been like to deal with). It has become my go to machine for posting to BBS boards.
I'm glad you reuploaded this. I would have missed it otherwise. You are correct; it's important to resist the temptation to keep upgrading these retro systems. They should represent an era. The 486 era was a special one. It was the perfect machine for DOS games - games where imagination was just as important as the graphics. I think there's a reason why people look back fondly at games like Monkey Island. The graphics gave you enough information for your brain to fill in the blanks. With modern 3D games imagination plays less of a role it seems.
Very nice and interesting videos ! Just a couple of remarks : 1) The Compaq QVision (OEM Matrox Impression) has a terrible DOS performance. It was literally at the level of an entry level ISA card of the early 90s. It had an excellent performance in Windows, but was awful in DOS. All the 'pre-millennium" Matrox behaved like this ! 2) Regarding the soldered CMOS battery, most Compaq have an header close to this battery where you can connect an external battery pack. This one has this too (you can see the 4-pin header close to the battery. For those who are reluctant to solder (like me), it's a life saver ! :)
Just in case I didn't mention this on the original video, I can tell you have have OSR 2.x based on the 1996 copyright date. This is where the dual boot capability initially broke. You can avoid this issue by either using Win 95 retail or by looking for OSR2fix if you require the later versions of Win 95.
Really enjoying this series! I've got a Compaq Deskpro 386n myself and I'm getting ready to recap the PSU. These videos are getting me excited to get my Compaq up and running!
I have the same machine, saved from a ewaste bin few years ago. It was in about the same shape as yours, except bit cleaner. I also replaced the CMOS battery on it, but after about a month, the logic board died, it stopped accessing the floppy drive, and then it hung at boot after few reboots. I managed to find another one on the eBay for quite cheap. Also mine has the original SCSI 4x CD-ROM drive, as the original 820MB SCSI drive. I kept both as I installed Windows NT 3.1, which requires a SCSI CD-ROM and (I think) SCSI HDD. I am running Windows NT 3.51 on it now, it supports lots of Windows 95 apps, and I even got it on the internet (using a Firefox browser). For CF-IDE issues, I would say that you try using SCSI-SD adapter. Oh and I almost forgot, I disassembled the power supply when I cleaned the machine, and found two white RIFA capacitors. They look bit different from standard yellowish/amber looking things, but nevertheless those are paper capacitors and one of them was already cracked (and measured leaky on cap tester).
The Transcend CF Cards as Industrial Variant are the best CF Cards for old computers. Normal cards wont work, because they are made as Storage device, not as a system drive in mind. For cameras and such. Professional cards are made as system drives and have a hgher lifespan, powerloss protection and are 100% IDE compatible.
I build my own computers, whereas back then I did not. Kinda funny considering the closing thoughts. This machine is very nostalgic for me as I used one at school workstations. At home we had an Aptiva, though.
Remember the line BootGUI:1 in the win.ini file? I changed the 1 to 0 and booted to the DOS prompt lol. Great video here and sure brings back a lot of memories.
Thanks for the re-upload, I totally missed these videos. The 486 was my first computer so seeing you work on it brings back a lot of memories. I am hoping for a re-upload of part 3 too, as I could not find the original upload of that video.
@@FoxMulder78 I actually just changed the video title to "Compaq 486 PC part 3 - upgrade to a real Pentium!" since it seems like a few people were having trouble finding it.
1995 i´ve got PC Parts from my Uncle, it was a 486 DX2-66 CPU, and VLB Board, and VLB Cards. 16 MB RAM. That was my Frst PC that i build on my own. i was 14yo. Thank you for that Video.
dude some auto parts stores has paint scanners, you bring the case cover and they will tell you the color code or the nearest match, i did that with the bottom of mine, it was all rusty, had to sandblast, zinc primer, paint and matte clear coat, it looks beautiful
I understand people have special feelings for the 486, and I do too to a certain degree, but the selection of games that suit it is quite slim. The Pentium era, and later, is much better in that regard. I think the sweet spot might be a Windows XP-based system.
Depending on your age, the XP machines has just about 0 nostalgia. I feel a Pentium 1 running DOS allows the sweet spot for late era DOS gaming and it’s a lot generally a lot cheaper than getting a 486 66Mhz machine going
@@bobcobb99 It depends what gives you the feeling you're after. If you want to be able to play a wide selection of games from a long period of time, those older systems can't offer as much, if it isn't quite as authentic.
This is awesome! I don't know if this helps but I seem to recall Compaq machines requiring DS rather than Master/Sl@ve which is maybe why your SCSI drive just works properly. Don't know for sure but thought I'd share. I worked on a ton of these back in the 90's at Micro Center but it's been a while! Love that paint job!
Your video reminds me of a very similar Compaq 486 system that I saw at my mother's workplace some 18 years ago. It had an aftermarket CD-ROM drive and ran Windows 98. I was very young back then and didn't know much about PC gaming, though I do recall trying to play a Video CD disc on it.
Fallout was most definitely different from what it is now. Fallout 4 being the current version is so very different and not in a bad way. Maybe when hell freezes over there will be a 5. I look forward to it but I am not holding my breath . If I see news that it would be done and released eventually I would add it to my Steam library so I can get it when it is ready. That may get me a discount for preordering too. Not all games get preorder discounts but some do and sometimes even preorder bonuses you will never see any other time.
I got a S3 card with that memory expansion on it thing looks like a beast at the back of the card the extra memory although not much more does help with game play but really if your using pci slot there are better choices like voodoo 3DFX or Nvidia S3 lost in the gaming wars of the time they were released and dropped out of making cards after this one
The Voodoo cards at that time were pass-through cards with no 2D support at all. I could add one to this machine if I wanted but probably wouldn't bother, as I have better 3D on other PC's. The purpose of buying the Virge was 2D gaming in DOS and early Windows. NVidia didn't start putting out really good cards until the late 90's. I mentioned in the video that you could always just upgrade a machine like this until it's no longer even a retro computer - in fact, that's what I did with my first PC, which I just kept upgrading until it became the PC I still use today. So I try to keep these retro machines period-correct. The S3 Virge is among the best DOS 2D gaming cards you can get for a machine of this particular era.
Can you still find Rompaq files for this model in case you need to reset the EISA configs on for example a new or replacement hard drive? I loved mine back in the day. Thanks for the video!
You can although it’s been long enough now that I don’t remember where I got mine. I do remember it being very easy. There are collections of them out there on the net.
Never ventured beyond Diamond Stealth Speedstar Pro. 3dfx Voodoo hardly run any card with success. Interested in that compatibality chart ? Stil desire ato have a 386/ 486 system and a pentium 4 1.0 Ghz as that what inbetween my present pentiums and Duo Quadra core systems !
For Dos 6.1 and Windows 95 coexisting, I would recommend using Plop boot loader, Windows 95 can exist in its own Fat 32 partition, aswell as Dos in its own Fat 16 partition, you can then use plop to hide the partitions from one and another, and switch between them, hope that helps. Edit, didnt realise part 2 was a reupload aswell so no idea how far you got the project XD
no real need to hide anything, if simply using "Active" Boot flag set on which partition. Plop does that and if it doesn't work, there's SmartBootManager!
Yeah definitely shows a cult like mentality in Apple that they could "forget" their entire early history or try to convince people they never used beige ever, oh Goldblum. 🙄 I guess that's just the color chemistry mix, original grey + aged yellowing color oxidation = beige. Great contemporary color match though. 21:16 Ugh that's not good, VESA really ironed out the problems with video hardware support, sadly it couldn't come sooner even though it was really needed. It also encompasses more than just the hi-res as even medium-res 480x360 wasn't possible before VESA. Or consider how late Quake was made using a minimum of 320x200 still rather than 320x240 to see the VESA gulf factor. Yeah it's sad but true that the untextured(or partially textured) age of 3D graphics doesn't get a lot of love. I think MechWarrior 2 was probably the most loved title of that era. Funny enough I came across Sento recently in my searches, 47-TEK, Inc. only had three games altogether in it's short life.🙂
Most of the stuff you’re trying to run on this machine is too advanced. You had many SVGA games running, that will kill any 486… for these games, you should be looking for a P2 probably.
Just want to thank you for these videos on the Deskpro. They’ve inspired me to revive my old xl590 and I’m happy to say it is alive and well (it put up a good fight but then that’s what this machine has always been like to deal with). It has become my go to machine for posting to BBS boards.
I'm glad you reuploaded this. I would have missed it otherwise. You are correct; it's important to resist the temptation to keep upgrading these retro systems. They should represent an era. The 486 era was a special one. It was the perfect machine for DOS games - games where imagination was just as important as the graphics. I think there's a reason why people look back fondly at games like Monkey Island. The graphics gave you enough information for your brain to fill in the blanks. With modern 3D games imagination plays less of a role it seems.
Really enjoyed part 1 and 2 - I love these longform restorations with all of the ups and downs
Very nice and interesting videos ! Just a couple of remarks : 1) The Compaq QVision (OEM Matrox Impression) has a terrible DOS performance. It was literally at the level of an entry level ISA card of the early 90s. It had an excellent performance in Windows, but was awful in DOS. All the 'pre-millennium" Matrox behaved like this ! 2) Regarding the soldered CMOS battery, most Compaq have an header close to this battery where you can connect an external battery pack. This one has this too (you can see the 4-pin header close to the battery. For those who are reluctant to solder (like me), it's a life saver ! :)
This was very enjoyable to watch. Loved the battery comment 😂
Just in case I didn't mention this on the original video, I can tell you have have OSR 2.x based on the 1996 copyright date. This is where the dual boot capability initially broke. You can avoid this issue by either using Win 95 retail or by looking for OSR2fix if you require the later versions of Win 95.
Really enjoying this series! I've got a Compaq Deskpro 386n myself and I'm getting ready to recap the PSU. These videos are getting me excited to get my Compaq up and running!
Cutting homemade rails from plastic or 3D printing are both easy and viable options depending on what you have available to you.
I have the same machine, saved from a ewaste bin few years ago. It was in about the same shape as yours, except bit cleaner. I also replaced the CMOS battery on it, but after about a month, the logic board died, it stopped accessing the floppy drive, and then it hung at boot after few reboots. I managed to find another one on the eBay for quite cheap. Also mine has the original SCSI 4x CD-ROM drive, as the original 820MB SCSI drive. I kept both as I installed Windows NT 3.1, which requires a SCSI CD-ROM and (I think) SCSI HDD. I am running Windows NT 3.51 on it now, it supports lots of Windows 95 apps, and I even got it on the internet (using a Firefox browser). For CF-IDE issues, I would say that you try using SCSI-SD adapter.
Oh and I almost forgot, I disassembled the power supply when I cleaned the machine, and found two white RIFA capacitors. They look bit different from standard yellowish/amber looking things, but nevertheless those are paper capacitors and one of them was already cracked (and measured leaky on cap tester).
The Transcend CF Cards as Industrial Variant are the best CF Cards for old computers. Normal cards wont work, because they are made as Storage device, not as a system drive in mind. For cameras and such. Professional cards are made as system drives and have a hgher lifespan, powerloss protection and are 100% IDE compatible.
I build my own computers, whereas back then I did not. Kinda funny considering the closing thoughts. This machine is very nostalgic for me as I used one at school workstations. At home we had an Aptiva, though.
Remember the line BootGUI:1 in the win.ini file? I changed the 1 to 0 and booted to the DOS prompt lol. Great video here and sure brings back a lot of memories.
30:12 - There's at least 5 bulging capacitors on your geforce card!
Thanks for the re-upload, I totally missed these videos. The 486 was my first computer so seeing you work on it brings back a lot of memories. I am hoping for a re-upload of part 3 too, as I could not find the original upload of that video.
Part 3 is called Upgrading a (Compaq) 486 PC to a real Pentium!
@@FoxMulder78 I actually just changed the video title to "Compaq 486 PC part 3 - upgrade to a real Pentium!" since it seems like a few people were having trouble finding it.
See my reply to FoxMulder78 - that video was never actually taken down.
1995 i´ve got PC Parts from my Uncle, it was a 486 DX2-66 CPU, and VLB Board, and VLB Cards. 16 MB RAM. That was my Frst PC that i build on my own. i was 14yo. Thank you for that Video.
dude some auto parts stores has paint scanners, you bring the case cover and they will tell you the color code or the nearest match, i did that with the bottom of mine, it was all rusty, had to sandblast, zinc primer, paint and matte clear coat, it looks beautiful
Easiest paint trick, take a small chip to home depot they have a machine to scan it and mix the exact tone for you 😊
I understand people have special feelings for the 486, and I do too to a certain degree, but the selection of games that suit it is quite slim. The Pentium era, and later, is much better in that regard. I think the sweet spot might be a Windows XP-based system.
Depending on your age, the XP machines has just about 0 nostalgia.
I feel a Pentium 1 running DOS allows the sweet spot for late era DOS gaming and it’s a lot generally a lot cheaper than getting a 486 66Mhz machine going
@@bobcobb99 It depends what gives you the feeling you're after. If you want to be able to play a wide selection of games from a long period of time, those older systems can't offer as much, if it isn't quite as authentic.
This is awesome! I don't know if this helps but I seem to recall Compaq machines requiring DS rather than Master/Sl@ve which is maybe why your SCSI drive just works properly. Don't know for sure but thought I'd share. I worked on a ton of these back in the 90's at Micro Center but it's been a while! Love that paint job!
Excellent Job Sir!
The SoundCard was a Nice Pllus
Your video reminds me of a very similar Compaq 486 system that I saw at my mother's workplace some 18 years ago. It had an aftermarket CD-ROM drive and ran Windows 98. I was very young back then and didn't know much about PC gaming, though I do recall trying to play a Video CD disc on it.
Highly entertaining, but let me take this moment to point out that history accurate for a 486 would be DOS 6.22 with windows 3.11 ;-)
Fallout was most definitely different from what it is now. Fallout 4 being the current version is so very different and not in a bad way. Maybe when hell freezes over there will be a 5. I look forward to it but I am not holding my breath . If I see news that it would be done and released eventually I would add it to my Steam library so I can get it when it is ready. That may get me a discount for preordering too. Not all games get preorder discounts but some do and sometimes even preorder bonuses you will never see any other time.
I got a S3 card with that memory expansion on it thing looks like a beast at the back of the card the extra memory although not much more does help with game play but really if your using pci slot there are better choices like voodoo 3DFX or Nvidia S3 lost in the gaming wars of the time they were released and dropped out of making cards after this one
The Voodoo cards at that time were pass-through cards with no 2D support at all. I could add one to this machine if I wanted but probably wouldn't bother, as I have better 3D on other PC's. The purpose of buying the Virge was 2D gaming in DOS and early Windows. NVidia didn't start putting out really good cards until the late 90's. I mentioned in the video that you could always just upgrade a machine like this until it's no longer even a retro computer - in fact, that's what I did with my first PC, which I just kept upgrading until it became the PC I still use today. So I try to keep these retro machines period-correct. The S3 Virge is among the best DOS 2D gaming cards you can get for a machine of this particular era.
Softpaq SP0970 allows you to disable block mode, making the system work with any card. The vast majority of CF cards do not support block mode.
Oh really! I will try that. Thanks for the info.
Have you tried any of ATI Rage XL 8mb pci based video cards available on Amazon or Ebay?
I think those drive rails are still used on HP servers so likely to stay in production a bit longer.
I admire your passion of restoration! Have you tried any other games including some direct3d with the impression?
It doesn't support Direct3D.
Can you still find Rompaq files for this model in case you need to reset the EISA configs on for example a new or replacement hard drive? I loved mine back in the day. Thanks for the video!
You can although it’s been long enough now that I don’t remember where I got mine. I do remember it being very easy. There are collections of them out there on the net.
Never ventured beyond Diamond Stealth Speedstar Pro. 3dfx Voodoo hardly run any card with success. Interested in that compatibality chart ? Stil desire ato have a 386/ 486 system and a pentium 4 1.0 Ghz as that what inbetween my present pentiums and Duo Quadra core systems !
For Dos 6.1 and Windows 95 coexisting, I would recommend using Plop boot loader, Windows 95 can exist in its own Fat 32 partition, aswell as Dos in its own Fat 16 partition, you can then use plop to hide the partitions from one and another, and switch between them, hope that helps.
Edit, didnt realise part 2 was a reupload aswell so no idea how far you got the project XD
no real need to hide anything, if simply using "Active" Boot flag set on which partition. Plop does that and if it doesn't work, there's SmartBootManager!
I had the same problem with my Compaq Prolinea. No idea why they felt the need to solder the battery to the board.
Yeah definitely shows a cult like mentality in Apple that they could "forget" their entire early history or try to convince people they never used beige ever, oh Goldblum. 🙄 I guess that's just the color chemistry mix, original grey + aged yellowing color oxidation = beige. Great contemporary color match though.
21:16 Ugh that's not good, VESA really ironed out the problems with video hardware support, sadly it couldn't come sooner even though it was really needed. It also encompasses more than just the hi-res as even medium-res 480x360 wasn't possible before VESA. Or consider how late Quake was made using a minimum of 320x200 still rather than 320x240 to see the VESA gulf factor.
Yeah it's sad but true that the untextured(or partially textured) age of 3D graphics doesn't get a lot of love. I think MechWarrior 2 was probably the most loved title of that era. Funny enough I came across Sento recently in my searches, 47-TEK, Inc. only had three games altogether in it's short life.🙂
I saw Civ 2 😍
Yes. And the funny thing is that Civ2 works fine from Windows 3.11 to Windows 10-32 bit. It only asks you if you have more than 8MB RAM :-)
Are you going to re-upload the follow-up video?
It’s still there. It wasn’t taken down.
25:32 StarTrek logo?
CD rom looks like Sanyo crd-254p
Most of the stuff you’re trying to run on this machine is too advanced. You had many SVGA games running, that will kill any 486… for these games, you should be looking for a P2 probably.
It was all stuff that I ran on my 486 at the time. And keep watching to part 3.
@@ModernClassic Looking forward to it. Thanks for the content.