It’s worth watching Adrian's videos just for the 'feel good' factor. If he has a success you share his excitement, anything blows up and you join in with his laughter.
Bil Herd says that he would always put a piece of paper over the top of a new circuit board when he powered it on for the first time, to use as a mini blast shield for this particular situation
At least ElectroBOOM would have said more things that needed bleeping out. Maybe that's the difference between someone who was born and raised in Canada (starts laughing) and somebody who just happens to live there (*bleeeep*). :-D Regarding the paper - those sparks are not enough to set normal printer paper on fire.Even if things get hot enough for a PCB trace to burn off, I'd be surprised if you could light the paper at all. Even if things get hot enough momentarily, they don't remain hot enough to heat up the paper enough to catch on fire. ;-)
The fact that a really experienced youtuber who does incredibly complicated repairs on CRT#s and everything gets the polarity wrong on a Tantalum cap makes me feel so much better about my semi-competent self, you have no idea. Thank you so much for the twisted confidence boost, Adrian!
I've found that you should leave the machine running with the hardcard installed and the Plus bios will often perform diagnostics in the background for a long time and get the drive working. I had two that I thought were dead and randomly left one running in the machine when I got distracted and returned much later to find it working. I did this with the second drive and had the same result.
with the sound it was making I wouldn't hold out much hope. I remember even back in the 80s everyone hated hard card reliability. It was just an idea that didn't work out.
If it were only the head noises we were hearing I might agree, but it sounded like either the heads were dragging on the platter, the motor bearings were going or both.
Well this was fun! A story about stiction. For Y2K we had to vet the ANCIENT PDP-11 that had been running the radiology department of a rather large hospital for DECADES. It was on all the time because it was so mission critical. That prevented an upgrade. We had to move the computer to a new location in the hospital, and were very loath to turn it off. So the computer and its backup power supply were put on a gurney and rolled to the new location while it was still running. Yes, bearing freeze from stiction is a very real thing.
@@c128stuff You're right, usually you wouldn't use this kind of adapters on a pure as/400 architecture, but you can use it, for example, via a 3745 communication controller and a 3174 control unit. We used to have some "hybrid" systems in my previous job. I worked there for 20 years, so I have some experience on IBM machines :P
I remember buying these new and working on them prior to sending them offshore. They only ran one piece of software on DOS 24/7 taking data from the drillfloor and presenting it to the Toolpusher in his office.
A blast from the past. I worked IBM site support in Irving TX while finishing my CS degree. I built many of these for a development team. I came across the double stacked memory.
When I first started work (it was January 1988) my company had a PC AT in a locked room access only by an elite group of accountants and engineers. At night you could see the ATs eerie aura from the open office area. Ghostly.
Stiction is indeed the right term. Back in the day, we'd have to pull and drop the drive cages onto a bench (from 5 or 6 inches) for RS/6000s to combat stiction from drives that were off for too long (or after they'd cooled off after running 24/7). Our IBM and HP service people also used the word. Also, you've probably already figured this out, but that controller card is an IBM 68x3756. And thanks for the long video!
When the normal people (I mean not IT), when they see you did this to the equipment, they'll either doubt your skill or feel amazing. Good old memory of fixing normal PC just by have a pat on the computer case and boot up.
@@johnsonlam When I was little the Andy Griffith show would play in the afternoon, and every time I think of this 'fix' I think about the guy on that show who fixed everything with a hammer. :)
What you want to try with those hardcards is make sure they are nicely through and through warm, say around 120F or so before powering them up. I usually put them on a radiator of the central heating system we have overhere for an hour or so. This tends to give them a much better chance on spinning up, essentially what you tried to achieve by leaving it running for a while.
"Don't follow my lead on doing a horrible job replacing a capacitor"... Unfortunately, I won't be able to guarantee that knowing my skill level. ;-) Great vid!!! Stay cool sir!!!
You can use 3,5" floppys and drives to boot this machine, simply just format the diskette to 1.2 Megs. Works like a charm. Even with a 5150/60. Cover the HD hole with some tape, and format to 360K :)
It amazes me that you can put out so much good quality content so quickly. Oddly, you can cover the most mundane topics and make them engaging... you've got amazing talent. Even enjoy all the Haribo!
I'm almost positive this is the first computer I had at home as a kid. Which would make sense because I definitely had some of those IBM PC games that came in those hard gray plastic cases.
This was the first PC I ever programmed. Our company paid around $7000 for a brand new one. I programmed log scaling applications in CSM-Mumps and later Clarion. What an exciting time to be a programmer - fond memories. I'm retired now, but sometimes I miss the good ol'days.
38:26 - "Arche 386-20 for British Rail local systems". There's some history worth exploring there. British Rail disappeared in the late 1990s, so clearly this machine was originally used somewhere in the UK rail network in the 80s. Fascinating.
Yeah previous mail call, a viewer from the UK sent in some PC parts including two of these 386 motherboards custom made for British Rail. (I guess? The BIOS is labelled as such.)
@@adriansdigitalbasement I wonder if there was some bespoke BR hardware these systems connected to, hence the need for a bespoke bios. Anyway, really interesting. Looking forward to part 2. Thanks Adrian.
and… it’s so nostalgic for me when you talk about cga then ega and my mind goes to vga and beyond.. in your videos it’s measured in seconds in terms of time… i remember the anticipation and upgrades that were months and years in coming… today’s advances seem to blur together, but back in the 80s and 90s, it seemed like this simple gains were monumental advances… it was such a wonderful time!
I to also acquired a 5170 that was stored in a building that was falling down, these videos will help me get mine back to function state again thanks for the videos
Well, the day came when inspiration Hit the workroom table !! I wanted to say thanks for all the great videos and the fun I was recently gifted with two Dell machines that needed spruce and check up I am happy to say both were a success.. Watching you not only educates and entertains but also inspires the average person to try. Thank you I'm looking forward to your next vids who knows vintage machines might be in my own future !!
I had a hardcard 40 back in the day. At one point, I had to regularly take it out of the case and drop it six inches to get it to work. At least once a month. Exciting times!
Hello and greetings from France ! I absolutely loved this video. I have restored 2 of these 5170 at "new condition" status. A lot of work and effort but these 5170 are probably my favorite vintage computers ever ! :) Keep up with this excellent work !
I used to know someone who had twenty or so EMR ATs in his shop. EMR (Electromagnetic Radiation) refers to the TEMPEST-hardened version. The 5170 was introduced in 1984, right after the PC XT 286.
Peak Digital Basement here. A multi part multi hour IBM AT restoration series?? You are spoiling us, Sir. :D Thoroughly enjoyed this, looking forward to the next part.
Absolutely loved this video! Had to hit the subscribe button after your infectious laughter when blowing the cap!!! Love your passion and joy for this! So much fun!
And a story about the AT. We had a contract with IBM at the very first real job I had outside of college (BASIC and PASCAL programmer). IBM sent us one of the very first ATs in 1984 - this early batch had a Computer Memories 20Mb hard disk, which had a design flaw which caused them to fail. We went through 3 ATs before we got one with a reliable disk. That AT was my first serious administration work! We had a VERY primitive NETBIOS peer-to-peer network. So that AT brings back a lot of memories!
That Tantalum cap blowing up scared the heck out of me...hahaha! But Adrian handled it like a champ, laughed it off and made it into a way to educate about polarity. Another awesome episode. I look forward to part 2. Thanks, Adrian!
this was my childhood computer. maybe not this exact one but same model, same drive config, and from the seattle area originally. I think my folks still have the paperwork from it. you just kicked me in the memory balls.
From repairing a trashed tv, needing led back lighting strips . well it just gets better seeing this episode how by testing the past to gide the future.Notice we have'nt evolved much ,now thats a classic . I Have seen tv s radio and many gadgets short out but a computer , misshapes lead to improvement in technolgy ,,I love it .stay SAFE ! ! !
I almost cried when BASIC came up. It's been so long. Hey, when you find an AT with the AT/370 boards in it... now that's an interesting beast. A mainframe on your desk.
Trying to bring that hard drive back to life brought on a lot of memories. When I was working at Gateway 2000 in 1994 we sent out thousands of 1GB Western Digital Caviar IDE hard drives which would stick. The manufacturers recommended fix was to lightly tap the top of the drive with the handle end of a screwdriver. We called those drives, "the thumper".
This episode certainly had more bang for the buck than usual 😅 But that is one of the many reasons that I like this channel: Adrian doesn´t try to hide his mistakes, instead he uses them as an example of what NOT to do.
I have never seen that "stacked" RAM chip configuration. It was a WTF moment. Nice video. Adrian, I hope you are staying cool amidst the heatwave! Greetings from Beaverton.
I wonder what that's for. Reliability in case one of them dies? That doesn't make much sense. They get the same signals so can't address different spaces unless the chips are different and one of the inverts signals or something...
Token ring was never on Co-Ax, it would be UTP (RJ45), STP (IBM Data Connector, 9 ping d-shell), or Twinax...it would be either Ethernet or Arcnet, not Tolkien-Ring (as we used to call it:) "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them."
and one glitch takes the whole token ring down, luckily we could isolate the server/it desk "ring" from all the other stations and then go searching for the fault ...
Thanks to these videos, my brain immediately went "he must have put the capacitor on backwards, there is no way it would blow up otherwise", and yeah, what a silly little mistake, though I was thoroughly entertained. A one-hour basement video is always great!
My 1st tear doing applied electronics in High school The Teacher wired a large capacitor to a 240V cable and turned on the power from the main board to the workbenches to show us whats happens when a capacitor explodes ... Oh you bring back memories !!!!
Wow that was one violent little tantalum cap! Some nice fireworks there!! LOL! Excellent video once again Adrian 👍 I recently restored a similar type 1 5170 behemoth with an original Model F AT keyboard, which is so awesome! Mine had a bunch of fried piggyback DRAM-chips. Luckily the 5170 BIOS is so over-engineered, it literally tells you which chips are bad during its POST, so it was easy to replace them. Also: Did you know you can easily overclock these 6MHz machines to 8 MHz just by swapping the crystal? IBM initially chose to use the 6MHz clock speed because they ran a lot of 5150/5160 software way too fast (it's a speed demon, I know ;-) ). I overclocked mine, added a little heatsink to the CPU and put a Phoenix BIOS in it as it makes things a lot easier with IDE drives (I've got a newer 500meg IDE drive in it), a fast ISA VGA card, a 16-bit Intel AboveBoard with 2megs of extra memory and an SB Pro clone with 2 internal stereo speakers.. It's an excellent Wolfenstein 3D/Thexder/Silpheed/Pinball Fantasies machine now. Love these old IBM beasts!
Please do a teardown of the hard card. It's not like I haven't seen it before from personal experience. It's just good to know for those who don't. There's a plethora of techs who haven't seen anything like what you'd find in that hard card.
Omg that's the first computer my family got when I was a kid! It came from my step father's boss when they upgraded to new computers at work lol. Ugh. It's still my dream to get my hands on one again with a model M keyboard too.
I once had a spark like that (50:15) on a Commodore 1541 drive -- scaring the hell out of me (they were expensive back then!). But once I put it back together, it worked great for the next 10 years. I never did tell my father that I made his $400 1541 drive do a fireworks display.
45:00-ish Wait, didn't you disable hard drives in the BIOS and set only one FDD? I understand that it's probably dead now (if it wasn't before) but was the controller configuration error due to the BIOS configuration? I might be totally wrong here...
This kind of hard card isn't configured in the BIOS setup, it's got its own ROM on board that's hard-coded to use the drive supplied. The idea is that they'll also work on PC/XT-class machines and they require no configuration, just install them and go. Until they break, of course.
@@Zeem4 Ahh, that makes much more sense. Its ROM doesn't replace the BIOS though, does it? More like a modern computer where the BIOS queries the cards (aka the card's ROMs) for information & settings?
@@aaronjamt Correct. The main BIOS scans the option ROMs which can provide their own services. If I remember correctly, a card such as this will hook into INT13 to provide disk services.
Your C64 probably was the much better value Machine. Most IBM machines didn't have color graphics and If they had, it wouldve been cga four color graphics. The C64 even by today's Standards is a graphics Wonder.
@@nilswegner2881 I know. But when you're a little kid you think all adult stuff are better. All the beige box PC's I saw on TV & in the movies apparently could do _anything!_ Launch nuclear missiles, crack all secret codes, become self aware after a power surge fried a few circuits, that sort of stuff.
Very entertaining Adrian, nice fireworks and really it shows what happens when things go sideways, not everything comes out perfect, and I respect showing that off. Very informative too, so glad you could save this piece of vintage electronics. Cheers! all my best, -bish
Dang, Adrian. At this rate you're gonna give Colin Furze a run for his money. 💥🤣 Appreciate the detail as always. I had no idea the original IBM clones were so close that the IBM BIOS would work on them. That's pretty neat. 👍
We've seen the stacked memory in one of our machines at the Museum too. I think it was something crazy like they were half faulty chips, so they stacked alternate ones... similar to what Sinclair did in the ZX Spectrum's upper RAM
You should try and find an extender card for the ISA slots… extender cards were made to bring cards out for access during test or troubleshooting… and nice impression of ElectroBOOM at 50:14. The worst I’ve ever had happen with a tantalum cap is a cloud of stinky smoke and an incandescent stub afterwards.
HiAdrian. What brand ega to hdmi converter do you use Been trying to fix an old pc that requires ega card to use the old software an I dont have access to ega monitor.
This is the type of video i really wanted to see, can't wait to watch more. I have a couple of 5160s that are non functional, one has a keyboard error when I have one plugged in or not and the other shows no signs of life.
The actual reality TV. No fake conflicts or stupid scripted plots, just some dude showing us what happens when he pokes an old computer. And occasionally blowing stuff up.
Oh boy those haribo spools are good. They used to be sold here but haven't seen them in a long time. The peeling is way more than half the fun. It's nice that they taste good too, but the peeling. Oh boy.
After watching this I felt very proud. Why? I was one of hundreds of people who worked on the PC and PC-AT back in the day. I didn’t work for IBM directly but as a contractor for specific aspects of the design of both computers. For the PC I had a hand in the development of the power supply. Not the design but making it “safe” against idiots sticking things into the power supply (“OSHA finger”). For the AT our company didn’t design the AT motherboard but we made it easier to manufacturer for pick components, a process that was very difficult back then. I was so exposed to the IBM computers I never really thought about keeping them with me as I moved on in my career. I regret that now. Back in the 80s and early 90s I had everything from the original PC, the XT, the PC AT, the early PS/2s and more. So much so, you’d think I was a hoarder. I learned a lot about networking as a result, even wrote a book about networking back then. Now, I look around and miss those days. I still have my share of computers, most of them I got for free but it’s not the same now that I’ve retired. Now, I’m restoring Apple computers (Apple ][s, 68K Macs, PowerPC Macs) but I still occasionally bash together a Windows PC for a project but it’s just a shadow of the 1980s. Sorry for the introspection but this is one of the few places I can “unload” the many things that happened back in the day. Cheers.
Hi - that is one reason why i place them on the side or upside down when testing unknown, i like to see it turn or struggle to turn - they if not i may assist by giving it a push, not being used for say 20-30 years they can seize in place and just need a push - like the sticktion on the hard drives.
How coincidental. I just finished watching Noel's Retro Lab fix a new C64 board that had a backward tantalum in it. When I saw yours explode I thought "I wonder if its in backward, cause I just learned that is a thing." Glad nothing was permanently damaged.
Nice electroboom. That actually made me jump more I think watching the video than it startled you. lol I never liked using solder braid. I always use one of those little vacuum desoldering tools. (I'm too cheap to buy an actual desoldering iron)
My first PC was a whitebox AT clone made for me by a local computer store in 1987. It had a 286, a 287, 30 MB Seagate HDD, 2.5 MB memory, EGA card and monitor, and a fast Epson dot matrix printer, with MS-DOS 3.3. I later upgraded to MS-DOS 5.0 and an 80 MB Seagate SCSI-1 drive. I was more productive on that PC than on most of the others I have owned since. I would love to have one working again just for the nostalgia factor.
39:00 What is the purpose of the CRT at the workbench on the right side of this shot? Is it a second testing monitor? Is it a proprietary testing monitor, like a PC Junior? Or just for fun for watching Star Trek and stuff?
Me too some years ago I saved one of these from the trash, in times when those were just old electronic junk and not prized items to be sold on eBay for premium prices. So glad I did that :-)
I believe I have a 5170 I rescued from trash back in 2007. I never did much with it but remember seeing the piggyback ram. I didn’t realize it had built in basic. It’s stacked in a corner somewhere in my basement. If I ever have the urge, I may try the built in basic, lol.
I always like to compare spinning platter hard drives to vinyl record turntables, especially when explaining how a computer works to an older person who would understand the metaphor but might not be computer literate. Another thing I don't think I've ever mentioned is that I love the TRS-80 monitor decal that's on your LCD panel.
Stiction is a portmanteau for "static friction". It can be overcome as a last resort, high risk (as we see here) rescue attempt. In the '90s I drop-started some failing full size disks full of scans from a Dainippon Screen drum scanner; that worked, and the scanner worked fine with new drives.
It’s worth watching Adrian's videos just for the 'feel good' factor. If he has a success you share his excitement, anything blows up and you join in with his laughter.
Reminds me of that scene: "Boy Laughs and Computer Burns" - Pirates of Silicon Valley
Blown tantalum caps, brings back memories!!!!
50:12 - ElectroBOOM couldn't have done it any better 😁👍
Bil Herd says that he would always put a piece of paper over the top of a new circuit board when he powered it on for the first time, to use as a mini blast shield for this particular situation
@@DavePoo2 I think having paper near sparks would create a bigger problem lol.
At least ElectroBOOM would have said more things that needed bleeping out. Maybe that's the difference between someone who was born and raised in Canada (starts laughing) and somebody who just happens to live there (*bleeeep*). :-D
Regarding the paper - those sparks are not enough to set normal printer paper on fire.Even if things get hot enough for a PCB trace to burn off, I'd be surprised if you could light the paper at all. Even if things get hot enough momentarily, they don't remain hot enough to heat up the paper enough to catch on fire. ;-)
The fact that a really experienced youtuber who does incredibly complicated repairs on CRT#s and everything gets the polarity wrong on a Tantalum cap makes me feel so much better about my semi-competent self, you have no idea. Thank you so much for the twisted confidence boost, Adrian!
Moreover, I didn’t know what a tantalum was until I started watch Adrian. I’m a better person because of it. 😎
@@davidorama6690 same haha
No one is perfect, everyone did catch a time relax and tripped, that's why I use MLCC instead since MLCC did not have polarity problem.
"At least the computer will turn on now. Let's see what happ...." *BOOOOM!*
🤣🤣🤣
Famous last words... 😂
ElectroBoom has entered the chat...
Same thing happened with Kirk and Dr Noel on the Tantalum Prison Colony
had my NEC XP17 CRT monitor go boom twice! Needs service now
I've found that you should leave the machine running with the hardcard installed and the Plus bios will often perform diagnostics in the background for a long time and get the drive working. I had two that I thought were dead and randomly left one running in the machine when I got distracted and returned much later to find it working. I did this with the second drive and had the same result.
Upvoting in the hope that Adrian (and others) may see the comment.
with the sound it was making I wouldn't hold out much hope. I remember even back in the 80s everyone hated hard card reliability. It was just an idea that didn't work out.
If it were only the head noises we were hearing I might agree, but it sounded like either the heads were dragging on the platter, the motor bearings were going or both.
Well this was fun! A story about stiction. For Y2K we had to vet the ANCIENT PDP-11 that had been running the radiology department of a rather large hospital for DECADES. It was on all the time because it was so mission critical. That prevented an upgrade. We had to move the computer to a new location in the hospital, and were very loath to turn it off. So the computer and its backup power supply were put on a gurney and rolled to the new location while it was still running. Yes, bearing freeze from stiction is a very real thing.
"Yeah, I'd eat it if my blood sugar was low" -
-> "Der Hunger treibts rein"
The "ethernet" card is not actually ethernet, it's a 3270 emulation card, used to connect to IBM mainframe systems (S/360, Z/Series, AS/400 and such)
for as/400 you'd typically use a twinax adapter and 5250 emulator, not 3270, but correct for the s/360, and also 370, 390 and indeed z/series.
@@c128stuff You're right, usually you wouldn't use this kind of adapters on a pure as/400 architecture, but you can use it, for example, via a 3745 communication controller and a 3174 control unit. We used to have some "hybrid" systems in my previous job. I worked there for 20 years, so I have some experience on IBM machines :P
@@ferix.98 Provided the 3745 was used as a channel extender with a 3174 connected to it. Also 3174's also were able to be connected via tp link
I have one of those Hard Card 20 in my Ericsson Pc from -84. And I have to spin it manually on the inner disk with my finger to get it going! Haha.
"Alright, it's time to see if this works." *Flips Switch* *Mushroom Cloud* This is why he tells us to learn from his mistakes.
He shouldn't have used that much lighter fluid!
I thought I was watching Electroboom for a second
I respect that he showed the whole process too, mistakes are a good chance to learn, even when it's not our own mistakes
I can see this video really blowing up!
With white smoke?
Yeah, it could really explode.
Who the hell dislikes charming content like this? It boggles the mind!
Relatives of the innocent tantalum caps...
@@IntegerOfDoom is Chinese the new swear word?
I remember buying these new and working on them prior to sending them offshore. They only ran one piece of software on DOS 24/7 taking data from the drillfloor and presenting it to the Toolpusher in his office.
A blast from the past. I worked IBM site support in Irving TX while finishing my CS degree. I built many of these for a development team. I came across the double stacked memory.
That "network card" with the BNC connector looks like it could be a 3270 emulator card that would connect to a D/T 3274.
When I first started work (it was January 1988) my company had a PC AT in a locked room access only by an elite group of accountants and engineers. At night you could see the ATs eerie aura from the open office area. Ghostly.
Learned to code in dBase III on the Pc At around that time. (after hours)
Stiction is indeed the right term. Back in the day, we'd have to pull and drop the drive cages onto a bench (from 5 or 6 inches) for RS/6000s to combat stiction from drives that were off for too long (or after they'd cooled off after running 24/7). Our IBM and HP service people also used the word.
Also, you've probably already figured this out, but that controller card is an IBM 68x3756. And thanks for the long video!
When the normal people (I mean not IT), when they see you did this to the equipment, they'll either doubt your skill or feel amazing. Good old memory of fixing normal PC just by have a pat on the computer case and boot up.
I did an autopsy of the drive for an upcoming second channel video -- figured out why it was actually bad. (Once I fixed the stiction)
@@johnsonlam When I was little the Andy Griffith show would play in the afternoon, and every time I think of this 'fix' I think about the guy on that show who fixed everything with a hammer. :)
Saturday night, and one hour of
Adrian's Digital Basement is just perfect :)
What you want to try with those hardcards is make sure they are nicely through and through warm, say around 120F or so before powering them up. I usually put them on a radiator of the central heating system we have overhere for an hour or so. This tends to give them a much better chance on spinning up, essentially what you tried to achieve by leaving it running for a while.
"Don't follow my lead on doing a horrible job replacing a capacitor"...
Unfortunately, I won't be able to guarantee that knowing my skill level. ;-)
Great vid!!! Stay cool sir!!!
You can use 3,5" floppys and drives to boot this machine, simply just format the diskette to 1.2 Megs. Works like a charm. Even with a 5150/60. Cover the HD hole with some tape, and format to 360K :)
Love the vim sticker, the dual stacked ram was awesome to see, some fun fireworks, and a overall great video!
50:16 It turned into an ElectroBOOM video all of the sudden! The only thing that was missing was you getting shocked.
The hardcard disc Sounds like the wheel of fortune when it spins down
But no rewards...
It amazes me that you can put out so much good quality content so quickly. Oddly, you can cover the most mundane topics and make them engaging... you've got amazing talent. Even enjoy all the Haribo!
I'm almost positive this is the first computer I had at home as a kid. Which would make sense because I definitely had some of those IBM PC games that came in those hard gray plastic cases.
This was the first PC I ever programmed. Our company paid around $7000 for a brand new one. I programmed log scaling applications in CSM-Mumps and later Clarion. What an exciting time to be a programmer - fond memories. I'm retired now, but sometimes I miss the good ol'days.
38:26 - "Arche 386-20 for British Rail local systems". There's some history worth exploring there. British Rail disappeared in the late 1990s, so clearly this machine was originally used somewhere in the UK rail network in the 80s. Fascinating.
Yeah previous mail call, a viewer from the UK sent in some PC parts including two of these 386 motherboards custom made for British Rail. (I guess? The BIOS is labelled as such.)
@@adriansdigitalbasement I wonder if there was some bespoke BR hardware these systems connected to, hence the need for a bespoke bios. Anyway, really interesting. Looking forward to part 2. Thanks Adrian.
and… it’s so nostalgic for me when you talk about cga then ega and my mind goes to vga and beyond.. in your videos it’s measured in seconds in terms of time… i remember the anticipation and upgrades that were months and years in coming… today’s advances seem to blur together, but back in the 80s and 90s, it seemed like this simple gains were monumental advances… it was such a wonderful time!
Quick info: The Haribo Bunte Schnecken is german for Colorfull Snails.
And the original version would be licorice snails :)
@@katho8472 Probably made that version because licorice isn't that popular anymore with the kids.
@@graealex licorice is a complex flavor….kids these days prefer simple flavors.
in my country, i safe myself to trash !
@ Dr. Mario, você por aqui também !!
Tantalum capacitor: I have become death, destroyer of worlds.
I to also acquired a 5170 that was stored in a building that was falling down, these videos will help me get mine back to function state again thanks for the videos
Post if you get it running!
Well, the day came when inspiration Hit the workroom table !! I wanted to say thanks for all the great videos and the fun I was recently gifted with two Dell machines that needed spruce and check up I am happy to say both were a success.. Watching you not only educates and entertains but also inspires the average person to try. Thank you I'm looking forward to your next vids who knows vintage machines might be in my own future !!
I had a hardcard 40 back in the day. At one point, I had to regularly take it out of the case and drop it six inches to get it to work. At least once a month. Exciting times!
Hello and greetings from France ! I absolutely loved this video. I have restored 2 of these 5170 at "new condition" status. A lot of work and effort but these 5170 are probably my favorite vintage computers ever ! :) Keep up with this excellent work !
I used to know someone who had twenty or so EMR ATs in his shop. EMR (Electromagnetic Radiation) refers to the TEMPEST-hardened version.
The 5170 was introduced in 1984, right after the PC XT 286.
Yes. I agree with one of the viewers comments earlier…we do need a “It Freakin Works” shirt
Peak Digital Basement here. A multi part multi hour IBM AT restoration series?? You are spoiling us, Sir. :D Thoroughly enjoyed this, looking forward to the next part.
Absolutely loved this video! Had to hit the subscribe button after your infectious laughter when blowing the cap!!! Love your passion and joy for this! So much fun!
Oh no, you discovered Electro-Boom's explosion secret. =)
Icompliment you Adrian, for repairing that I/O board instead of trashing it. Even after the Cap Exploded. Excellent work!!!!
And a story about the AT. We had a contract with IBM at the very first real job I had outside of college (BASIC and PASCAL programmer). IBM sent us one of the very first ATs in 1984 - this early batch had a Computer Memories 20Mb hard disk, which had a design flaw which caused them to fail. We went through 3 ATs before we got one with a reliable disk. That AT was my first serious administration work! We had a VERY primitive NETBIOS peer-to-peer network. So that AT brings back a lot of memories!
Those CMI drives were indeed crap. I replaced a shitload of them. This basically drove the company out of business. Deservedly.
Is "It Freakin' Works!" a t-shirt or sticker yet?
Without further ado, let's get right to it!
"Hello and welcome back to Adrian's Digital Bumper Sticker!"
Personally I'm just waiting for the replica towels as merch
Hello to all of my [insert country as adjective] viewers.
i almost fell off my chair when that tantalum exploded. stupid tantalum caps.
You should add that fire work display to your intro!! That would be cool 😃
I second that 🤣
I third that
I fourth that.
I fifth that
That disk is beautiful. I'm having flashbacks to disassembling the drives destined for the garbage that my Dad would bring home from work.
Celebrating 4th of July early, Adrian! 😁
I bought that exact system in 1982 to start my company. i used a cross assembler written in basic to do Mot 68000 code -- good times..
That Tantalum cap blowing up scared the heck out of me...hahaha! But Adrian handled it like a champ, laughed it off and made it into a way to educate about polarity. Another awesome episode. I look forward to part 2. Thanks, Adrian!
this was my childhood computer. maybe not this exact one but same model, same drive config, and from the seattle area originally. I think my folks still have the paperwork from it. you just kicked me in the memory balls.
From repairing a trashed tv, needing led back lighting strips . well it just gets better seeing this episode how by testing the past to gide the future.Notice we have'nt evolved much ,now thats a classic . I Have seen tv s radio and many gadgets short out but a computer , misshapes lead to improvement in technolgy ,,I love it .stay SAFE ! ! !
I almost cried when BASIC came up. It's been so long. Hey, when you find an AT with the AT/370 boards in it... now that's an interesting beast. A mainframe on your desk.
13:33 into the video, this is bringing back lots of memories from building PC/AT machines.
Trying to bring that hard drive back to life brought on a lot of memories. When I was working at Gateway 2000 in 1994 we sent out thousands of 1GB Western Digital Caviar IDE hard drives which would stick. The manufacturers recommended fix was to lightly tap the top of the drive with the handle end of a screwdriver. We called those drives, "the thumper".
Electroboom would be so proud. lol
Great video Adrian!!!
This episode certainly had more bang for the buck than usual 😅
But that is one of the many reasons that I like this channel: Adrian doesn´t try to hide his mistakes, instead he uses them as an example of what NOT to do.
I have never seen that "stacked" RAM chip configuration. It was a WTF moment. Nice video. Adrian, I hope you are staying cool amidst the heatwave! Greetings from Beaverton.
I wonder what that's for. Reliability in case one of them dies? That doesn't make much sense. They get the same signals so can't address different spaces unless the chips are different and one of the inverts signals or something...
Token ring was never on Co-Ax, it would be UTP (RJ45), STP (IBM Data Connector, 9 ping d-shell), or Twinax...it would be either Ethernet or Arcnet, not Tolkien-Ring (as we used to call it:)
"One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them."
and one glitch takes the whole token ring down, luckily we could isolate the server/it desk "ring" from all the other stations and then go searching for the fault ...
@@jyvben1520 Did you ever pretend that the tool for initiating a port on the MAU was a Type I hand phaser from Star Trek? :-)
@@FarrellMcGovern probably did not have that tool, mau/lam and the special tool to add the connector to the cable.
Thanks to these videos, my brain immediately went "he must have put the capacitor on backwards, there is no way it would blow up otherwise", and yeah, what a silly little mistake, though I was thoroughly entertained. A one-hour basement video is always great!
Those sparks and then the laughter just got you a sub. Well done Adrian. :)
My 1st tear doing applied electronics in High school The Teacher wired a large capacitor to a 240V cable and turned on the power from the main board to the workbenches to show us whats happens when a capacitor explodes ... Oh you bring back memories !!!!
Wow that was one violent little tantalum cap! Some nice fireworks there!! LOL!
Excellent video once again Adrian 👍
I recently restored a similar type 1 5170 behemoth with an original Model F AT keyboard, which is so awesome! Mine had a bunch of fried piggyback DRAM-chips. Luckily the 5170 BIOS is so over-engineered, it literally tells you which chips are bad during its POST, so it was easy to replace them.
Also: Did you know you can easily overclock these 6MHz machines to 8 MHz just by swapping the crystal? IBM initially chose to use the 6MHz clock speed because they ran a lot of 5150/5160 software way too fast (it's a speed demon, I know ;-) ).
I overclocked mine, added a little heatsink to the CPU and put a Phoenix BIOS in it as it makes things a lot easier with IDE drives (I've got a newer 500meg IDE drive in it), a fast ISA VGA card, a 16-bit Intel AboveBoard with 2megs of extra memory and an SB Pro clone with 2 internal stereo speakers.. It's an excellent Wolfenstein 3D/Thexder/Silpheed/Pinball Fantasies machine now.
Love these old IBM beasts!
Brings back memories, my 1st ever PC and used it for running a Spitfire based BBS
Please do a teardown of the hard card. It's not like I haven't seen it before from personal experience. It's just good to know for those who don't. There's a plethora of techs who haven't seen anything like what you'd find in that hard card.
Omg that's the first computer my family got when I was a kid! It came from my step father's boss when they upgraded to new computers at work lol. Ugh. It's still my dream to get my hands on one again with a model M keyboard too.
Is this a UK built 5170? If it is my mom may have done the factory QA at IBM’s factory in Greenock, Scotland
when that tantalum blew, I half expected Adrian to land in my lap, he leapt that far back, lol
Living in the UK it was interesting to see the British Rail information on the boot screen!
I once had a spark like that (50:15) on a Commodore 1541 drive -- scaring the hell out of me (they were expensive back then!). But once I put it back together, it worked great for the next 10 years. I never did tell my father that I made his $400 1541 drive do a fireworks display.
45:00-ish Wait, didn't you disable hard drives in the BIOS and set only one FDD? I understand that it's probably dead now (if it wasn't before) but was the controller configuration error due to the BIOS configuration? I might be totally wrong here...
This kind of hard card isn't configured in the BIOS setup, it's got its own ROM on board that's hard-coded to use the drive supplied. The idea is that they'll also work on PC/XT-class machines and they require no configuration, just install them and go. Until they break, of course.
@@fadate7292 Oh that was for the other mobo that he was testing with, my bad.
@@Zeem4 Ahh, that makes much more sense. Its ROM doesn't replace the BIOS though, does it? More like a modern computer where the BIOS queries the cards (aka the card's ROMs) for information & settings?
@@aaronjamt Correct. The main BIOS scans the option ROMs which can provide their own services. If I remember correctly, a card such as this will hook into INT13 to provide disk services.
@@Zeem4 Ahh, oh. Total brainfart on my part, sorry about that.
Always nice to see a machine rescued. These IBM’s are classics, I’m pleased you will be able to save this one.
I remember being a kid and sitting in front of my C64, dreaming of owning one of those ultra-powerful IBM desktop machines.
Your C64 probably was the much better value Machine. Most IBM machines didn't have color graphics and If they had, it wouldve been cga four color graphics. The C64 even by today's Standards is a graphics Wonder.
@@nilswegner2881 I know. But when you're a little kid you think all adult stuff are better. All the beige box PC's I saw on TV & in the movies apparently could do _anything!_ Launch nuclear missiles, crack all secret codes, become self aware after a power surge fried a few circuits, that sort of stuff.
Very entertaining Adrian, nice fireworks and really it shows what happens when things go sideways, not everything comes out perfect, and I respect showing that off. Very informative too, so glad you could save this piece of vintage electronics. Cheers! all my best, -bish
Dang, Adrian. At this rate you're gonna give Colin Furze a run for his money. 💥🤣 Appreciate the detail as always. I had no idea the original IBM clones were so close that the IBM BIOS would work on them. That's pretty neat. 👍
That cap blowing actually startled me, lol. Been awhile since you started any smoke Adrian 🤣🤣🤣🤣
We've seen the stacked memory in one of our machines at the Museum too. I think it was something crazy like they were half faulty chips, so they stacked alternate ones... similar to what Sinclair did in the ZX Spectrum's upper RAM
You should try and find an extender card for the ISA slots… extender cards were made to bring cards out for access during test or troubleshooting… and nice impression of ElectroBOOM at 50:14. The worst I’ve ever had happen with a tantalum cap is a cloud of stinky smoke and an incandescent stub afterwards.
HiAdrian. What brand ega to hdmi converter do you use
Been trying to fix an old pc that requires ega card to use the old software an I dont have access to ega monitor.
Perfectly executed overdub in the outro there. Didn't even notice it ;)
This is the type of video i really wanted to see, can't wait to watch more. I have a couple of 5160s that are non functional, one has a keyboard error when I have one plugged in or not and the other shows no signs of life.
The Haribo candies are the best! LOL "I'd definitely eat all these, if I had low blood sugar" Love it!
THIS is entertainment .... forget all the scripted stuff .... we, the audience, are with you all the way. It does not get any better than this!
The actual reality TV. No fake conflicts or stupid scripted plots, just some dude showing us what happens when he pokes an old computer. And occasionally blowing stuff up.
Oh boy those haribo spools are good. They used to be sold here but haven't seen them in a long time.
The peeling is way more than half the fun. It's nice that they taste good too, but the peeling. Oh boy.
After watching this I felt very proud. Why? I was one of hundreds of people who worked on the PC and PC-AT back in the day. I didn’t work for IBM directly but as a contractor for specific aspects of the design of both computers. For the PC I had a hand in the development of the power supply. Not the design but making it “safe” against idiots sticking things into the power supply (“OSHA finger”). For the AT our company didn’t design the AT motherboard but we made it easier to manufacturer for pick components, a process that was very difficult back then. I was so exposed to the IBM computers I never really thought about keeping them with me as I moved on in my career. I regret that now. Back in the 80s and early 90s I had everything from the original PC, the XT, the PC AT, the early PS/2s and more. So much so, you’d think I was a hoarder. I learned a lot about networking as a result, even wrote a book about networking back then. Now, I look around and miss those days. I still have my share of computers, most of them I got for free but it’s not the same now that I’ve retired. Now, I’m restoring Apple computers (Apple ][s, 68K Macs, PowerPC Macs) but I still occasionally bash together a Windows PC for a project but it’s just a shadow of the 1980s. Sorry for the introspection but this is one of the few places I can “unload” the many things that happened back in the day. Cheers.
I wonder if the flywheel on the 3.5" drive was stalling out on the case stopping the disk from loading.
Hi - that is one reason why i place them on the side or upside down when testing unknown, i like to see it turn or struggle to turn - they if not i may assist by giving it a push, not being used for say 20-30 years they can seize in place and just need a push - like the sticktion on the hard drives.
First thought on opening video, That's in nice condition cosmetically.
How coincidental. I just finished watching Noel's Retro Lab fix a new C64 board that had a backward tantalum in it. When I saw yours explode I thought "I wonder if its in backward, cause I just learned that is a thing." Glad nothing was permanently damaged.
Nice electroboom. That actually made me jump more I think watching the video than it startled you. lol I never liked using solder braid. I always use one of those little vacuum desoldering tools. (I'm too cheap to buy an actual desoldering iron)
46:50 - Proof that the SSD is the greatest invention ever
better than transistors resisters and capacitors??
seems like it wouldn't exist without those
@@shamsports1644 better than electricity?
@@kaitlyn__L Better than Copper?
@SHAM SPORTS better than a pickaxe?
7:10 Hardcards are probably the least reliable storage medium on earth. I cannot find a working one today, but have a huge collection of dead ones.
Holy crap and cool crab! 🦀 I fell down to the floor due to that 🔥 kaboom moment in the last third of the video.
My first PC was a whitebox AT clone made for me by a local computer store in 1987. It had a 286, a 287, 30 MB Seagate HDD, 2.5 MB memory, EGA card and monitor, and a fast Epson dot matrix printer, with MS-DOS 3.3. I later upgraded to MS-DOS 5.0 and an 80 MB Seagate SCSI-1 drive. I was more productive on that PC than on most of the others I have owned since. I would love to have one working again just for the nostalgia factor.
39:00 What is the purpose of the CRT at the workbench on the right side of this shot? Is it a second testing monitor? Is it a proprietary testing monitor, like a PC Junior? Or just for fun for watching Star Trek and stuff?
6MHz was the FDD-less AT01 and early AT02 with 20MB HD. 8 MHz was the AT03, which came with a 30MB HDD.
Me too some years ago I saved one of these from the trash, in times when those were just old electronic junk and not prized items to be sold on eBay for premium prices. So glad I did that :-)
Another interesting video. 355 comments in you may never see this. I would like to see an update on the commodore 64C "ant home" update. :)
I believe I have a 5170 I rescued from trash back in 2007. I never did much with it but remember seeing the piggyback ram. I didn’t realize it had built in basic. It’s stacked in a corner somewhere in my basement. If I ever have the urge, I may try the built in basic, lol.
8 MHz?
I always like to compare spinning platter hard drives to vinyl record turntables, especially when explaining how a computer works to an older person who would understand the metaphor but might not be computer literate. Another thing I don't think I've ever mentioned is that I love the TRS-80 monitor decal that's on your LCD panel.
This takes me back. Great to watch.
Yes, "stiction" is the term. I had 1 or 2 old SCSI drives on my Atari ST that would need a few bangs to start spinning again.
Stiction is a portmanteau for "static friction". It can be overcome as a last resort, high risk (as we see here) rescue attempt. In the '90s I drop-started some failing full size disks full of scans from a Dainippon Screen drum scanner; that worked, and the scanner worked fine with new drives.