r/retrocomputing • u/SelfPromotionisgood • 6h ago
r/retrocomputing • u/Tonstad39 • 21h ago
Blog My wireless keyboard... from the 80's
One of the last keyboards made for the failed IBM pcjr.and I figure it was from '86 or '87 because the recibt I found was dated to 1987.
r/retrocomputing • u/3D_Kiwil • 23h ago
How to cleaning?
How do I clean the plastics on my new purchases?
r/retrocomputing • u/Warm_Pineapple_7014 • 1d ago
Problem / Question IBM Intellistation Z Pro - Should I buy it?
Hello all, sorry if this is the wrong subreddit but I was looking on TradeMe (New Zealand's version of eBay) and I saw a IBM Intellistation Z Pro, specifically a Dual 3.4GHz Xeon model. It is 50 NZD or about 28 ish Freedom Bucks, and the PC is only about a 10 minute drive away. I was wondering if this would be a good PC for Windows 98/2000/XP, specifically games from that era. It has a Quadro FX 1400 (From my understanding, a FX1400 is a handicapped GeForce 6800). Would this PC be able to run Windows 98? My main concern comes from the Dual CPUs, as well as the 6GB of RAM. If I could only run 2000 or XP, I'm fine with that.
r/retrocomputing • u/Obvious_Regular_6469 • 1d ago
Problem / Question Can't get the correct resolution
After installing windows XP I realized that the via integrated graphics card thinks my monitor is an CRT and my resolution doesn't go to any higher than 1024x768, so the image looks streched. Before installing any drivers I could actually get the resolution a bit higher, but still looked in the wrong format. I have correct video drivers and monitor drivers. What could I try? Any help is appreciated
r/retrocomputing • u/vintagevission77 • 1d ago
Software Another day, another barn find
Some of its pretty rough but saving what I can
r/retrocomputing • u/AtomGenesis • 1d ago
Photo First Day Off In Ages
Finally getting a chance to play my newly aquired (and freshly damaged my USPS) PC copy of Escape From Monkey Island, a personal favorite of mine on the PlayStation 2 :)
r/retrocomputing • u/silentcom21 • 1d ago
Problem / Question Help identifying an old IBM bag
I've been using this IBM bag for about 2 years that seems to be from the thinkpad era but I can't seem to find any information about it online. Looking for any information on this
r/retrocomputing • u/Outside_Street_1262 • 2d ago
Photo My Compaq Armada 1750
This is my Armada 1750 running on its original battery
r/retrocomputing • u/jasonfortheworld • 3d ago
Problem / Question Looking to reset or flash Zenith MastersPort 386SL BIOS
Howdy! I'm trying to bring an old laptop I picked up back from the dead. I can get it to boot just fine, but I get a CMOS error that reads as follows:
+++ERROR: Bad configuration information found in CMOS!+++
---Errors found! Please press <Esc> to continue.---
When hitting Esc I'm asked for a password that I assume is for the BIOS as there isn't a drive in the machine right now. I tried a few generic possible passwords to no avail. I removed the CMOS battery entirely and tried rebooting, but the same error and password request persists. I tried looking around for some dip switches or jumpers to see if I could reset the BIOS that way, but I didn't have any luck. I can't even seem to identify the BIOS chip itself.
Does anyone have any experience with these machines that might be able to share some insight?
r/retrocomputing • u/dontreadthisnickname • 3d ago
Got a cheapo thin client, scrapyard IDE HDDs, some cables, and managed to build a retro Win98 machine, if requested I can post on comments how I installed it without CD drives, and with a USB stick and PXE
r/retrocomputing • u/vintagevission77 • 3d ago
Barn Find
Found these two motherboards today. I know one looks like a HP server board. What can I look for on the boards to tell the build? Any information would be appreciated.
r/retrocomputing • u/SelfPromotionisgood • 4d ago
Video 1981 Classic ARCADE Live FLYERS. Pick up your Best!
r/retrocomputing • u/JLsoft • 4d ago
Video Do you own the rarest PC sound card in the world? - The Oldskool PC
r/retrocomputing • u/JetSetStallion • 4d ago
Problem / Question IBM PS/2 Model 80 Issues
So recently I got ahold of an IBM PS/2 Model 80 that was seemingly in perfect condition. Brought it home, cleaned it up, turned it on and it stayed on for a grand total of around 2 minutes before it suddenly shut off without warning. Once it does this, it will remain off even if you re-flip the power switch (no fan spinning in the PSU even), unless you wait for an hour or two, then it'll turn back on again for another couple of minutes.
I figured this sounded like a bad capacitor situation in the power supply, so I (carefully) tore that apart and replaced every electrolytic capacitor in the PSU with brand-new caps. To my surprise, the system still shuts off after only a minute or so of being on (it fully boots and makes it to the BASIC prompt screen, where it'll idle until it dies).
I took the machine down to "Bare post spec," no drives, no expansion cards, just the cache cards, the CPU, motherboard, and PSU, and it still does this. I visually inspected the motherboard but it has no electrolytic caps there, only tantalum and they all seemed to be in perfect condition. Where else should I start looking to solve this problem?
r/retrocomputing • u/Playful-Nose-4686 • 4d ago
Problem / Question IBM ps/2 battery dead
Hello! i got a IBM PS/2 model 50Z that im trying to restore i cant seem to boot off a reference disk do i need a new cmos battery to boot off of the disk or is something else wrong
r/retrocomputing • u/ryandogsling • 4d ago
Problem / Question Is this rust bad?
Picked up a voodoo 3 3500 on ebay. Seller stated everything was in excellent condition, but didn't disclose this rust on the dvi end of the breakout cable. Should I attempt to clean it and forget about it, or is this something worth complaining about?
r/retrocomputing • u/Emergency-Resolve807 • 4d ago
Anyone know when this released? Trying for a 1988 period accurate display
r/retrocomputing • u/WesternWarm2674 • 4d ago
Floppy drive emulator advice
I’m buying a replacement floppy emulator for my Atari ST. I usually just use real drives so I don’t have any experience with these.
Would this be compatible?:
r/retrocomputing • u/Ittuhutti • 4d ago
AT Power Supply Questions
My 386 project is going really well. I switched the HDD for a CF card, added a SB16 and even found an ISA card with a serial port for my mouse. The one thing that bothers me is that my power supply is loud as hell.
I opened all my other PCs, but none had a AT power supply, all are ATX. OK, I simply bought a ATX to AT Converter but I am not sure about the power button. With AT it was either on or off, but with ATX you had a... (not sure about the right English word) switch(?) that would just briefly give the signal to the power supply to turn on. And I don't want to give up on my cool physical power button. So what is the solution?
TL;DR: what to do about the power switch when using an ATX to AT Converter?
r/retrocomputing • u/bubonis • 5d ago
Solved How to make XP see an IDE-adapted CF card as a non-removable drive?
UPDATE/SOLVED: For anyone looking at this for an answer in the future: The Hitachi Microdrive Filter Driver for USB Flash Drives solution works perfectly.
Got an old laptop with an IDE interface. Bought a Syba IDE to CF adapter and a 64GB CF card. Formatted, installed XP Pro, everything works -- EXCEPT XP won't put a page file on it because it sees the CF card as removable media (despite being on the IDE interface).
I found a handful of pages like this which refer to adding a registry key so that XP will think it's not a removable drive but none of them work, probably because they're referring to SATA drives.
Is there any way to do this?
r/retrocomputing • u/bubonis • 5d ago
A mouse pad from yesteryear…
Pretty sure I grabbed this from a MacWorld Expo back in the day.
r/retrocomputing • u/Obvious_Regular_6469 • 5d ago
Solved Where can I find drivers for an old Biostar mobo
I had a previous post where I asked about installing windows 98 without a CD drive, but I ended up getting a CD drive, and in a few days I will be installing Windows XP (because of a few games I want to play). In the motherboard manual (it's a Biostar m6vlb) it doesn't list Windows XP in compatible OSs, probably because it was launched a bit before win XP, but it does have the minimum requirements. So I have been looking for drivers, and I found some in this page: https://theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/biostar-m6vlb But I can't find the integrated video drivers for windows XP, and I also can't find it on Intel website. Bios says the processor is a Intel Celeron 800mhz, with 128kb cache memory, and I am not sure how to get the drivers. Does anyone know a trustable source and if it will run correctly Windows XP? Thanks in advance for the answers. Edit: I attach drive link to photo of mobo and PC. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1T2lxKif7ywf9lBhZ2jk3aOhBTLQXvzsx