Compaq DeskPro 286e

[@Daktyl198]

“I was confident it would work” are words you never say around old equipment. Burned myself a few times with that jinx 😂

[@the_kombinator]

The only positive thing I can say about these wretched machines is that they are durable.

[@chriswareham]

I always liked the way Compaq had thoughtful touches such as the information about dip switch settings on labels inside the machine. Kind of made up for their love of proprietary features like power supplies! Their servers in the mid 1990s also came with a set of CD-ROMs that had everything from Windows NT to SCO Unix, although by that time I was already putting early versions of Linux or NetBSD on them. Very tempted to track down a 486 Compaq, and relive those times.

[@TheErador]

...and Torx head screws (at least during the 486 era)

[@alfabètagamma-k7p]

@@TheErador From this 386 till the Pentium 3, and still there in the Proliant server line of HPE.

[@slightlyevolved]

I miss those old Compaq oval badges. Also, I've seen this power on delay on a number of devices, if it has sat long enough, sometimes there is a delay on the first startup as the power supply has to leak enough voltage into some of the capacitors to kickstart the actual supply.

[@airfixer9461]

Great video, I like seeing old stuff come alive after all these years...well done!

[@lsk-nf7um]

Use to use the 386 version of this at work for AutoCAD 10. I remember us making a big fuss about upgrading to 486DX.

[@dejectedcoder]

I was lucky to get my hands on one of these a few years back for fairly cheap. I still use it to test out my DOS programming projects. It’s a wonderful piece of machinery.

[@songsan807]

While starting off my computer repair business in the 90s, got a few customers bringing a couple of these 286 Compaq machines in for repair. These machines are heavy and build like tanks. The 40MB hard drive and 1MB memory would cost a fortune that time. It makes you appreciate every KB.

[@jamriki]

I love those old Compaqs! There was an old 486 that was on loan with us for a while, loved it. My only Compaq right now is an Evo D500, but if I had the space... :)

[@stewartfullerton1965]

This was my very first PC, my Dad brought it home from work in 1994 when his employer was clearing out their old computers, he took the best one they had. I have since bought a replica and it works great, all it needed was a new CMOS battery.

[@ChefEarthenware]

I remember that when these came out they were considered quite fancy. The programming team I was in had one Compaq 386/33L as the best PC available. We used it to demonstrate software to customers.

[@PaulStenning]

I had one of those Connor drives fail back in the day. I opened it up and found a cable for either the motor or heads detached from its header. Pushed it back into place, closed up the drive and it worked fine with no further problems.

[@stuartcastle2814]

Used to use one of these as part of my work. I'm not really a fan. That said, while the one I was given for work was slow and temperamental, because it was the company's only PC, I wasn't allowed to even attempt to diagnose any problems. So, I could be being unfair. It could be a brilliant machine, I just got to use a badly configured one.. Still, watching videos like this make me remember having to set the correct drive type in the BIOS. You younguns have it easy nowdays, with the PC detecting everything it needs to access the drive.

[@BlackEpyon]

I'd love to get one of these guys. Very stylish bezel, and I don't have a 286 in my collection.

[@alfabètagamma-k7p]

Great video again! Thanks for this lovely 'vintage memories redeem' channel. It could be that one of the capacitors is not working anymore and therefor sensitive for voltage fluctuations. Connecting to an UPS may help to stabilize and rule out other issues in the power supply.

[@printerpr0n]

My second computer, my first computer I didn't have to share. Came with the orange monochrome monitor. I believe that is why the add in VGA card is installed.

My drean pc, ultra rare to find in my contry, and veru delicated to travel and delivery... ohhh my!

[@Luke-rr9po]

Another excellent video, i always thoroughly enjoy watching your content 😊

[@maxtornogood]

Nice that you got a suitable hard drive going in this & hopefully you'll be able to solve the random resets!

[@EBIKEScott]

Glad to have you back!

[@mauzzz2418]

The power issue is most likely related to some caps in the psu which are at the end of their life.

[@tra-viskaiser8737]

I was wondering if the caps were trying to power up, one or two taking a long time and it causing some delay with the power supply circuitry. But thats just a guess.

[@McVaio]

To fix the hard drive: the problem is stiction. You can get it running by applying a rotational knock. While it's powered on, turn it sideways and knock it against the table *sideways* in a rotational manner, in the same direction that the platters would spin. That'll safely knock it loose. Never knock on the table it horizontally, as that can damage the heads and platters.

[@simonscott1121]

My biggest regret is dumping a compaq 386 slimline pc I had, matching monitor and keyboard. It was in pristine condition. I used to use it with DOS for 6502 cross-assembly/XM1541 interface. I dont actually remember exactly what I did with it, so maybe one day Ill trip over it again (at my dad's house maybe).

[@Captain_Char]

you need an sd to IDE adapter to test old equipment with

[@charlesdorval394]

Wow, I haven't seen a french DOS booting in sooooooo long lol Thanks for the memories

[@BurkenProductions]

Yuck should be swedish DOS

[@the_kombinator]

AZERTY layout got me a few times lol.

[@charlesdorval394]

@@the_kombinator hehehehe indeed, I remember something like shift-m being ':' or the like, the shift-m part I'm sure of, damn it's insane I remember these things after so long... 863 ftw.

[@the_kombinator]

@@charlesdorval394 I just CTRL-C'd it at bootup and removed the KEYBOARD statement in config.sys, J'ai pas dû m'enmerder avec ça un fois de plus MDR :P

[@batman51]

A 286, that takes me back!

[@FabioNicolasSchmidt]

To fix these stuck drives, you should quickly rotate them with your hands clockwise and counter clockwise, this make the disks to unstuck its old grease or stuck heads. It worked a lot of times for me. Hope you have success in read the old files on that hard drive.

[@ChavJag]

I miss them o ld machines. They were solid and built to last. you could throw one down the stairs and it would still work :-)

[@domenambroz7237]

I have the DeskPro 486/33m. Looks very similar.

[@idahofur]

Once again I'm dying to see those all on a Novell network. Novell 3.12 should be perfect. :)

[@chrisrudi7162]

I have 32 GB SD cards in my 8088, 286 and 386 computers 😁 Even works with Disc Manager. However, the partitions on the 8088 and 286 only have 2 GB per partition. But it takes forever to describe it 😉 I had already copied several CDs with DOS games on them.

[@NexXxus86]

the delayed power on and reset are defenitely due to failing caps in the power supply.

[@miked4377]

nice computer! glad your back...

[@formatter]

Really interesting stuff is going on here this year! Thank you for the videos! P.S. Maybe that Connor hard drive just needs some deoxidation for its contacts?

[@arnlol]

I wonder if that original Conner drive is suffering from very bad stiction or if the spindle itself is just straight up seized...

[@fra4455]

Great video✌

[@OVERKILL_PINBALL]

I remember that Arkanoid game wow

[@AlejandroRodolfoMendez]

Wow really good machine it's almost flawless except the power supply maybe it's a heat issue that would fix with a new fan or some capacitor that is not giving enough. I have a hp vectra 286 that the power supply is rust and I can't fix yet, probably was the external battery that was glue to it. The motherboard is fine but without ram nor psu I can't do much. It has a proprietary connection.

[@RossTheGenMan]

That hard drive probably has "sticktion" where the heads have sat too long and actually stuck to the disc. A light but firm impact will normally fix this issue.

[@Longlius]

I've never seen a French version of MS-DOS before. Very interesting!

[@ewookiis]

Caution - it might go on strike. ;)

[@dykodesigns]

Compaq design always looks nice albeit a bit proprietary. Really puzzled why someone would have two VGA adapters in the machine (I assume the internal video is VGA looking at the connector at the back). A combination of MDA/Hercules with a color card had some usefulness in the early days with very specific use cases. But two VGA’s in the late 80’s / early 90’s 🤔 that seems a bit odd.

[@the_kombinator]

I had a 386/20e as my first computer. What a hateful machine. The only thing I miss about it is the flickering of the hard disk LED and the sound of the drive itself as it loaded Windows 3.1 into its tiny 1 Mb of RAM for 45 seconds to a minute. It was a spectacularly slow and overall crappy machine that was impossible to upgrade, had no BIOS, proprietary everything - I was so happy to get rid of it a couple years later and swap it for a DX/50 486.

[@AiOinc1]

With regards to your previous video on MFM hard disk drives, would you ever consider selling that BASF Magnetics 6188R3?

[@the_kombinator]

Connor drive - no surprise at all that it didn't work. I just got an Oivetti 386/25 with a 120 Mb Conner drive - spins up and down a few times, then stops. It's gonna be replaced with a WD 120 Mb drive.

[@rallyscoot]

thats normal behavior for old HDDs. The drive maybe could be fixed. But had to open it and unstuck the bearing.. If it spins then you have to only connect the PSU to it, without the interface connector. And then leave it on the psu for a while to give it is life back. If the drive have spun a couple or hours, then connect the interface cable and see what it does.

[@the_kombinator]

@@rallyscoot Thanks tips, 25 years in the industry, as soon as I have to open or service a drive, it's only once and it's to recover the data. Those drives are toast. Replacing them is the only temporary solution.

[@Shankaporomous]

I’m so old I WORK ON this computers 😂 I mean fix then .. 😂 good old times

[@stepheneickhoff4953]

Didn't try tapping on the outside of the drive while it was off? Didn't try putting it in the freezer (in a bag)?

[@ChingasoClown]

What a gorgeous machine :) Does this unit have the BIOS on the HDD?

[@Kedvespatikus]

Does the 'e' in the model number reflect to the fact that it is an electric device? :) BTW, this is a gorgeous unit. But that OAK videocard is the worst ever of its class. I had one in my first PC: luckily it went to the VGA-heaven after a year and I got a 1 MB Tseng ET4000 for replacement.

[@RetroSpector78]

The OAK videocard has a new owner now who was looking for a videocard that works in an 8 bit ISA slot.

[@foxyloon]

That odd behavior after first power-on, and the random resets afterward, seem to suggest that the PSU has some marginal and failing capacitors. They "reformed" enough for the machine to start operating again, but it''s definitely on borrowed time and needs a service.

[@MotownBatman]

We Temporarily had a Compaq 386 That Looked Just Like that! I could be wrong, but I swear our 2nd pc was this as a 386, My dad was pissed: he didn't think it was Much of an upgrade over our Packard Bell 286, so Something happened, and we ended up with an AMD DX4-100

[@Robo10q]

I always like the aesthetic of this generation of Compaq Deskpros. Later models looked cheesy and cheap in comparison. Also the 1/3 height floppy drives were ahead of its competitors, though not standard.

[@nickwallette6201]

I've always wondered what Compaq were thinking with those weird drive bays. Nothing else uses those. The name "Compaq" was derived from "compatibility" -- and while they were probably referring only to their compatibility with IBM PCs regarding software, it seems like an odd choice to make so many of their components bespoke, and therefore incapable of using off-the-shelf replacement parts.

[@InsaneWayne355]

Looks like the date was set incorrectly. The BIOS screen states it should be month-day-year, which is standard date format in U.S.

[@nR-kv7xo]

any chance you have the startup/bios/diag disk?

[@asanjuas]

The internal video card was tested? For if it works.

[@Blackadder75]

Weird that they had PS/2 for keyboard and mouse , yet no 3'5 disk drive. ours already had 1'44 disks , yet we still had the older keyboard port (dunno the name, the one with a bigger circular connector) and no dedicated mouse port at all, you had to use the serial port. edit: we even had the same type 43 HDD i suddenly recognize the green/white connor sticker I had not seen in 30 years

[@ShrineOfLife]

that was exactly my thinking!!! my latest pickup, an 166mmx socket 7 from gigabyte only has it as and add in bracket, but sadly its not working. i am really luck i still got an old com port mouse around, and its a nice one, wheel free ballmouse from logitech! ha, good old times! and yeah, it also has a DIN keyboard port, these compact machines really where ahead of its time! cheers from southern germany!

[@minhavidadeti]

very good

[@altbeetle]

interesting device, very non-standard motherboard. the computer is beautiful as it is, but if there was an additional native disk drive of 1.44 MB, it would be ideal. only the video card visually does not fit under the motherboard.

[@alanharkleroad4376]

It is getting harder to find a good, working old hard drive. Very many retro enthusiasts would have given up and used a CF card solution. But not Retrospector.

[@Schule04]

I don't think I've ever seen a working Conner hdd. They all self destruct for some reason

[@rallyscoot]

I have one that was bad.. (could be formatted without the right parametres. After reformat it again with the right settings it revived as a working drive. Conners arent bad drives. Its how you mis-use them.

[@Schule04]

@@rallyscootMine aren't even recognized.They spin up but then do nothing. Might not even be a mechanical failure but electrical, who knows

[@M0UAW_IO83]

Oh my, I remember those machines with gfreat fondness and especially the PSUs, the aluminium cased ones used in the 386 version have a failure mode which causes the IRFP450 MOSFETs to throw a jet of molten metal through the back of the heatsink tab and then also through the heatsink, used to have to chisel them off. You also have to be *very* careful if you strip down somje of that series of machines to remember which plug goes where and not connect the Tadiran lithium battery to one of the fan connectors by accident because they go bang with a huge amount of force. Made me cringe to see you whacking the HDD like that, you need to flick it in the direction of platter rotation as you apply power to free it up, if you wait too long then the drive will stop trying to spin and you'll never get it to work.

[@spike5552]

If the power supply is old the caps can be at the end of life so they took longer to charge up. that's on ovious sign that they need to be replaced.

[@Geomanb]

Better to have a Dallas microchip, then to have a leaking Varta battery.

[@CB3ROB-CyberBunker]

how the hell can a pre-software-power-control pc even 'shut itself down' :P lol. thing has a mechanical switch on it's powersupply. there is no way for such an old thing to 'turn itself off' by 'itself' :P unless the psu is broken or something :P (orrrr someone used the wrong floppy drive cable and it short circuits the computer) as compaq drives use a non-standard pinout. (if i recall correctly).

[@nneeerrrd]

At least you don't do that nasty CCPway ads. Thanks for lovely video.

[@thepirategamerboy12]

lot at it having an Oak VGA card which is probably worse than the integrated graphics.

[@johneygd]

‘Taking a look at the compaq 286 deskpro’ more like inspecting a compaq 286 deskpro part 1.

[@cliffshockley4406]

Love your videos, but repeatedly calling the video card an "external video card" triggered me each time.

[@BurkenProductions]

Yuck compaq sucked back then, how can you have two beeps on boot up. :D

[@ocsrc]

MAKE IT STOP 😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢😢 AHHHHHHHHHHH I managed to get Windows 95 to run on a 286, which makes me think it will run on an XT with 4 MB RAM and a 20 MB hard drive