IBM APTIVA 2139 Barnfind restoration with a very early DVD drive

[@Baoran]

That hard drive was famous for being the first IDE drive to have size in double digits when it comes gigabytes if I remember correctly. I only had 4.3GB bigfoot myself back then.

[@jerther_]

Yeah 12 GB was HUGE at the time!

[@tony359]

looking forward to the ozone generator repair :)

[@Epictronics1]

It's on the bench again :)

[@craigrenwick9132]

An exciting ending, and more content for us. Looks like the CRT is trying to make up for the easygoing main system restoration. Looking forward to your “Fun with high voltage” repair video next week. Thanks again for all your hard work.

[@Epictronics1]

Thanks! Looking forward to getting the system complete!

[@felixokeefe]

I hope you didn't wash the flyback transformer. They are filled with many turns of very fine wire. They will arc and short out if powered on while wet and It's very tricky to get them completely dry if they have been immersed in water. Best bet is to remove from the board before washing. Keep the high voltage transformer dry. The same thing applies to HV transformers used for CCFL lamps in TFT LCD displays. Although these are usually easier to dry. Still it's good to rinse with demineralised water after washing.

[@GGigabiteM]

@@felixokeefe Flyback transformers are generally potted and the windings aren't exposed. That isn't to say that the potting material can't degrade and crack open, but if it does, the flyback is toast anyway since the potting is used for HV insulation. I've washed dozens and dozens of CRT analog boards over the years, never seen a flyback short out. It's not at all tricky to dry them out, you just use hot air from a blow dryer.

[@felixokeefe]

@@GGigabiteM The potting material and or the container generally becomes porous with age. This a part of the reason they're so hard to get fully dry.

[@tigheklory]

Here's a tip for that rust on the HD shield, if you rub the rusty areas with water and aluminum foil it will make it look much better. Great video!

[@Epictronics1]

Thanks!

[@thedungeondelver]

My boss had one of these and at the time it was way, way better than my personal machine. He paid me to install a bunch of upgrades and Windows 98se, and test it for him. It was agony having to give it back, after playing triple-A games at nice framerates and so on. :P (I upgraded not too long thereafter)

[@TheRetroChannel]

Oooh, CRT repair coming up? I'm down for that

[@Epictronics1]

Just watched your 1084 video :)

[@branhicks]

I'm using that exact case as my daily driver. It holds modern components perfectly and the thick steel disapates heat very well

[@michaeljones6256]

i really like the fact that it comes with the rage pro turbo agp built in. Maybe not the most powerful gpu of this era but a very capable on board video. I am hoping to see the monitor repair video as i have a similar aptiva athlon 700 and matching monitor keyboard and speakers.

[@anumeon]

I love the onboard Rage3D.. That reminds me of my early teens Compaq machine. Good old pentium II era computers.

[@Pholiage]

I have a new old stock 2140. It's made in 1998 but has the lesser version of BX440 so it only support up to 300Mhz Pentium 2. It has a bose sound chip that is only compatible with the included monitor. The tower is massive for whats inside (Full tower size) It was a treat seeing what the higher end of home office market IBMs looked like unopened. It came froma estate sale where the previous owner never got the chance to open it. Got it for $200 :S

[@nomisbate]

This is the sort of PC that would be great with a 3DFX Voodoo 1 or 2 card :)

[@horuscurcino]

You can just put a few drops of isopropyl alcohol on anything hot glued. It helps to detach it from any surface

[@tlrptg]

wow, a Bigfoot which still works? that's rarer than unicorn teeth. (also i bet that monitor worked perfectly before you washed it. The water got soakes up in the PCB material of the neck board, causing arcing. It might fix itself in 3-4 weeks.)

[@erickvond6825]

If you want the power button on the front of the case red I highly recommend using nail varnish. It sticks well to plastic and is pretty ware resistant. It's easy to apply too. I would recommend taking the button out for better coverage and so that it doesn't get glued to the face plate.

[@cesarespinozaspain]

Good gods! This 25+year old PC is cleaner that the "New" PC's at my job!

[@NatalieThress]

I love that they put in a plastic door to make it so you can slide the cable through instead of just putting a connector on the back

[@dawnmitchell8213]

I had 1/2 a dozen of those in a closet for years. I threw them away about 10 years ago along with about a dozen other old IBM PC’s. I never dreamed they would be sought after.

[@8antipode9]

Very cool! I mainly work on micros from the 80s and 90s, but I bought an IBM Aptiva a while back so I could have a PC running DOS / Windows that has real 3 1/2" and 5 1/4" floppy drives to support my vintage machines.

[@Epictronics1]

Yeah, these machines are excellent "tweeners" I have installed a 360k drive in one of my PS/1s to make floppies for older stuff. Very handy

[@jasmijndekkers]

Nice IBM Aptiva and as always a great job you did. Working on IBM computers is fun. Greetings from Steven from the Netherlands

[@Epictronics1]

Thanks!

[@m4rgin4l]

Bigfoots sounded like idling diesel engines

[@BigBadBench]

Good luck with the CRT!

[@Epictronics1]

Thanks!

[@maxtornogood]

Can't argue with 90's era restorations especially the hard drives!

[@Epictronics1]

That hard drive sounds perfect!

[@95Comics]

this was the first new pc i ever got! id used the family computer until my dad got this for me. it had nice speakers and a weird microphone that came with it too.

[@Baoran]

That dvd drive did cost about $300 in 1997 when it was released.

[@envoycdx]

Nicely done, that is just screaming for a Voodoo 2 or 3 card (at least, in my opinion anyhow). Nostalgic around the Bigfoot. I remember scraping money together in 98/99 to buy a 4.3gb version.

[@Epictronics1]

The thought crossed my mind, but I'm not sure. That onboard graphics chip is AGP

[@envoycdx]

@Epictronics1 yeah, i imagine its something akin to a 4/8mb ati rage pro ii with mpeg decoding. Great for games like Incoming, but Unreal and the likes will probably struggle

[@DuskHorizon]

Bigfoots tend to get noisy in the orientation they're used as the bearings go. I normally put the noisy ones horizontal if they were vertical and vice versa, put a few more miles on them that way. Or you can flip it 180 if your cables reach.

[@Epictronics1]

I'll try that with my other drive, thanks

[@nickwallette6201]

Good tip! Will have to try that.

[@denniseldridge2936]

I have a Gateway 2000 which is almost identical in configuration and vintage to this one, with the only exception being mine has has two USB ports. Love that thing and I was lucky to find that it was fully functional when I got it. It was picked off the sidewalk outside a local AV dealership, and I believe it must have been used in the security system of a large house. I've always had a soft spot for the Pentium II and it's slot, always thought it looked kind of badass lol. Nice job on this fine unit, and very happy to see that it's an IBM as I used to work at the local IBM dealership. The fact that you revive a lot of o IBM machines on this channel is what keeps me coming back for more haha. Also the fact that you are a very talented and thorough technician yourself 🙂 Hope that monitor wasn't too much of a bear to fix though!

[@Epictronics1]

Thanks. I agree, it's a real gem. Looking forward to making it complete with a working display

[@stevensexton5801]

You need to pick up a copy of GRC Spinrite 6.1 to check every sector of the old drives

[@Allerick178]

Omg, I hade one when i was a kid . I had a old geforce 2 mx 32mb in it from 3dpower it was a pci card. wow thank you for the great video. still got that card and the quantum bigfoot hdd.

[@arianaponytail]

very detailed and easy to follow video. I love it! Amazing machine and crt for sure :)

[@Epictronics1]

Thanks!

[@vonhapen1]

Had the same model, but with the PII-300 instead. I paired that one with a Voodoo3-3000 PCI back then. And if my memories serves me well I later upgraded the CPU using a slocket-adapter to something more powerful. Had also an DVD-drive, but a DVD/MPEG-card was needed for smooth DVD-playback while still using the PII-CPU. That case always had a place in my heart since then, used it for quite a while.

[@Epictronics1]

That would be a sweet upgrade. I hope it takes a slotket!

[@GarthBeagle]

19:41 love that IBM Aptiva logo screen, so very 90s!

[@Shand1982]

I have a very similar era Aptiva S, it's basically the same chassis and monitor but in black, although the monitor has built in Bose speakers, a mic, and a single USB port...which may answer the monitor PCB observation. The cable that feeds the monitor is captive and bulky/stiff as a result which lets it down a bit. Really enjoyed watching this video, a lovely machine, keep up the great work! (oooh and that Quantum Bigfoot...so envious, what a beast!)

[@Epictronics1]

Thanks!

[@TheChimeraMan]

I had the same CRT with same noises. I am not an expert and I afraid high voltage. So the CRT donated to a friend. The guy with the biggest collection that ever seen at list in Greece.

[@Epictronics1]

Hmm.. That makes me wonder if this is a common fault on these G74s

[@chrisconner5777]

I could be wrong, but I seem to remember the Aptiva line was made with more of the clean, "elegant" aesthetic of 90's home PCs, rather than the traditional utilitarian IBM look. Disappointingly, I don't think they ever used the red external power switch. That internal red switch was probably a quiet nod to their original aesthetic

[@humidbeing]

Strongly agree with you about a splash of red and blue on IBM machines!

[@thomasschuler5351]

it may be nostalgia, but i love the design of the case

[@maniatore2006]

That DVD PLAYER from Toshiba has the Same Remote Like mine old DVD Player, :D So old it is :D By the way, back in time, toes PCs i would never had Byed, because of the Low end onboard AGP Graphics. Today it is an other thing, But i have an IPM PC form 2001 the IBM Netvista with P4 CPU, AGP Slot, Mega 2 GB of DDR RAM. It Nedete a Bios Update to Run Windows XP Fine. And the Power Supply and also the DVD Drive was toast. Thank you for that Video.

[@stefanegger]

16:51 - I think maybe you should unscrew the the screw with the blue mark, clean the lower side of it and maybe bend it a tiny bit to have more downward pressure. There is ususally a little tiny track or tooth that rides inside the motor shaft and if it is dirty or worn down or does not have enough pressure it may slip. It seems that it "slides" over and grinds down the track like a worn down cog that barely grips. Had that on a PS2 slim CD drive once and usually all the dirt builds up there when it slides and slips.

[@Epictronics1]

Yeah, I think that's what happened here too

[@pianoman4Jesus]

At @5:53 Quantum Bigfoot drives.... 5.25" and slow spindle speed. Marketing idea when everyone was out of 3.5" bays, and had space 5.25" bays.

[@andrewgadd3161]

The big slot in the stand is for a mono speaker addon.

[@jasonhanna2699]

And the funky slots in the screw covers were for monitor mounted stereo speakers. If I remember correctly, there was also a "deluxe" speaker set that had stereo speakers that mounted to the monitor and a sub that fits in the slot in the stand.

[@Epictronics1]

That makes sense, thanks!

[@Epictronics1]

@@jasonhanna2699 I'd love to get my hands on one of those sets!

[@jasonhanna2699]

@@Epictronics1 what sucks is I actually used to have a set of the stereo minus the sub... But they disappeared during a move years ago

[@ultrametric9317]

Entire Aptiva line was really solid. And that cage in the display - what a tank! IBM had a moral imperative to keep down RFI. Maybe they owned some radio stations :) Hope the arcing was not because of being dropped.

[@Epictronics1]

I hope not, if it was dropped badly enough, the tube is leaking in air :/

[@MechaFenris]

I had a black Aptiva, forgot the model... that had built into a stand of sorts the floppy and CD-Rom drive. It was "space age" looking, and quite expensive. It was competently built, even for a consumer level IBM. I forgot what I did with it after I upgraded a couple of things... the one weak spot was the "pop up" mechanism got less "vigorous" over time requiring you to pull up the mechanism with a letter opener. :)

[@f.k.b.16]

The barns around you must look like the mangers in most church Christmas plays and not actual barns 😂 This thing is cleaner and in better condition than most closet finds!

[@Epictronics1]

This barn was filled with vintage cars :)

[@gert106xsi]

Very nice find! I have a slightly older Pentium MMX Aptiva externally the same. Also in full original working order altough I added a network card.

[@greypatch8855]

PCBWay is the way

[@lightmagick]

I had an Aptiva that was in the same or very similar case but slightly lower specs. I'm pretty sure it was a 266mhz(though it might have been 300mhz) processor but I think it had a larger hard drive and only a CD-ROM not a DVD drive. I remember when it was purchased there was another PC that I wanted to get that had a 333mhz(or 366mhz) processor but my sister said the IBM was "better", I think she just based it on the brand and my mother wouldn't listen to me so the Craptiva is what we got.

[@BuckEtheAlien]

440BX chipset is the best slot 1 chipset you can get, depending on your capabilities with BIOS adjustments you could potentially put in a 1.13 GHz coppermine P3 on a slotket. Slap a couple of Voodoo 2 12 MB cards in SLI and this thing could be a beast for '98. (definitely want to upgrade the PSU at that point though)

[@Epictronics1]

Hmm... I have a couple of voodoo 2 cards...

[@BuckEtheAlien]

@@Epictronics1 Even with the stock CPU it would be excellent with the two voodoo2's.

[@SmoggyLambGG]

Welp, time to find a new CRT!

[@Epictronics1]

No, I need to fix this one!

[@BrassicGamer]

I found a slightly later Aptiva for free some years ago but I'm missing all the peripherals. Am now on a mission to find them all! Although these machines represent the downward curve of IBM's quality, there's something about their design which is still attractive and very much of the era.

[@Bergi2000]

I love all of you videos! i am a bit ashamened to say, that i sometimes enjoy your nice monotone speaking to fall a sleep 🙈 I tinkered (patially as as job) with hardware from mid 80ies to about 2002... :-)

[@Epictronics1]

lol, thanks

[@hugosimoes5119]

My first DVD drive was an 16x DVD from LG also read 40x/52x CD read and I bought it in January 2006. I remember going to the city, I was still in highschool, I went to the store, they had a box on the shelf.. I bought the drive for about 30 euro. I could finally read the DVDs that came with PC magazines and also DVD movies. I installed it along with a CD-RW from LG 32x CD burner I bought from same store. I still have the boxes. The CD burner was bought mid 2005 for around same 30 euro. It's a 32x 24x 32x. I personally didn't like the round buttons... I ended up breaking on plastic button at the front.. I had to disassemble the drive.. I don't know which now it was.. and I had to use super glue.. kinda worked but you know super glue and fingers and fingers touching plastics accidentally.. The DVD drive I think ended up failing many years later.. it can read CDs but not DVDs.. probably needs laser calibration.. Anyways.. these 2 drives.. dvd reader and cd burner were installed to a Pentium MMX mid-tower (2 5.25" bays and 3 3.5" bays one hidden). Then my second PC was bought in November 2006, it already came with a dvd burner. When you say optional USB, you could probably invest time and money and develop some board for USB hub.

[@slightlyevolved]

Today i learned... They still had 5.25" hard drives in 1998....

[@xephorce]

could you imagine the amount of storage we could have if modern drives were that size lol

[@CaelThunderwing]

Thats.. rare XD to see a working bigfoot drive, sucks to see the crt was at a point of having one foot in the grave :/

[@rager-69]

When you mentioned barn, I wondered (as I usually do) if you're in the US or Europe. Then you mentioned finding one of these at Computer Reset, so I guess that means you live in the US, possibly in Texas.

[@jozsefizsak]

It looks nice.

[@Epictronics1]

Thanks

[@pselvi]

That BigFoot is probably a late model i had a early model in my first pc, a 1.2Gb one, shame i sold it but i do have a 1.2 and 2.5Gb one now even if the 1.2 is iffy it's still interesting to have. Also that 12Gb model seems to be thicker than the ones i have.

[@SockyNoob]

That was easily the most stubborn floppy disk drive ever.

[@Ironclad17]

I didn't think IBM was making PCs by the PII era.

[@Epictronics1]

They seem to have slowly outsourced manufacturing of their PCs. First, just the mobo, and later the entire PC, before they sold the PC division completely to Lenovo.

[@Dan-TechAndMusic]

They fully handed it over to Lenovo somewhere in the NetBurst era.

[@RobertdeRooy]

That IBM G94 monitor indeed had an option for a USB Hub in the back, which should have been PN 11L2989. But I have only ever seen a pre-production version of it when I worked at IBM back in the 90's. Not sure if it ever got released.

[@Epictronics1]

cool, thanks for sharing

[@cbmeeks]

I love these videos. When you say "wash in warm soapy water", how do you do that? In the sink with a brush or in a tub? I've been known to put a motherboard in the dishwasher before then rinse it off with distilled water.

[@Epictronics1]

Thanks. I use an antistatic brush and household detergent. Afterwards, I dry the board with hot air for 5-10 hours and then leave it for 24hrs before use.

[@Chriva]

The board was also known as Acer V66XA. It has a BX chipset so even if it doesn't support newer Slot 1 out of the box, you can certainly patch it. May want to figure out which PLL it has but if it supports 100 MHz (it does), it's also very likely to support 133

[@Chriva]

Doh! Should've watched more of the video before commenting. I went and checked SNI80000 V3.2. that version, at least, has no support for Pentium III. You should still be able to patch it tho

[@Epictronics1]

@@Chriva A PIII would be a sweet upgrade

[@SockyNoob]

"Completely useless modem" *Miketech took great offense in that*

[@psilimit]

No AGP slot. Sad : (

[@lemagreengreen]

Oh the dreaded Bigfoot! Those things had no business existing in 1998. I think Quantum released them so they could continue using a very out of date production line, they were priced accordingly but very slow and noisy in comparison to 3.5" drives.

[@hugosimoes5119]

My first PC (in 2004, my highschool gave me a Pentium MMX PC) came with a slim 5.25" Quantum Bigfoot. It was a 2GB drive (with capacities upto 6GB if I recall). It was the first and only 5.25" HDD I got. Amoug ALL drives for PC, the Quantum BigFoot had a very tiny board with a built-in bright yellow LED. I even opened the drive once to look at the inside and jeez.. it had a very big disk inside. At the bottom there is a hard transparent sticker which we could see the drive arm moving. It was a slim drive, which means it could be installed another slim drive at the top of this one and connect them with a single cable. I used the drive from 2004 until 2010 or so. Many many hours of use and fun. The driver when turned on, did the seeking noise and the drive really kicked in. Unfortunately it died. The drive head must have crashed on the platter when it fell from the top of a tower and got suspected in the air by the IDE and power cables.. never worked again.. it spins and then gives up. It now rests in piece in a box full of dead hdds at the attic. If makes continued using 5.25", we could have.. lets say.. 20 TB drives nowadays. The drive plate being so huge and with a small spindle.. plenty of storage could be provided. Plus the transfers of 500MB sec with maybe an upgraded version of the small board to have sata. But that future will never come and now it belongs to ssds.

[@rager-69]

Acer? I knew Lenovo was making IBM desktop, Thinkpads and maybe servers, but I had no idea they also had Acer make desktops and laptops.

[@Epictronics1]

It's probably just the mobo.

[@psilimit]

Man, that shorty PSU share is crammed. Guess cause it's SO short. Shame it's only 100w, but with no AGP in the system it's probably fine.

[@briangoldberg4439]

you should 3D print yourself a nice red power button

[@DDICyber]

looks like the motherboard is produced by hannstar or it can be compal

[@KnutBluetooth]

My Aptiva 2137 came with a Quantum Bigfoot. So 99% chance this one too.

[@juhakarhu9410]

Hi. What "soap" do you use to wash dirty parts? Do you use regular water or distilled water?

[@Epictronics1]

Regular water and regular household detergent

[@juhakarhu9410]

@@Epictronics1Ok, many thanks fast reply 👍

[@AllanHjberg]

I remember Aptiva as being the absolute entry model from IBM, and not worth the effort

[@lemagreengreen]

It was just the replacement home brand for their PS/2 line. Far more standard, they were priced to compete with Gateway, Compaq etc and were semi-successful at it but were usually a little more expensive than competitors. They were usually underwhelming but good quality and with good support on the whole.

[@AllanHjberg]

@ from memory I think my experience was that the software was bloated and not a great experience

[@AllanHjberg]

Seem to remember that the power button was one of the first attempts of Apci

[@KAPTKipper]

I have absolutely no nostalgia for Pentium II-III and later PCs. I look at these PCs as having the worst designs and construction.

[@MonochromeWench]

Pentium 2 era ATX power supply, I'd just replace it with something modern even though it works, even a generic unbranded Chinese budget special will be better than the one in this machine quieter too with a 120mm fan. Actually a machine like this being ATX is a prime target to be upgraded into a modern system instead of being used for dos and early Windows games. There is some appeal to using the case for a modern system and daily driving it. Pentium 2 era systems just aint that special to me, a bit too fast for Dos gaming and a bit too slow for many Windows games even if you have a good 3d accelerator installed (and this system does not as it only has a Rage3d). Overclocking a Pentium 2? Good luck with that. Pentium 2s are notoriously difficult to overclock because of locked multiplier and the external cache chips. If you have an overclocking friendly motherboard you can usually overclock FSB to 75 but a board used by IBM will not allow FSB overclocking.

[@CorporealUndead2024]

Pentium II's are the best! I have 3 boards, a tomato and 2 Abits, all slot 1. USB 1.1. You can even boot off the USB with Plop Boot Manager. 3 ISA and 3 PCI and 1 AGP. Best of the best retro machines. I'm glad I scooped em up when I did, I was able to update the BIOS on each to enable 137GB drive support for IDE. Works great with IDE>SATA adapters. And best of all the slot 1 can run SILENT. No cooling fan needed if you underclock it and use a good size heat sink. In fact, that's how many systems came pre built. Combined with a hybrid PSU, and my system is completely silent, no fans only convection.