IBM ThinkPad A31 - Restoring a $35 RARE Vintage Workstation from 2002.

[@76williamsbh]

Dude, I won’t lie… every time you said, “I was not alive in 200X” I died a little inside! This is very cool though! I actually have a Lenovo ThinkPad from 2005 that was distributed by Verizon. It barely worked when I got it but I have replaced the hard drive and even removed the CD Drive to put in a second hard drive. One hard drive has Windows 10 and the other has Linux. I also upgraded the RAM to 8 GB after a little work on the BIOS. I need to replace the battery but this is still a very usable machine in 2024 and I use it at work frequently. Granted, my job only requires me to use a VPN and access a website, but I can still get work done. The Linux side of it absolutely flies with 8 GB of RAM, even with the older processor. Great video!

[@vetrixfx9264]

must be an X/T61 right? got an X61 w 4GB RAM on Void Linux, runs pretty good for its age

[@cephacore]

Haha my bad 😅. That's very interesting though, surprising how a nearly 20 year old laptop is still functional! Make sure it neve dies. Thanks for watching 👍

[@mari2.]

people born in the 2010s are now up to 14 damn...

[@76williamsbh]

@@vetrixfx9264 T400s believe it or not 😳

[@glaceonikki]

this video validated my paranoia with screws, i always make 100% sure that theyre the correct ones and sort them by which part they belong to 😭

[@Norbert011]

same, I always have some box nearby to organize them

[@cephacore]

Yep, was such a blunder. I'll defo make sure it won't happen again 😭

[@Davide0033]

@@cephacore saw this comment before the video and was like "please, don't tell me he fucked up the plastic" instead it was something else, but i think that kinda of damage could be fixed quite eastly, unless the pcb itself cracked, then it's fucked

[@henry_tsai]

I use some double sided tape to store the screws with their relative position in the machine on a paper, making sure even if there're some identical screws, they all go back to the exact hole they came out.

[@phanthanhlaptop]

Incredible video! The way you made the ThinkPad A31 come to life again is so satisfying to watch. Your attention to detail, from cleaning to disassembling and even running those classic programs, is unmatched. Thanks for taking us down memory lane with such a cool piece of tech history!

[@ravind2704]

Thanks man ! I used that paint software when I was 3 years old in windows XP. I still remember that ! I'm glad to see that again!

[@cephacore]

So nostalgic. Growing up in the late 2000s it's defo a core memory.

[@hamesparde9888]

It's funny to that that that version of word is probably easily 10x more performant than a current version, but it probably has 95% of what most people would want.

[@joshuat502]

something that i find really cool is that i am watching and typing this comment on a RARE Japanese IBM Thinkpad g41 with a ''desktop'' Pentium 4 cpu, i am 14 and love retro computers and this is my first time using windows xp but i have gotten used to windows 98 and dos 3.0 as a have a 1987 amstrad 1640 project that i am working on so in the next coming months that should be on ebay if you want it. (i am in the uk btw)

[@cephacore]

That's really cool, retro tech has always been an interest of mine. Great to see others share the same interest. Thanks for sharing 🙏

[@joshuat502]

​@@cephacoreof course, my pleasure I love finding people with that same interests as well

[@phanthanhlaptop]

This was such an entertaining and informative video! The ThinkPad A31 is a real gem, and I love how you brought out all its quirks and features. It’s not every day you get to see a 20+ year-old laptop running Windows 98 like this. Your passion for retro tech really shines through-keep these awesome videos coming!

[@NiceCakeMix]

We used to have one of these back in 2002 in the office, before this we had a Thinkpad 750c and I still have that in my house now. These were good machines back then. After this machine we had a Toshiba Satellite. The Thinkpads were well made machines for sales people out on the road. Luckily I didn't have to carry these around to clients premises. You could also use these with Palm OS with Palm devices as they can use IBM's software to connect to them easily, I remember having to sync my Palm OS device with these laptops. Office 97 had the sidebar which was cool as it was its own quick launch bar. So many good memories here, thanks for sharing and subbed.

[@cephacore]

Wow that's very interesting, great to hear how these were used back in the day. Thanks for watching 😄

[@jordan.ellis.hunter]

Don't buy replacement mainboards. I bought multiple to try to repair my old Thinkpad T60 with ATI graphic and non of the mainboards that got here were working, even though they were all sold as "tested".... Its a pure scam at this point.

[@bigdude101ohyeah]

The A31 was my first laptop. Dad got it from his work - likely rescued from e-waste - and it was great for our regular road trips, especially once I bought a car charger for it.

[@cephacore]

That's awesome, you still got it? It's a pretty sick retro laptop I have to say.

[@riazxahmed]

A 31 minute video? Lemme grab some food first

[@m90nray]

fr

[@cephacore]

Haha hope you enjoy it bro 🙏

[@donoester6744]

If you shine with a flashlight on the non-working LCD (with it hooked up correctly with your inverter board) you might see a faint image... in that case the CCFL is dead. The fact that its inverter board is missing may mean that the previous owner probably swapped it out with a new one, as they do go bad, then realized it still didn't work and gave up. CCFL is not easily replaceable, but can be done. The Thinkpad T4x series used different LCD flex cables depending on resolution, so it is probably the same for the older A series as well. Flexviews were great displays back in the day. :)

[@cephacore]

Ah interesting, I've seen people do that if the backlight fuse is supposedly dead. I'll try it with the faulty display, thanks for the info.

[@mari2.]

Also, that Monitor board is an Inverter, which was needed for CFL Displays

[@remoschramm]

i love my A31 and use mostly for old games. i have it fully maxed out with ram and even did a cpu upgrade. i love the 2 ultrabay slots (one with floppy and the other with a dvd burner) and also the 1600x1200 resolution

[@cephacore]

Damn the maxed out model?? What a gem. I'll hold onto mine for the foreseeable

[@hamesparde9888]

I bought an A31 on eBay in 2010 for about 100 or 120 AUD. It was pretty cool. The screen had a crazy high resolution for the time it was released too. I think it was something like 1400x1050 (but i can't remember exactly). I don't have it anymore though. It stopped working.

[@albertiglesias5309]

Nice. . Classic blue enter button for a chonker of a workstation. Good times.

[@cephacore]

IMO, the best ThinkPad keyboards to date

[@SSMCC91]

"Property of Ultravox" Thats an interesting asset tag!

[@TechDave]

BEAST! watching more now, but damn, i already want one! x

[@cephacore]

It's such a cool ThinkPad, especially for the price 😄

[@gaiaweylyn]

Have one of these! Such a great laptop from the time. Expansion options are wild too.. I have one of the big dock units for mine which adds an additional Ultrabay, two more CardBus slots, and a desktop PCI card bay, on top of the usual replicated ports. Absolutely fantastic. Still drool over the A31p though, never managed to get one of those.. Better screen and GPU.

[@cephacore]

Yep, the A31p is a collectors item. Super rare, never seen one in the UK in fact. Shame the IPS screen wasn't functional, could've made it into something quite cool. Regardless, the A31 is a great machine. So glad I got hold of one. 🙏

[@truneosprinter]

This is so amazing woah, i can imagine anyone using that when it was new would have been proper shocked love the addidas tracksuit btw lmfao

[@vijinho]

I used a Pentium 3 version just a couple of years earlier in my job. Brings back memories. I used Windows 98 when it came out, even 95. Now if you install Windows ME, it's a much neglected improvement but little used successor before the great Windows 2000 came out, which I used (x64 edition) for a decade nearly.

[@cephacore]

That's very interesting, my earliest recollections only stretch back to Windows XP. Thanks for sharing 😄

[@lapielazoolie]

They only began creating an x64 edition (AMD64) starting with XP, there were Intel Itanium (IA64) builds for Whistler early enough in development to still contain Win2K branding but that’s it.

[@vijinho]

@@lapielazoolie Yes that's right, I was wrong, it was XP 64 I used for several years.

[@katsuo8755]

Entertaining video as usual

[@cephacore]

Glad you enjoyed it 😄

[@fanlessfurmark]

My first laptop was a T23, new psu for it arrived yesterday after over a decade apart! It's a P3 with win XP and 256MB ram, 20 gb ide disk, REEEEEEE fan noise. Ran some cool parties in Goa in the 2000s with that laptop, dling tunes at one per day over goa 1G internet. Ran winamp, I.E, and soulseek, with no problems :)

[@cephacore]

That's very interesting. The old ThinkPads certainly had some character which the newer ones are kinda missing. Thanks for sharing 😁

[@fanlessfurmark]

@@cephacore oh it has more character now , tried to open it, broke kb and muose :( tried to remove hdd, wrong

[@itzdisky]

tbh this is the best channel about computers thee guy who makes the videos is a fellow gamer and the videos are awesome ( lenovo sponser this guy he got the entire collection of thinkpads)

[@cephacore]

Haha thanks for the kind words 😁

[@itzdisky]

@@cephacore np u deserve them

[@m90nray]

Wow, Im early. Love the content man.

[@cephacore]

Yes you were lol. Thanks for watching 😄

[@hamesparde9888]

Don't feel too bad. I killed my A31. I took it apart one day (just because I was curious), but it didn't work when I put it back together. If I remember correctly nothing happened when I tried to turn it on (but I can't remember exactly, since this was probably sometime in 2010.) I remember being pretty disappointed and a bit upset with myself 😂. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same issue with the screws (as I definitely didn't keep track of exactly which one went where.) I do wish a little that I still had it and it still worked. It was pretty cool. But at the time I didn't fet a massive amount of use out of it because the wifi card didn't support WEP (I think it was WEP anyway.)

[@pamus6242]

I clearly remember back in 2002 reading about the launch of these new series in a magazine at a local library. I remember those pictures vividly as I was also listening to zero 7-destiny on my sanyo walkman. I knew I could never afford those ever or even imagine to hold one. Now, I'm too old and numb typing away at my T14 Gen 1 second hand.

[@cephacore]

Must've been surreal to think about. Wish I was around when these were getting dropped.

[@mari2.]

Ah, killing a motherboard in an old Laptop, I did that once or twice... or 3 times, depending on what you consider old. One was a failed BIOS mod (a 2005 HP Pavilion zv6000 with Desktop AMD Athlon 64), one was just me scrapping junk (the board had a bunch of issues previously, 2010 Toshiba Satellite L655), and one was me shorting something (Some 2016 HP Shitbook)

[@MartinaD]

The big speciality of the A-Series at that time was the "three spindle architecture". It was the only ThinkPad containing harddisk, floppy and optical drive at the same time.

[@cephacore]

Must've been rare to see, even back then. This really was the desktop replacement.

[@danielgomez2503]

What brand eucalyptus oil did you use, also you might need to install the cd-rom drivers in MS-DOS. It’s been a long time but I think you need MSCDEX or something like that

[@cephacore]

Ah nice. Thanks for your help, I'll defo try that. Also, I use this brand. Pretty good stuff www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BTCXPPRS

[@hamesparde9888]

The GPU in it was pretty good for the time. Mine had an ATI GPU with 32MB of RAM. I can't remember the exact model, but it ran COD 1 alright and I think it I even played COD 2 on it.

[@cflynn3684]

😊had a damn a21M in 07. Memories of replacing the 20gb hdd

[@lapielazoolie]

Interestingly, besides that medical billing program you found the rest seem to correspond with hearing aid equipment from loose googling. Makes sense given the company’s name, whose inventory label is still affixed to the bottom if you haven’t noticed already. Neat piece of history overall

[@cephacore]

Yeah I did forget to mention that. Seems they were a hearing aid company based in the UK. Quite cool reading about it, they went defunct around 2007 which aligns to when this laptop stopped being used. Latest files were around mid 2006. I'm guessing they sold their stock off to auction and someone bought this laptop. Thankfully it wasn't wiped, lots of great programs on it.

[@thebestspork]

When you had device manager open you could see there was a problem with some of the disk drivers. Probably just need to check the bios settings.

[@cephacore]

I did, couldn't find anything really. I think I'll have to source appropriate drivers. Perhaps on a follow-up video 👍

[@matyi1656]

The damaged mobo should work after applying a soldered jumpwire

[@blackeagle238]

Cool find. I have an A30, it's basically the same machine but it's got a 1GHz Pentium III mobile instead of a P4. I've got it to run Windows XP and also it'll do a few select modern Linux distros but not very well.

[@cephacore]

That's cool, I think I'll experiment with some distros and make a retro gaming machine

[@InvidiousIgnoramus]

Man, the A series makes my W541 look like a svelte thin and light. Clearly I made a mistake by getting a T41 as my XP era thinkpad.

[@cephacore]

I'll go as far as to say it's barely portable. The A31p IMO is the ultimate XP ThinkPad. Pretty sure they all came with IPS screens as standard 1600x1200 resolution. Mind-blowing.

[@Pravculear]

i don't think i've ever seen a retractable mouse before...

[@cephacore]

Same, the idea is quite smart tbh. The age before wireless mice.

[@jackdavies9106]

This would make an epic little Linux box for DC work!

[@cephacore]

Haha might throw Linux on it to see how it does. Though it would be best to clone the hard drive first.. who knows how long it'll last 😅

[@ihatemilo]

How about replacing the fan socket?

[@cephacore]

I doubt it's that, possibly a pin on the motherboard that's interfering with a connection.

[@danielgomez2503]

You should also experiment with OS/2 on the laptop

[@andreracicot4881]

Hello sir. You can put Windows xp pro

[@SenileOtaku]

Now I'm wondering what happened to *my* ThinkPad A31. Trying to remember when I had it, might have lost it in our house fire.

[@cephacore]

Oh damn, that's awful. Hope you're doing good now 👍

[@SenileOtaku]

@@cephacore Well, that was 16 years ago.

[@ZamiZoggt]

I have two A31p. ^^ One have a 2GHz P4, the other one a 1,8GHz P4. Both have the 1600x1200 IPS screens. Fucking insane machines back in the day. The only flaw imo. was the missing headsink for the onboard gpu. Many A30/31's dies because of a dead gpu ...

[@Marius98]

The first thing I would do would be installing Windows XP.

[@BigDom1002]

16:18 if that damage on the board is all there is, it's probably repairable, of course a bit of soldering experience is necessary, but nothing major!

[@centrobananawafer]

Nice video man. Maybe you can try installing Linux on the laptop. It would be nice to see an old laptop, even a very old one, become usable.

[@cephacore]

Great idea, I do have thoughts of making it into a retro gaming machine. Will probably do a follow up video 👍

[@NemanjaPro0440Official]

the Psivewri refrence made me laugh

[@AAVSOtube]

Cant wait for the part 2, If possible on a separate HDD install XP, then try Vista, and if that works Win7? I don't think Vista will run on 300Mb of RAM, but i would love to see how far it would go if Maxed out on RAM ! EDIT (just looked it up, A31 max RAM is 2GB and Win Vista req 1GB RAM, Please try!)

[@cephacore]

I am looking into making a part two, some great ideas. Thanks!

[@BM-ob5pj]

You got a cpu upgrade also, 1.80 Ghz from 1.4Ghz

[@cephacore]

Wow good spot. How did I not realise this.. Not sure how much those CPUs go for but that's awesome.

[@DERKONIG12345]

You can buy it just for the bag! Besides, Thinkpads are like Mercedes, even they are old, still you want to get them...

[@heisenkirb]

older thinkpads are cool also pls take the peel off the display

[@cephacore]

The display has no peel, but if it did id prolly keep it on lol 😂

[@heisenkirb]

@@cephacore oh sorry i meant on the screen bezel lol

[@fungo6631]

Uh oh, Pentium 4 in a laptop. Before watching, I'm expecting a dumpster fire. Pentium 4 was already bad enough in desktop form, being initially beaten by the Pentium 3 and Athlon.

[@dh2032]

that is not a PS/2 port in it's got way to many pins , 4 the max, for PS/2, what you are looking there a graphic video signals out or maybe in/ not easy to see from video? if your get going way better ps/2 moue or keyboard, depending if it video going or video going out? you hook you laptop to a TV screen (big or small)? or if it's the input very turn your laptop into PVR recorder? Vega, composite analogue video formats, that cool to? a lot that vintage desktop graphic cards came with port, so so detail a bit fin, that maybe place to start, with what cable it and how connect things up correctly

[@cephacore]

Oh interesting, I thought it was indeed a PS/2. Thanks for the clarification 👍

[@darthcabs]

"Parallel port is for data"... I mean, aren't all the ports for data?

[@ZiggyMercury]

I'm pretty surprised that in 2002 IBM still sold laptops that had no touchpad. Wasn't it pretty clear by that time that a touchpad is preferred to a track point by most people?

[@cephacore]

Touchpads were pretty mediocre back then from what I've read. The track point was a staple in most laptops at the time, think it was the T40 that started introducing them.

[@BandanazX]

Touchpads are only preferred by children who like to finger-paint.

[@ZiggyMercury]

@@cephacore I see. Actually, I think yesterday I've heard in passing the touchpads were pretty bad in the '90s and the beginning of the 2000s. So, I guess you're correct!

[@ZiggyMercury]

@@BandanazX So, basically, you're claiming that 99.999% of laptop owners nowadays are "children who like to finger-paint". Well, I guess I'll take it - it makes me feel younger!

[@BandanazX]

@@ZiggyMercury You sound more like a touch screen person.

[@Hadisabetghadam]

The Laptop Never Got A Bios Upgrade

[@cephacore]

Yep you're right. Don't think it really needs one tbh

[@tlumme]

install some light linux distro to it :)

[@Marius98]

A bit less RAM for 3000$, even for 2002...

[@Hadisabetghadam]

Duraputer = cephacore :)

[@noamharduf]

that motherboard is fixable there are only one or two broken traces

[@cephacore]

With some soldering you're right. Unfortunately I neither have experience in that nor a soldering gun. Will be getting into that, hopefully I can repair the mobo.

[@ChristianGutierrez]

Man, I have a cologne bottle older than you 😂

[@cephacore]

Damn, I was born in 2003 😂😂

[@tsoodo]

run arch on it

[@bamdadkhan]

where do you get your euca oil from? it's such a bitch to source in europe..

[@cephacore]

Bought it off Amazon. Here: www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0BTCXPPRS

[@Hadisabetghadam]

6:42 That Not PS/2 Is S-Video

[@cephacore]

Yep my bad, admittedly they do look quite similar. Though it does raise the question why there isn't a PS/2. Early 2000s computers all had em.

[@Edvinas_channel]

@@cephacore on the dock, of course. the laptop already has a keyboard and mouse!

[@screeblo_grungus]

I have one in my closet :D

[@cephacore]

That's cool. Give it a use, perhaps as a retro machine

[@igors_lv]

Children discovering computers existed 20 years ago.. lol You monster! Screw into mb! Also, what do you mean you can't replace bios battery. Its probably cr2032 button cell just in some heat shrink. Cut old one out and replace with the new 😂😂😂

[@ezragonzalez8936]

kid thinks a 2002 laptop is "antique" lol and no that isn't leather is vinyl!

[@cephacore]

lmao.. kid??😂 also where did I mention antique? Vintage yes, as it's over 20 years old.

[@ezragonzalez8936]

@@cephacore wow so amazed by a 20 year old laptop like if it was some obscure Antikythera mechanism just wild!

[@hamesparde9888]

Don't feel too bad. I killed my A31. I took it apart one day (just because I was curious), but it didn't work when I put it back together. If I remember correctly nothing happened when I tried to turn it on (but I can't remember exactly, since this was probably sometime in 2010.) I remember being pretty disappointed and a bit upset with myself 😂. I wouldn't be surprised if it was the same issue with the screws (as I definitely didn't keep track of exactly which one went where.) I do wish a little that I still had it and it still worked. It was pretty cool. But at the time I didn't fet a massive amount of use out of it because the wifi card didn't support WEP (I think it was WEP anyway.)