Kloon Tower 386 PC - First look

[@mushroomsamba82]

THE TOWER OF POWER

[@WegrennerX]

TURBO

[@RETROHardware]

Nice, similar like mine with nuclear ON/OFF switch.

[@RetroSpector78]

hehe exactly ... the crazy 286 tower ... yours was even more extreme :)

[@ohareport]

i LOVE that you guys watch each other’s channels :)

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

A Binari P computer case has a sCaRy biological symbol on it.

[@АлександрФилатов-з7ы9ъ]

@@RetroSpector78 :-)russian retro: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lX2lon2ZpZlmabc

[@mikesilva3868]

Cook retro🙃

[@normitabarranco3378]

WOW, That brings a lot of memories of better times. Thank you!

[@Narayan_1996]

This sentence touched me deep... ♥

[@Narayan_1996]

I love your channel, videos, and your voice, that makes me pay attention to every word and subject that you're explaining in details about the PCs and its parts. Thanks for all your efforts, man! Merry Christmas from Brazil, happy new year and be safe and careful when outside home, always use a mask! O/ P.S: Yes, you do have viewers from this far, here in Brazil hahahahahah ♥

[@RetroSpector78]

Thanks a lot for the kind words ! Merry christmas to you to ... Greetings from Belgium...

[@Narayan_1996]

@@RetroSpector78 O/ ♥

[@techie2300]

Almost my very PC. I bought one of these machines back in 1990 in a small shop in Copenhagen called Lavprisbutikken. Brings back a lot of memories. Despite looking for it for years I haven't come across it before your videos about it. Thanks for showing it and congratulations on it being in so great shape.

[@halilibrahimzambak9420]

gorgeous pc case.

[@shadowdeath9687]

Looks like a clone of IBM PS/2 Model 80. Great stuff!

[@dennisp.2147]

You beat me to it!!

[@idahofur]

Yea. I was going to say the same thing. I noticed in magazines back then. When The fully size IBM system came out. Tons of full height towers started looking like ps/2 clones. Even though it looks cool. That has to be the worst inside use of a full height tower at case I have seen. i also remember those power supplies being big bucks too. Not that common.

[@idahofur]

@@eaglenebula3950 Yea. the MCA was great. To bad IBM charged a huge license fee for it. So much better than when plug n pray came out. LOL

[@not1but2and37]

Yep. I always wanted one of those, the 60 or the 80.

[@BlackEpyon]

That's a full size XT-syle power supply! They were in use till the 486 era, when the standard AT-style PSU came into fashion (the rough size format and screw mounts which are still in use today). My main i7 rig is in a modified server chassis from this era, and originally housed up to 7 full height 5.25" SCSI drives (or 14 half-height CD-ROM sized drives). I gutted the original XT-syle PSU to replace it with the guts of a modern 1200w modular ATX PSU.

[@JasperJanssen]

AT style came into fashion with the 286. That’s why it’s called AT style... certainly the motherboard power cable in here is already AT style, even though the form factor is a bit bigger than normal.

[@BlackEpyon]

@@JasperJanssen I've seen 386 and 486 machines by Comtex that still had the large XT style PSUs.

[@JasperJanssen]

@@BlackEpyon sure, it was still used occasionally, but *most* 386s and up used AT power supplies. 286s were in my experience mostly XT.

[@Manveru1986]

This power button is absolutely gorgeous. I’d keep fiddling with it all the time.

[@86smoke]

Zepsułbyś i gdzie byś potem taki znalazł? :D Cieszę się, że jeszcze ktoś z PL ogląda te filmy.

[@Manveru1986]

@@86smoke lubię kanały z vintage tech :)

[@kevinh96]

I've had many a cut hand working on systems like this back in the 90s, it was just one of those things you expected when working on cases like this was part of your job. I always kept a box of plasters on hand just in case. Also those screws on the feet don't need to be replaced, just place them in a glass with some rust eater, white vinegar or even just some coca cola to remove the rust.

[@Edman_79]

Magical :D That case looks awesome!

AWESOME ! I love tower pc since 1992

[@fatguywitholdcomputers9351]

Man, i've been waiting for this video for MONTHS...

[@lelandclayton5462]

I had two of those cases back in the day. Didn't say Kloon on them and had different hardware in them Bought them both for five bucks each at a Navy DRMO. Made one working Machine of of them AM386 DX 40MHz, Cryix Fast Math and a whopping 16MB of RAM. Sadly I had to take apart my IBM AT as well since both systems didn't come with video cards or hard drives. I was stuck with EGA graphics and a 30MB MFM drive. Keep in mind this was back in 1994. I kept on slowly adding stuff to it and by 1997 or was it 1998 my parents bought me a pentium based PC for Christmas. I honestly don't remember what happen to that 386, I wish I kept it.

[@okona1up]

This is a GORGEOUS (in the sense of retro hardeware) tower. I'm totally in love with it!

[@modernandretrogaming]

Great machine, I saw only 386 at school while at home I have only 286 at that time.

[@tinfoilcat]

Awesome tower case! I have been watching a lot of your stuff lately, and you inspired me to go on a battery removing spree yesterday. Took one out from a spare 486 board in the basement and also found my old 386 desktop which I ended up bringing upstairs since there was some damage from the leaking battery. I found that computer with a monitor behind a dumpster around 2001 and me and my friend struggled to get it home. It probably started out as a 286 and got an early 386 upgrade. It has a ST-225 HDD, YD Data 5,25" drive, and 2 MB RAM on these 30-pin sticks which predate the more common 30 pin SIMM (mine just have pin sockets on the board). Someone left the original Hercules-compatible card in but added an Oak VGA-16. I am currently working on getting the HDD to work properly.

[@tinfoilcat]

It's apparently called SIPP memory according to Wikipedia!

[@aytviewer2421]

That first boot-up sequence brought back a lot of memories from my early programmer days.

[@CassetteMaster]

At 1:18, the In-win Q500 case, was the case of the first computer my family owned that we got in the 90s with Windows 95. The first computer I ever saw, as a little kid.

[@BottIsNotABot]

That is a nice looking case! Always nice to see something Novell as well.

[@Krynos18]

I really like the way they made the expandable legs, clever design

[@catriona_drummond]

Massively looking forward to te followup videos on this, especially the BIOS settings stuff. I am notoriously bad with that.

[@2dfx]

1:15 absolutely LOVED those Q500's. Built a Pentium Pro and later an AthlonXP system in that case. So well built and sturdy! Tons of 80mm fans to put in to ventilate to your heart's content!

[@Christopher-N]

(5:33) "Well, let's get ready. Switch me on." -- _Ghostbusters,_ 1984

[@psilimit]

Sweet front panel and bios. Amazing feature rich find.

[@CRG]

Interested to hear that sound card going. Always nice to hear another clone card from the time just to know how it sounds.

[@OSkar000se]

A big red power switch is key component that tells you that this is a really serious computer :) I have a case that looks a bit like this, probably from Germany or somewhere nearby. That one is wide enough for placing 5,25" units horzontal so its not exactly the same case. But it has the same big red power switch that makes a really satisfying sound when its operated.

[@ShawnOP59]

Very cool video and case. I do like those robust power switches, this case would be a cool for a sleeper system or a dual mobo setup.

[@Johnny.Verplancke]

Another great and informative video... Season greetings and keep this up in 21 ;)

[@20windfisch11]

9:10 about the cables and the switch: I had to learn this the hard way 🤦

[@20windfisch11]

@Stanley Broniszewski I mean the power cables. I was literally "shocked" when I discovered how an AT power supply worked ;)

[@dglcomputers1498]

@@20windfisch11 Are we assuming that you wired the live and neutral to the same pole, hence shorting the live an neutral together when the switch was flicked. Similar to something I have done with a multimeter, forgot to take the probes out of the amps sockets, went to measure power, turned the socket on and bang, luckily I was not holding it or the probes at the time and the socket had a fused 3 way adaptor in it. Amazingly the chepo multimeter still works!

[@20windfisch11]

@@dglcomputers1498 No, I had a PSU where the insulation was missing. I switched it on and touched the metal parts. *bzzzzzzz*

[@manoliskypraios8153]

Great presentation!! Looking forward for the next part :)

[@johnwilson2250]

Love that case, thanks for the tour.

[@VaterOrlaag]

This thing is HUGE!

[@roger.monitor]

I am surprised that the 386 is still working, it was stored dri so that helped. Still have some of those HD, can test them when I find the time. The smallest is 17MB, brought that with me from Australia.

[@nowthatsjustducky]

8MB 386-33 awesome tower running Windows 3.1. Whoever was the original owner must have been revered as a god among his fellow nerds...

[@worroSfOretsevraH]

I have an exact same hard drive. You should definitely change the capacitors, they are leaking. I did, but still only spins up, then stops. Also every time you see that brownish glue residue around components, remove asap! (psu) The original glue has deteriorated over time, and became corrosive and conductive. Generates all kind of problems, shorts and even eats away component legs.

[@tyta1]

First thing I noticed was that your wallpaper doesn't overlap 🤓🤭😂 Great video though - brings back memories.

[@RetroSpector78]

That’s something you might wanna take up with the misses ... although I don’t think you want to have that discussion :)

[@fhwolthuis]

Nice video again 👍👌

[@shadda]

Makes my hands hurt. I spent my childhood building frankenstein 286s and 386s out of whatever parts i could get my hands on. Cases back then were pointy and sharp *everywhere*. Getting those LED/Power/Reset cables plugged in was always a huge pain.

[@cmbk75]

By far the best looking 386 case I’ve seen this year, love it 😍

[@jesperlundbyrasmussen7844]

OMG.. that's my "Winner PC" from the early 90ties..wow

[@rangerdanger1922]

oh thats a beauty

[@ΓιώργοςΠαρασκευάκης-ν7ε]

very nice collection!

[@bubba26]

When Intel started producing the MMX chips, the slot 1 series in particular, our local GoodWill stores were lousy with these great old 386 machines for just a token amount of cash. I've had many of these machines you're working on. Wish I still had some of them!

[@kasimirdenhertog3516]

By the looks of it, this is a Dutch machine: the sticker next to the CPU says ‘niet verwijderen’ - do not remove. ‘Kloon’ also means ‘clone’ in Dutch , though I cannot imagine this doing much good marketing-wise.

[@xPLAYnOfficial]

Beautiful. I love how tall it is. I got a DAS9200SE that has a massive profile, and this would be the exact opposite of it.

[@razorsz195]

Wish i found a load of old PCs like this and fixed them up :D

[@cyberjack]

Thats a sexy machine ... love it .Brings back memories , i used to have same one many years ago

[@engind.9125]

0:21 OMG! My first PC case is on the right. :) I was using Pentium 120 mhz 16 MB ram with this case.

[@chip1gray]

I have the same Tridant Video card and mine boots Black and white at random on a CRT other times it boots color? caps you think?

[@andrewlyons9188]

I have had that hdd error before on old systems. It did the same thing as your system. But when I was in bios and left and it gave me the option to save it and I did .. Lo and behold the hdd started working.

[@cdos9186]

Toshiba made hard drives all the way back then!?

[@doramilitiakatiemelody1875]

Yep

[@cdos9186]

@@doramilitiakatiemelody1875 They must be extremely rare then, I have never seen one before and I know lots of the older models.

[@doramilitiakatiemelody1875]

@@cdos9186 probably

[@juanschroder6519]

Very cool video Dave!!!! Greetings from Argentina 🇦🇷🇦🇷🇦🇷🇧🇪🇧🇪🇧🇪

[@86smoke]

Regarding sound card, you chose one that has a proprietary Panasonic CDROM interface. I'd rather use a card that provide standard IDE interface in order to utilize any IDE CDROM. Also I noticed that you got your hands on YE Data 5,25" floppy drives; I have two of those and they are quite reliable pieces of hardware. Regarding a problem with a video card there are two solutions on that matter: one is to cut one of contacts on VGA port on the card and the other one is utilizing a software called 'coloron', a small dos program that fixes this problem - I'm sure you can google details on both in no time.

[@ricaropie260]

awesome style i have the perfect crt for this i bought it ten years ago to stick into a arcade machine its like a normal crt but supersized i dunno what it was used for but it has some weird connectors on the back that look like 3color coaxial connectors but also the regular monitor connector would be funny to pair the giant monitor with this giant pc case lolz its so big i had to cut a hole in the back off the arcade cabinet and extremly heavy i never seen people use it on the retro channels starting to think i have something rare

[@UncleAwesomeRetro]

That is a lovely 386 :D

[@Firthy2002]

Very interesting case design. I think I had the same I/O card in a 486 that I used to have.

[@ponysoftonline4533]

The Nwin Q500 case you showed in the video, I have the Micro ATX variant. It houses my main computer currently.

[@MegaManNeo]

This may sound odd but can you tell what model the Compaq Presario next to the giant IBM tower is at 0:25? I'm asking because that's the exact model I had as a kid and young teen in the early 2000's, which I too kept but went lost after my mom died due to complications with local authorities. This PC may have different components inside but I know mine had a Pentium MMX200 with 48MB RAM, a 3GB hard drive (which I had both Windows 98SE and BeOS 5 Personal installed to, later replaced by Windows 2000), a 10X CD-ROM drive which we used to replace with a 52X drive from LG, as well as a 10Mbit/s 3COM network card our teacher gave me at some point.

[@UpLateGeek]

I believe the power switches used in the IBM machines were made by Arrow England. The example I've got with the orange paddle is model number 93RP4040B103K. The one in this machine looks like a clone, which I'm sure were common back in the day since I've seen them on several clone machines. That Jazz 16 sound card would be a pretty good match for a clone machine, kind of goes with the idea that the original owner would've gone for a cheaper option over the more expensive Sound Blaster cards. The Jazz 16 looks like it came out in 1993 based on the datecodes on the chips, whereas the Aztech card looks more like 1995. A sound card upgrade on a 386 in 1993 might sound a bit late, although Pro AudioSpectrum 16 card would be a better fit. In reality they were still selling 386 machines brand new in 1993 as entry-level machines, so this is entirely plausible. Granted they'd moved on to more integrated motherboards by then, but you'd still see these kinds of machines being sold refurbished for cheaper, so the Jazz 16 card definitely wouldn't be out of place. In any case, I can't wait to see the upgrades!

[@Kenny-bw2cz]

You have courage to take everything apart. I'm afraid that if I do that it won't work correctly when I put it back together

[@razorsz195]

You can only try, from my experience when i was little, misconfiguring things like jumpers and cables built up my knowledge, you can only go upwards and learn!

[@ΓιώργοςΠαρασκευάκης-ν7ε]

nice 386 machine (THIS IS A REAL TOWER PC)

[@DavidWonn]

I’ve had a similar Trident 8900 card in a 386DX40 that would occasionally go to B&W mode even when connected to a CRT monitor. It’s a known bug with these Trident cards, unfortunately.

[@catriona_drummond]

That HHD controller failure looks familiar. I just built myself a beautiful Baby AT 386 DX40 and the thing did not stop throwing that error before I had not attached all the drives exactly like BIOS was set up. But.. that barrel battery? Did it actually still hold the BIOS values? I had a 486 board recently with the same model, by "GP" and it still had the BIOS settings, after 26 years.

[@RetroSpector78]

bios settings were intact ... floppy drive config + HD was set according to spec. clock was at Dec 9 1999 :) Probably hit the Y2K wall.

[@catriona_drummond]

@@RetroSpector78 Amazing. Just like mine.

[@nikolaisywolos4851]

I think that the manufacturer of that case was EXTREMELY inspired but the design of the IBM PS/2 Model 60 & 80. It's almost identical in dimensions and form factor.

[@32KOFDATA]

That t(h)ree pronunciation makes my day. Great content as always.

[@herauthon]

that is a nice case . . very nice - hey.. i got a tower, too - might put in that 386DX40 - and make a PIX !

[@alinayossimouse]

This whole setup is eerily similar to the first PC I got when I was 10. Some minor differences is that mine didn't have 8 MB of RAM but I think only 4, and that the turbo switched between 33 and 16. Otherwise This tower feels uncannily familiar with its top panel including the chunky red power switch and LED clock speed display, and its form factor. I'm also pretty sure I had that or a very similar keyboard, and probably a different monitor. The Windows mine had installed was 3.11 without any extra branding. What makes that so strange to me is that I don't live anywhere near the US, I'm in Germany, which makes this kind of setup matching mine extra odd.

[@kennethsrensen7706]

100 MB harddrive ...woha I remember when that was a lot of space .... I had two of those on my 386 back then ... I also remember the first cd drive I got and how I swapped out the 5 1/4 inc floppy to add the cd drive ...... Those old cases was so much better than those ' ' blinky ' ' led filled eye candy cases they sell today. Those old was rock solid and builot for practical use and to last long time , whereas those today mostly is just expected to last until they release a new '' eye candy '' model . Just look at the metal plates itself ... Those old is as thick as 4 to 5 new ones . The new computers metal is thinner than the metal in a food can .... Cheap crap sold expensive .. I really like the old high quality case and also the fact they was built to last . Not those '' blinky , bling bling '' Led filled new boxes , no no no , thats not for me . ( My computer have NO Led Light and such , it's NOT built for being '' eye candy '' )

[@DaveJustDave]

Those barrel batteries have killed so many 386 motherboards

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Guess the owners should've.. DONE A BARREL ROLL... erm, aileron roll ;)

[@indimopi]

#DOScember!

[@RetroSpector78]

Not really that much DOS related ... next one should be :)

[@thereallantesh]

I wonder if you could find some floppy drives with a color closer to that of the case. I think it would really improve the appearance, although it is very nice already.

[@RetroSpector78]

Great idea for the next video :) Think I have some ....

[@thereallantesh]

@@RetroSpector78 I'm looking forward to seeing how it looks for sure.

[@tw11tube]

Not all I/O controller card game ports are equal! Your card is the better version that actually supports 4 axes, for 2 joysticks or one joystick with thrust lever. You can easily discern them by the type of timer chip used. The good I/O cards have a NE558 4-channel timer, while the cheap ones have a NE556 2-channel timer chip. If you want to be sure to get a fully featured (4-channel) game port, use a sound card instead. I have yet to find a sound card that only supports two axes. Also, at 13:45, you call the memory expansion slot a "16 bit memory upgrade slot". While the slot has the form-factor of a 16-bit ISA slot, it is a 32-bit memory slot. Considering that this type of slot has 98 contacts, which is more than a 72-pin 32-bit PS/2 memory module has, there are definitely enough contacts for 32-bit memory access. 15:05 the "UMC-based chip here", the 82c206, is integrating all the discrete chips of an AT mainboard (2 DMA controllers, 2 Interrupt controllers, a timer chip, the real-time clock and the DMA page registers). The number 206 points to this chip originally being part of a 206 chipset. The first 82c206 on the market was manufactured by Chips and Technologies to supplement their CS8220 chipset, that consisted of Chips numbered 82c201, 82c202, 82a203, 82a204 and 82a205, and became an official part of the successor chipset, the CS8221. Most chipset manufacturers had their own copies of that chip in the 486 days, and many 486 boards still have the same chip type (although sometimes in a smaller case) to provide all the classic ISA stuff. Later south bridges sometimes have the specification "includes a 206 macrocell" in their datasheet - which means the south bridge designer took the design of the 82c206, and "copy/pasted" it as one part into the more highly integrated south bridge. You will *not* find 82c206 chips on boards that tried to provide improved ISA support or a more modern bus system better suited to 80386 and 80486 processors, namely EISA and MCA systems.

[@Nukle0n]

Not sure but I asked a guy why they never recap floppy and hard drives, and the answer was because the drives are adjusted to the caps on board, and you need special equipment to make that adjustment, and it's almost certainly guaranteed that these adjustments will no longer be valid if you replace the caps. Not entirely sure, maybe worth a shot but I wouldn't expect the drive to survive.

[@RetroTechChris]

Very interesting about the mono bootup mode! I have a Pentium Packard Bell system that has the same problem. I, too, love that power switch! And what an interesting case with the side mounted 5.25" drive like that! Wonder how well that would work for a CD-ROM :-)

[@BilisNegra]

So the" brand" of this machine is Dutch for clone? Straightforward, honest guys indeed!

[@hugosimoes5119]

From where I get a graphics card for a pat48pg-0.30 motherboard?

[@Patrick_AUBRY]

I owned this LG monitor back then.

[@kbhasi]

(6:18) My guess is that someone didn't have regular Windows 3.1 install diskettes, but instead had Compaq restore diskettes and so installed the Compaq branded version and then removed the Compaq specific stuff.

[@SimonThomasen]

"MODE CO80" is the command you were looking for :p for color mode. no reboot.

[@JenniferinIllinois]

An honest to god true Intel i386 chip. I dreamed of having one of those back in the day but alas I had AMD chips.

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Ah well, IMO even back then it was prolly for the best

[@krz8888888]

Interesting form factor, looks like a modified desktop case

[@RetroSpector78]

Yes, would be nice if It could be used as a tower and desktop. Shame about the LED display.

[@IBM_Museum]

@@RetroSpector78 - Waiting for a review of the PS/2 Model 80.

[@MrLurchsThings]

Between you and DvaeJustDave, it’s 386 day!

[@boardernut]

I'm pretty sure that motherboard supports a Weitek NPU , it would be interesting if you can find one to test it

[@arnorobinwerkman]

the old towers looked better than a lot of the modern towers

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

Right... Time to make this another modern hardware stuffed sleeper PC

[@Master_Cheese-kf2mm]

could you extract bios dump and upload?

[@dykodesigns]

That case is a bit of an odd one with the vertical arrangement of the 5.25” bays. A teensy bit unpractical as it limited to 2 devices. All though you could also squeeze a cd-rom drive in it. The 5.25” floppy is a YE-Data but with IBM bezel. The one I’ve got in my Pentium 2 has a flat bezel which seems to be less common. The name of this is system is quite funny, in literally means “clone” in dutch. Whoever built them must have had a sense of humor I guess.

[@TheNovum]

Was that a AUI connector on that novell card?

[@RetroSpector78]

Yes it is.

[@WolfKenneth]

I love this tower *_*

[@jothain]

That's quite well spec'd 386. Shame that it's missing FPU. Plus that pretty much screams for Adlib or very early SB-card.

[@lordterra1377]

I love how this looks but the discolored / non matching disk drives is really triggering. Please paint them to match the case!!!

[@doramilitiakatiemelody1875]

Nice video

[@dungeonseeker3087]

You don't tend to see 386s very much, everyone always goes for 486s. Is there any chance you can demo DOS 3 & Windows 2/386 on this, I've never seen anyone run it on bare metal before as it really does only run on 386s, this machine should be perfect for it.

[@simontay4851]

15:08 what is the UMC UM82C206L chip for. I thought it was the BIOS at first but then you showed the actual BIOS chip.

[@lordwiadro83]

That is a beefy power supply...

[@adventureoflinkmk2]

A big beefasaurus Rex power supply

[@jeffkardosjr.3825]

Beefy Computer a la Counter Strike Source.

[@HuntersMoon78]

That's a tall boi

[@SimonThomasen]

That an original NE2000 ???? woooow :) :) I bought those for 500€+ each back then

[@pigpenpete]

"only has a coaxial connector" - that's an AUI port right there alongside it

[@JasperJanssen]

Not that many people have a bag of AUI to RJ45 converters at the ready.

[@retroguy4139]

Thats how a Pc should be built. Stay free