Repairing a Vintage ThinkPad

[@D-Rguitar]

I've heard Internet Exploder but Device Mangler is a new one haha!

[@saransds0082]

Also Internet Exploiter as well

[@richardsequeirateixeira]

What’s Windows?

[@leonardmenon757]

Ĺ

[@Connorplayer123]

@@richardsequeirateixeirait’s binbows

[@CRACKBONE7317]

​@@richardsequeirateixeiraBimbos.

[@ModMINI]

That pointer behavior was a typical behavior for the pointer driver. Pointer drift was a really common issue with the touch point laptops. The driver checks every few seconds for any slow consistent motion. it will interpret this as pointer drift and zero it out. The next time the pointer drifts, just let it continue and the driver should zero it out in a couple seconds. Thanks for the video. Brings back memories. I worked in tech support and worked with a lot of old laptops and desktops from this era. Computers at this time were frustrating to work on, but it didn't seem so bad because earlier computers were even worse. PS: Also IBM was a Windows launch partner and was usually very good for having out of the box support when a new version of Windows would come out. This advantage would go away over time as new hardware was introduced.

[@claudiourrutiaaranguiz9281]

Good to know. My x200's pointer does the same thing.

[@zer0dave]

I'm so happy I found this channel. I love rehabbing old computers and learning how the technology of my youth worked and getting old machines to have new purposes where most people would think it is just "old crap that belongs in the garbage". It's exciting to me when you figure out these old hurdles and get through each problem slowly and steadily. I run an old Mac Pro on OS X Lion as my Pro Tools studio and an old Pentium 1 laptop as my "book writing machine". I collect old Blackberry devices and wish I could still use them today (I tried as hard as I could to use them to the end haha). My obsession drives my girlfriend nuts sometimes but she knows it's just part of who I am haha...Thanks so much for doing this channel!!!

[@geoserenity]

"It is now safe to turn off your computer" Now that is nostalgia...

[@rohitlanjekar2010]

Data corruption was big thing

[@nyccollin]

Now it’s always been “It’s now safe…”. Mandela Effect.

[@alexandrecouture2462]

In my vintage laptop repairs, I used to use CF-to-IDE adapters, but now I use SD-to-IDE adapters. I had much more luck with them on olders machines with quirky BIOS.

[@bobbytables464]

That deductive reasoning at 26 minutes was amazing. I would have just given up, probably.

[@virescentzero]

The reaction when fdisk worked...Priceless! I love this kind of video!

[@medleysa]

The excitement of installing Windows pre-XP! Oh man, this is why I still love installing Linux distros like Arch. There's something about looking at those black and white text prompts and typing in commands to format a disk and run an installation. Makes you feel like a real computer wizard (which I guess you are if you can successfully install an OS through a command prompt!). This was a ton of fun to watch. Thanks for putting in the work, Colin!

[@steelhorseman2482]

I really like your videos. I just wish other people make things understandable the way you do.

[@genericgreensquid6669]

You seemed much happier in the intro than you usually do in podcasts for some reason. Great video BTW.

[@RetroSho]

Haha, glad I wasn't the only person to notice this.

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

I had done many, many takes that I screwed up, to the point that it had started becoming comical -- I started laughing, did another take just to practice, and nailed it.

[@ManofCulture]

*This Does Not Compute* I score it 10/10

[@mastercheapgamer278runners9]

+Generic Green Squid I know! I haven't seem him get happier either. People will love this more. It's just like other people being recorded on the other videos about fixing technology, computers, laptops, and more devices.

[@daanvissers]

My aunt gave me an old Dell Inspiron 5000 a while back, I was wondering what to do with it and this video came along. The perfect system for retro PC games! Great video, this is why your channel is so awesome!!!

[@MegaManNeo]

Back when laptops still used to be bulky, no matter what! And all that trouble just to play some SimCity2000 on a machine that actually fits it. Now that's passion. Also yeah, hello from Germany!

[@skchen83]

A bit of background info about this and a few other ThinkPads of this era. This was around the time that IBM was still trying to find ways to make money (or not lose as much money). They went through several stages of trying different things starting with moving manufacturing to Mexico, trying lower end machine such as the early "3" series. At this point, they were trying out contracting through Taiwanese companies mostly with a separate line like the "i" machines, but the TP390 was one as well. I want to say that this model was an Acer product. You can tell by that weird adapter used. Only the low end machines of this era had those and they can also be found on Acers of that time. Plus the rear access to the HDD was very atypical of design from their Yamato engineering facility. I really enjoy your video! Keep up the good work!

[@TheMarc1k1]

Oh god, I remember the ThinkPad series with such love, I used to get the laptops dumped for minor faults or upgrades - they were trash but man, it was my trash :D

[@TheNets]

This is one of the best videos of the channel. The entire troubleshooting is very interesting and I learn a lot with it.

[@yamilmontes1365]

"Let's look into the device mangler" Holy crap that laptop is a shredder.

[@und4287]

Heh.

[@alexvar10]

Me: Well I expect he will install Windows 98 in this thing... 17:07 *Sees Windows ME startup menu* NO GOD PLEASE NOOOOOOO

[@RikkiSan1]

I just found this exact laptop at the thrift store...AAANNDDD it had ME on it...god fucking dammit-_-

[@robXloserX]

@E I hated Windows ME when I had a computer that had it on there. I ended up putting Windows 2000 on it instead.

[@samcq5088]

Idk why everyone hates ME it's not that bad

[@infamousacidrain]

Samcq50 _YT it was super unreliable, that’s why it was hated. It blue screened if you even THOUGHT about installing software on it.

[@Nanospark0]

@@infamousacidrain Windows ME really wasn't that bad if you had a clean install and consistent types of drivers (either VXD or WDM...not both). It was OEMs that mixed their old VXD drivers with the newer WDM drivers on preinstalled copies that made things go unstable.

[@Silky_boi]

I find these videos so satisfying. With Colin doing stuff from the 90-00 and the 8-Bit guy doing 70-80. I'd love to see you guys do a collaboration video one day. Great Vid!!!

[@benh.635]

Awesome video! I absolutely love these late 90s laptops. They are, in my opinion, some of the best laptops ever produced in terms of reliability and everyday usefulness. :)

[@jonasga]

I had an almost identical Thinkpad model when they were new and I badly broke it in one of my greatest blunders. This video made me really sad thinking about how I felt when mine died :

[@a.c.n9076]

This is like the fourth time I've seen a video in general about old Thinkpads. Looks like that's the next big think in retro computer collecting.

[@FinalBaton]

Back then, those S-video ports on laptops were a blessing, I used to connect my laptop to a huge standard def Sony Trinitron via S-video and play retro console/arcade emulators on a big CRT screen. (granted it was 480i, but still awesome at the time for emulation on a big CRT screen). Of course now that port is obsolete since we can use the VGA or even HDMI port along with a a converter and a program like CRTemudriver to get 15kHz RGB on those standard def CRTs. : )

[@UNOxDExELLOS]

I got a Thinkpad T60 from Ebay this week. It has an ATI X1400 graphics card and a VGA out port. Hoping I can output 240p with it to a SD CRT...

[@SilverCobra]

This video is interesting, as well as educational. Thank you for the time and effort. I really enjoyed how you took the time to explain and show it all, these long videos are fantastic. p.s. Greetings from The Netherlands.

[@cesarsilva4265]

Found this channel today, amazing stuff. I could binge watch all of it. congratulations

[@lawrencecavens5760]

The beauty of your vids is that they're educational - in being that you can show the next generation of the technology that was ours back when we were young. And! you save another PC out of the land fill. It's like these old machines being that this was a business grade laptop is still far better in construction and build quality than the thin units that are a waste of money, this unit is built to a high quality standard that far and will out live any apple computer today.

[@zengeki23]

That is an amazing video. You have inspired me to work on my old thinkpad as well. Keep up the work!!!

[@dethklok21]

I love this stuff! I enjoyed this walkthrough repair and hope to see more stuff like this!

[@kinjour]

I enjoy these kinds of videos. It's fun to see the struggle!

[@maxlow3670]

Please make more of these videos! very entertaining to see someone refurbish it and fail at some point but still succeed in the end!

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

Stay tuned...

[@LangleyNA]

I understand you were able to clear your throat and find the SanDisk utility for swapping firmware settings between "fixed" and "removable." :) Great work, This Does Not Compute. :)

[@bluephreakr]

A more sophisticated druaga1 video.

[@secretagentfbi]

minus the cannabis lol

[@KameraShy]

These old Stinkpads required a separate caddy to enclose and install the hard drive. Caddys were different among the various models. When purchasing one of these vintage machines, always ask if the caddy is included. They usually pull the hard drives for security, but the caddys can be a PITA to find. Some are plentiful used or repro on eBay; some are not. Very informative video. I have used them since new, but learned some things here. The old Stinkpads were built like tanks. One weak spot now is the batteries are usually dead and replacements, if they can be found, are very expensive.

[@EvilTurkeySlices]

They are just 18650 cells, so they can be rebuilt pretty easily.

[@Synchromesh123]

Awesome video which brings back so many memories! The very first laptop I got to fix was one of these. Had to swap a board from a bad body into a good one. Took me several hours the first time around (it was a lot of screws) but after that I could work on any laptop. Got into Thinkpads and worked on many of them including some exotic ones (S30!). I also played with CF cards on one of my own Thinkpads back when SSDs were prohibitively expensive in mid 00s but I remember install Linux on them. Now I work on Mac laptops but this old PII-era Stinkpad is what started it all many years ago.

[@jlfajsdlfjaslfdj]

When I started it, I only thought it was 4 minutes. I only realized it was 40 after it was over.

[@cyberp0et]

I watch it at 2x speed. Saved time

[@adityashukla7849]

@@cyberp0et That wasn't a thing on KZbin Mobile App 3 years back.

[@cyberp0et]

@@adityashukla7849 Yeah. And neither on my older smartphone. It is good that it saves time for many videos. (provided one can understant everything at that speed ;)

[@windestruct]

**restores a retro laptop** **installs Windows ME**

[@slightlyusedpsx]

Yes! More videos like this please. I can totally relate as a thinkpad t40 with windows 98 owner. I use mine to play old pc games.

[@aussieguy1012]

I recommend opening it up thermal paste replacement and clean the motherboard down with some isopropyl to stop future corrosion.You can oil the fan also.

[@thingshappen9199]

What kind of oil for the fan would I use?

[@FeArhsma21]

Nice job, loved the video. I just watched LGR restore one just like that, but it was a bit newer I think. That was really cool man, thank you!

This was satisfying, the whole 40 min. I'd watch it again!

[@8bitbubsy]

Thanks so much for showing the ATCFWCHG.EXE tool. Now I made a 2GB CF compatible with my Pentium 200MHz MMX system!

[@mi16t]

8bitbubsy you might as well get a 233-266mhz chip off ebay and upgrade hahaha

[@ModMINI]

I worked on these laptops when they were new. I thought I knew everything about computers back then but I totally missed that CF cards could be used as boot drives. Physical drives were horribly slow.

[@Jason-wo5rr]

I don't know what it is but i love giving new life to old machines. Even if all it ever does is become a word processor for some college student at least it has a use beyond its usefulness. Great vid!

[@IIGrayfoxII]

I just got an old Compaq Deskpro P800 up and running. I found an old IDE HDD and it is running fine. I love that old clunky sound of those old HDDs. paired with those little socket 370 heatsink fans that run at 100% the sound is just so retro.

[@TheRetroFuture]

Wow... Memories!

[@torturetests]

The Retro Future hello

[@simishyde288]

Not much memories just 160mb :D :)

[@treeweenie5360]

Like your videos.

[@bnamdhf6440]

The Retro Future

[@vetiyt6537]

My dad actually used this exatct model in the 90s as a work laptop and we still have it but it has a dead lcd and hard drive

[@sstew14]

Loved the video! All the hardware videos are the best. Keep it up :) Thanks!

[@atomicorang]

Beautiful vintage machine! Nice job in persistence.

[@pacmania1982]

Whoa! After watching all your new stuff, I was NOT expecting that hair!!!

[@SYIBOI]

Oh boy you've got my nostalgia going. I had a stack of these at one point, the 390e and 390(x?) was pretty pretty decent, my brother had one that had a pentium 3 back in the day, and I used to have a docking station, but I finally sold it on ebay after giving away/selling all these lol

[@trojanknight9604]

Hey brother this a great video... I found myself doing the exact same things when friends and fam ask me to upgrade their old machines ... keep up the cool vids... I learned a lot here

[@leonalexander26]

Greetings from Germany ;)

[@tjja7321]

Greetings from the US! (:

[@derrerrrr]

greetings from frog

[@rainerzufall9871]

Greetings from Austria! xD

[@aretard7995]

Greetings from Turkey >w

[@kasiraki]

Greetings from Switzerland

[@BastienAuxer]

I notice this with all laptops that use the nub. If you use it a lot or push to hard in one direction it will get stuck for a bit but register it a movement, as its getting unstuck. Just let it go for a bit and it should be fine. Great video and have fun.

[@MegaManNeo]

The X60t still has this issue and I tend to use said laptop from time to time myself. So yeah, it seems to be a nub issue here.

[@PzAufklLehrBtl3]

It isn't an issue, it is some kind of recalibration. This is an intended behavior.

[@vwestlife]

The TrackPoint automatically adjusts itself to different levels of finger pressure. If you're heavy-handed with it (as beginners often are) it may tend to drift when you let go, until it readjusts itself. Once you get used to it and learn to move the pointer around without applying so much pressure, you won't see that happening anymore.

[@ugh.idontwanna]

Cool. And great timing as well, seeing I've spent most of my day off making a model T41 run Windows 98. Have to say, my BIOS looks a lot fancier, graphics and everything.

[@johneygd]

I didn't know that cf cards could work in 2 modes, removible modes & stay modus. So each cf card can have it's own bios with it's own settings such as removible modus ,FAT32 etc,,,, But you did a great job, i only wished you did & showed us how to remove those residues from that laptop. Not mentionen, everytime you say,,1999,,, i will get flashbacks.

[@guibanana]

Windows installations these days are so boring, i kinda miss that process! Greetings from Brazil :)

[@igormoreno3464]

Thought I was the only Brazilian who watched Collin's videos, haha! Just love them.

[@RoddyDev]

Literally you're not the only one. Brazilians are everywhere, I'm one of them.

[@Light-Rock97]

Apoiado. lo

[@kasiraki]

Yes then stuff was better ,,, well some no

[@prauny]

Great video. Totally something I would do if I found an old laptop.

[@DrinkCrunkJuice]

Win98SE is often a better choice, as a half-step down from the much hated ME, but a half-step up from regular 98. Though Win2000 Pro is usually the top choice for this era machine. The extreme version would be a bigger CF card with multiple partitions that can multi-boot between Win2K, 98SE, and a lightweight linux distro, to cover all your bases.

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

Yeah, I would have gone Windows 2000 but I wanted to install After Dark. It looks like there's some kind of alternate version on archive.org that works on the NT kernel too, so I may give that a shot (archive.org/details/AfterDarkCompleteCollection).

[@kennethbarker852]

i love old style laptops good old day's when they came out to buy them massive thanks.

[@aurthorthing7403]

Your camera may have the ability to change the CF firmware to "fixed."

[@chriswebb4162]

Thoroughly enjoyable video. Thank you.

[@dreammfyre]

My biggest issue with these old laptops are the screens, which are absolute junk by today's standard. First you have the very obvious ghosting, which makes anything fast moving basically unplayable. Then the CCFL bulbs usually are on their way out, so the screens are probably sitting at like 60% of their original brightness. And like you said, they almost always have really bad internal scaling, so unless you want to play DOS games in a small window, you have to put up with a garbled mess on your screen.

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

I think it's amazing that while the screens look absolutely horrible by today's standards, we were totally blown away by them when they were new. We've come incredibly far since then.

[@MattOGormanSmith]

I replaced the CCFL tube in a T30, but it only lasted a year or so. I'll be making a pcb with a string of white LEDs to fix it next time. I haven't decided yet whether to run them in series off the CCFL booster or to remove that and run them in parallel off the low voltage. You can always plug in an external VGA screen to run higher resolutions, but the quality on the internal screen goes down when you do that, as if the GPU can only refresh one screen at a time.

[@mardus_ee]

Oh, so the CCFL bulbs were used for backlighting.

[@dolanddrumpf6344]

All these errors bring back so many memories of countless hours of trial and error.

[@dysfunctionalwombat]

I had a thinkpad 600 i never got working.My grandfather worked at IBM from 1980 to 2004. It was his

[@Chriva]

600/e here. I remember it got REALLY hot when stressed but it worked flawlessly :)

[@retroarcadia9345]

Awesome work man, really good video!!!

[@PalofGrrr]

Well done sir..That was creative indeed!

[@hydroksyde]

@33:44 Trackpoints do that, they come out of calibration sometimes. They automatically fix themselves when you leave them alone for a few seconds

[@musthavechannel5262]

Dang, i guess thanks for reminding me the painful 1+ hr long process of installing windows 98ish. The nostalgia just makes one forget all the bad parts.

[@jasmijndekkers]

Steven have a Thinkpad 500CDS restored and now use it. Greetings from Steven from the Netherlands

[@OldSkoolF]

We used those as step stools they were built so stinking strong. They had cool reading lights in the lcd bezel.

[@UBvtuber]

Bro which Lakey Inspired song is it? Cause i looked through his entire soundcloud and YT and couldn't find this beat. And yes, this beat does go THAT hard. EDIT: I meant the music that starts around 6:55, the lakey inspired track is the one after that. lol

[@UpgrayeDDDDDD]

14:58 Hallo zurück!

[@LLaska90]

I got the 600E. Damn a 12 inch laptop have both Floppy and Optical Drive. Kudos for IBM :O

[@organiccold]

Suddenly i keep getting all your old videos suggested

[@Kaythena]

I was given 2 broken IBM Thinkpad T30s. Cobbled them together to 1 good one and it made for a good retro game LAN machine. Played a lot of StarCraft with friends only a few years back.

[@matthewconley7568]

Ah, this is what i needed to see after a midterm! Now into more homework.

[@davlmar72dm]

What was the boot up time, also fantastic video helped a bunch. The best I've watched so far.

[@manystar]

I have the same laptop , is so old and the plastic is so brittle that it literally seems made of sugar , great video, new subscriber here. M

[@luisfgonzalez2595]

I had that exact same model. Great memories.

[@Gigator]

Great video, your stuff keeps popping up in my recommended lists (maybe LGR/8bitguy/modernvintagegamer etc. got something to do with it). Subscribed.:) I got into old laptops because of LGR and the 8 Bit Guy. I have a Gateway 2000 Colorbook 486, a Triumph-Adler 486, Compaq Armada 1530 with a PI, a Dell C600 with a PIII, a Dell 9200 with a P-M and a Radeon 9700 (to relive my Win98 / XP gamng days), a IPC Mitac 6133 Celeron 433MHz and a Thinkpad 600E PII 366MHz. All functional (minus batteries), some as complete units, some with external displays. I'm slowly repairing what needs to be repaired or just install windows/DOS on a new M.2 to IDE drive adapter. I'm not sure I'm ever going to use these, but it gives me a lot of pleasure messing with them, tweaking them, getting them running again, improving them. It's also one of my cheaper hobbies. :D The laptops cost 160€, the drives so far about 200 including adapters (to IDE and SATA, 1x120GB, 3x32GB and IDE/SATA to USB).

[@BigDrewski1000]

These laptops were the Toughbooks of their day

[@tightlypackedcoil]

I had the 390X. Brings back memories.

[@VDOria92]

Does anyone have a link to the software he used to change the CF card to "fixed"

[@therealjammit]

I had one of those laptops. It was given to me and it was also missing the HD and that adapter. Since I got it free I didn't feel like buying a replacement adapter, so I disassembled the laptop and soldered the pins of the HD directly to the edge connector on the mainboard.

[@AhmadZakiVision]

Hi...subscriber from Melaka, Malaysia here 🇲🇾🎊🎉

[@iCarlyfan4534]

I watched this whilst playing rocket league not disappointed you gained a sub

[@timoschannel1363]

I wonder if Haiku OS would be compatible with this ThinkPad. Looking at the minimum requirements and drivers, it looks like it would be compatible. If you're still tinkering with the ThinkPad Collin, you should try it out!

[@Coyotevaporworks]

device mangler lol

[@strongjohn10956]

Thinkpad HD caddies (cages) are among the most commonly salvaged (missing) and difficult to find parts. I want one for a much more recent model (E530), and the only one on eBay is in the UK and is about $20 with shipping.

[@kaiangel7]

This video was really cool I greatly enjoyed it.

[@computelion6393]

Am I the only one that likes to listen to the background music in your videos?

[@timblake5844]

Very nice! I had this same model when I was younger. Wish I still had it!!...... A Disc on Module (DOM) would have been a good alternative to the original hard drive also.

[@kinxofsepluv]

Funny. I've never had a problem with my compact flash cards and f-disk before, and I've used them in several retro systems, including laptops. BTW, I found on amazon a CF card adapter that has the shape of IDE drives, in addition to an M.2 to IDE. While that one works in some of my devices, it doesn't boot in my oldest Toshiba Laptop, A P1 with 40mb (440CDT), while the compact flash does. The adapter I use is a SYBA DS-ADA45006, and the compact flash card I use is a UDMA 7 (which is the IDE specification) 16GB Extreame Sandsidsk 120MB/S, model number SDCFXS-0 16G

[@hisforeverkid]

perty cool thanks fore showing us this machine

[@nikelquint]

perfect length for my study hall

[@Lookn66]

Getting ready to get a cf card, will I have to find a certain model for this to work. Or try to find scandisk utility?

[@michaelmyers4484]

And a nice 'Hello' back from a German viewer 😁

[@gavinpalmer9174]

35:04 “Device Mangler” I’m glad I’m not the only one who calls it that! That and “task mangler” as well!

[@fluff9657]

File exploder

[@gavinpalmer9174]

@@fluff9657 Internet exploder… that could be interesting🤣

[@fluff9657]

@@gavinpalmer9174 it just explodes the webserver hosting the site your going to

[@AboveEmAllProduction]

the mouse moving on its own there happens when the cpu has no cycles left for mouse input; because its busy with critical os stuff, so the mouse movements get delayed. it happens sometimes with slow cpus, or extreme heavy load. or; of course it COULD also be the "nipple" that is iffy

[@magreger]

Industrial Compact Flash is great for this type of usage as it's already configured as a "fixed Disk". I use Industrial Flash in my Compaq LTE 5100 laptop and it works fabulously.

[@ThisDoesNotCompute]

Any recommendations for makes/models of cards?

[@magreger]

I Have a few of the "Transcend Compact Flash ULTRA 2GB Industrial" cards. I've used them in 2 different brands of Compact Flash to IDE adapters with good success. One from Syba(SD-ADA45006) and one from "StarTech.com"(35BAYCF2IDE). The Syba is what's in my Compaq LTE 5100 running Windows 95 OSR2. The StarTech.com is on a Pentium III system Running windows 98.

[@AttilaSVK]

When you started to talk about the removable and fixed modes on the CF card, I decided that I'm going to make a comment about it asking what kind of bullshit is that, however I persuaded myself to watch till the end, and I got really surprised that this setting really mattered. I'm using CF cards in a variety of devices, from my Yamaha A5000 sampler, through my Compaq Armada 1530 to my Commodore Amiga 1200. On neither of these machines I had any problems with any of my CF cards, from the cheaper Verbatim ones, to the SanDisk Extreme IV in the A5000, so I guess it might also depend on the BIOS as well. Oh, and the Nikon D70 was my first DSLR as well. I still have it and use it from time to time, as my D3100 doesn't have a built-in focusing motor, and neither does my 70-300mm lens.

[@JuanHerrero]

Windows, to this day, is a PITA when it comes to letting you use your storage mediums in "odd" ways. Like trying to write the Windows 7 installer in an external hard disk instead of a flash drive (the answer is to use YUMI and enable Show all drives? , by the way).

[@uni-byte]

Strange. I just got a Sandisk Extreme 32GB CF card for my Toshibas Tecra 520CDT (even a bit older than your IBM) and had absolutely no problem in getting it recognized by the machine and installing Windows 98 on it. I used diskpart on a Windows 10 machine to clean the existing partition off the card, then used disk management to initialize it. I did not create a partition or format it. I let the Windows 98 install create the partition and do the formatting. Worked a charm.

[@icannotbeseen]

finding hard drive caddies is so difficult, had the same issue with a compaq. I assume a lot of them were destroyed along with the old hardrives in them to get rid of data...