Old 386 needs major repairs

Picked up an old 386sx16 with an Atari monitor. Never put 2 and 2 together and never occurred to me that these would actually work together. Computer was in really bad shape and needed major repairs.... But we got it up and running and it's running great now.
Lot of battery leakage, clean up to be done, trace repairs, hard drive crash and hard drive replacement .....

[@kevinl1505]

Excellent comments. The narration helps explain the debug and thinking process

[@androgyne_sander]

This is an excellent tutorial for repairing damaged traces on old motherboards.

[@mikecawood]

I love these old PCs.

[@christopherbartleson8918]

Thank you for sharing your technique for fixing bad traces. I have an old 386 that also has varta damage, only difference is, my board features surface mount components, something I’ll have to figure out as well.

[@Hal9526]

I love your videos. I appreciate your calm, methodical approach, and I love old computers. 👍

[@RetroSpector78]

Thx ! Glad you enjoy it. Feel free to share, subscribe and like ! Really helps the channel. Need to get me some more subs :)

[@PiotrK2022]

Who cares about this worthless junk....

[@PiotrK2022]

@TheTechChannel 1 Emmm, ok... For me this is useless junk which takes a lot of current. On Pentium and up Era at least you can play 3D games...

[@DynoBytes]

For whatever reason I love these mid-tower AT cases, they just look so cool! Nice job on fixing those traces, great video!

[@proxy1035]

imagine one of these cases with standard ATX mounting points and front IO. so you could build a modern PC inside an old AT Case with a 7 segment display for the CPU speed in GHz at the front of course :)

[@-taz-]

This is one of the better looking ones. I'd say second generation mid-tower baby AT, at least from my perspective of frequenting Orange County computer swap meets. Maybe 1991? The monitor seems older, like 87. As far as 3.5" drives with ROUND LEDs... I never used to see those anywhere. If I did, I suppressed that memory.

[@notneb82]

Kudos for fixing the motherboard, I would have started a salvage operation on it once seeing that corrosion!

[@NeptuneBrother]

Best vids ever! Retro computing (which i love) Is the best

[@subalpine-fir]

I really loved this video. I found it to be very relaxing and informative. It's a crime that you don't have more subscribers. I remember a childhood friend's hoarding father having an entire bedroom filled to the ceiling with various 2/3/486 computers in varying states of disrepair, but the entire collection was sent to the recycler in the early 2000's, when they were probably worth their very least. Now that I see prices for these old computers increasing on eBay, it pains me to think about what could have been...

[@RetroSpector78]

Thx a lot ... subscribers seem to be picking up a bit recently. We’ll get there eventually :) yeah lots of stuff got thrown out (and is still being thrown out). Hard on collectors but perfectly normal for everyone else ...

[@only257]

RetroSpector78 I enjoyed your videos👻

[@RetroSpector78]

@@only257 Thank you. Don't forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell.

[@jamesross3939]

I find that level of repairs amazing! Good job!

[@Inject0r]

Bummer about the Seagate, but you got both the motherboard and WD hard drive back to working condition, which is profit! 😁 👍🏼 💪🏼 This video gives me motivation to pick up the repairs of a few of my old non-working boards again and try to fix and clean the battery leaks. I might need to solder on a few jumper wires too. Awesome!😁

[@RetroSpector78]

Hehe... it’s very rewarding to be able to fix something,m. I thought the computer was toast, but its amazing how sturdy these components can be.

[@rmsmultimidia]

A great history and very well presented. Thanks for the skills that you shared with us.

[@RetroSpector78]

Really glad you enjoyed it.

[@joeclarkey]

Absolutley love your channel have binged on almost all of it, you deserve a lot more views! Your MFM low level format vid saved my bacon while rebuilding a 286 Zenith over the last few weeks.

[@RetroSpector78]

Thx a lot appreciate it ... views will come I think ... things have been picking up a bit :) just invite the whole family over and tell them to subscribe :)

[@joeclarkey]

Either way the content is still great, you came up on my recommendations rather than a direct search so the KZbin machine seems to be noticing you.

[@RetroSpector78]

yeah ... very difficult for a small channel to get traction ... I think you need some kind of viral video to kick things off :) Perhaps I should think about setting an IBM on fire or throwing a Commodore from a cliff :)

[@ObiWanBillKenobi]

By coincidence, this is exactly the video I needed right now! I have a secondhand DTK 286 that has the exact same symptom caused by the exact same battery! I had already soaked the motherboard in vinegar. Now I know how to repair the traces! 💾 Thank you!

[@nsmith1554]

Love your videos. I have several vintage computers, each with its own issues, and it's wonderful to see how I can apply your many and various fixes to my collection. On a related note, I have a generic 386 board with corrosion almost exactly like this one. Removed the battery of course. Then also removed the keyboard connector as it was corroded deep inside. Dropped it into a small vial of off the shelf CLR. It started to bubble almost immediately. 10 minutes later, it emerged like brand shiney new. Please keep your videos coming!

[@ESDI80]

Awesome job getting her going again! I've picked up boards on the cheep with battery damage like that. I am way more OCD and use buss wire and go over the same paths where the traces are damaged. Then I apply varnish over my repairs. Those ATI EGA Wonder cards are amazing! They can simulate EGA colors on a standard TTL monochrome monitor so you can still run programs for EGA.

[@Lennyp4]

hey nice job with the restoration man, I don't think anyone should be harassing you about your choice of wire. There's nothing mission critical about what you're doing, it's a labor of love. you do whatever your heart desires

[@RetroSpector78]

Hehe ... don’t really consider it harassing :) it’s all good fun and I did realise there are better ways but hey ... you gotta work with what you got :) glad you enjoyed the video !

[@clintthompson4100]

Great find! It needed some work but awesome job and love the case. The wounderfull AT days!!!

[@brostenen]

So true. You had so many options in computing back then. No matter if your choice were IBM Compatible PC or Commodore or Apple or Atari. Those years, 1980 to 1995, were simply the golden years of home computing.

[@compugamesarg]

Great work!

[@the_kombinator]

ProTip - you can convert SIMMS to SIPPS by soldering on pins (which can be cut from new resistors, diodes, etc).

[@VK2FVAX]

Being a very povo student at TAFE college I did this with stationary/paper staples cut to length and soldered onto four slots. Mr Dodgy strikes again.

[@the_kombinator]

@@VK2FVAX I didn't think you can solder to staples. Rigid choice sir!

[@JenniferinIllinois]

Wow that battery did some major damage and yet you got it taken care of. Nice!!!!

[@spacecaptain87]

You got the best retro pc channel on the internet my friend.

[@SproutyPottedPlant]

Nice! You saved a beautiful old computer from the junk and the Atari monitor makes it even better! You must be the computer whisperer or something.

[@michaeldale837]

Great video, looking forward to seeing more RAM in the machine and then what you can run on it!

[@RetroSpector78]

Yep same here .... but will need to find some SIPP modules somewhere first

[@blackterminal]

Nice to see you using a real hard drive not a flash card adapter etc

[@aaron71]

Very nice save!!

[@mattscomp]

Loving that Atari monitor.

[@DrDroogkloot]

Nice repair👍 i have an old 386sx16. Thankfully the previous owner changed the battery. So no damage inside. I have maxed out the memory. Also. The 40mb mfm hdd is still in good condition.

[@brostenen]

Good job. 👍

[@edward_grabczewski]

Good job!

[@Dillinger86]

It's weird seeing computers I used to use now being restored

[@user-pk7mb9is1e]

nice video! well done!

[@KolliRail]

Well done!

[@RetroSpector78]

Thx a lot , glad you enjoyed it.

[@the_kombinator]

18:12 - My Caviar 280 recently did the same thing! I unsoldered the MOLEX connector and soldered on a female MOLEX connector with wires - I grabbed the connector from a dead CDROM drive.

[@HeavyD6600]

Great video.

[@RetroSpector78]

Thx ! Appreciate it.

[@midmodaudio6576]

awesome instructional video

[@maniatore2006]

WOW, that Board is in very bad Condition, Back in time i had a i386 DX 25 :D 4 MB RAM Trident VGA 40 MB HDD

[@kcinplatinumgaming2598]

I used to love tinkering with this old tech ..good video :D

[@RetroSpector78]

Thx a lot , glad you liked it.

[@WarrenPostma]

Made in Canada! Classic ATI card make in Markham (near Toronto) -- This machine would be fun for DesqView or GEOS. The quirky ram situation is the most difficult thing for this

[@the_kombinator]

I just fixed a 286-16 and a 386-25 from similar corrosion. The worst damage was under the keyboard connector. The 286 motherboard went through the dishwasher afterwards ;)

[@ranabout]

Bravo! 😊

[@Grishanof]

I notice how many wires cross each other when they theoretically could lie in the same plane and maybe not be as tight between mobo and case. For example, on 14:50 you solder a wire and do a full loop around existing one. Is that intentional, like in twisted pair wire, or there is simply enough space and the signal is strong enough to ignore interference?

[@steve_seguin]

I have my old EGA Wonder still, too. Canadian Made

[@user-pk7mb9is1e]

motherboards of that kind have only upper and lower layers correct me if i am wrong and there are fully repairable!

[@Captain_Char]

I've considered using my ultrasonic cleaner full of vinegar for these jobs, ive used it as retrobrite machine

[@gordonfreeman320]

Damn Varta batteries!

[@MrHBSoftware]

those seagate early IDE hard drives with stepper motor and metal band are notorious for the heads sticking to the platters and when the disk spins for the first time in years it rips the heads off... dont try to power one of those early ide drives if it has idled for a very long time...even if the heads dont get ripped apart they will be misaligned and you cannot low level format those drives... Maybe bake the drive in the sun before the first powerup or maybe freeze it and quickly try to very very gently turn the platters by hand before applying power.... if it runs ok, then install some hdd stress tester or a benchmark program and let it run continuously for some hours just to let the heads travel various times through all the surface of the disk....hopefully it will not stick again.

[@rami8228]

Nice job and nice video ! thank you ! on 21:10 you said : "i know this type of wire arent ideal but they were the only things i had" There is an other solution more profesionnal ?

[@MyComputerStudios_]

That Seagate ST157A HDD suffered a very major headcrash...

[@elamriti]

nice case

[@RetroSpector78]

Yep ... have 2 of them ... I had no idea what kind of computer it was going to be ... I bought it for the monitor to be honest ... PC was a nice bonus. But like the SIPP sockets on the mainboard and loved the old Seagate hard drive (until it started to die on me)

[@only257]

Cool😊

[@thewayback_playback]

I had this exact case in the mid 90s. I'm kicking myself for letting it go back in the day. I've been on the lookout for this case for a very long time. Shoot me a message if anyone has seen this available for sale.

[@RetroSpector78]

Difficult to find ... dunno where you are from but on local online sites they sometimes pop up (once in a blue moon).

[@Pulseczar]

My childhood computer has this exact case. It was bought in a store called Microclip somewhere in northern Portugal in 1994. I have never seen another one like it, except on this video and on a post on r/retrogaming a few months ago. Seems like it's pretty rare.

[@Dxceor2486]

You can actually replace the SIPP sockets with SIMM sockets ! These memory are pin compatible, and if you look further, you'll notice there are holes in around both sides of each SIPP connector which are here to let a SIMM connector fit (because these have two extra plastic pins to firmly fit in the board) Or you can also solder pins to 30 pins SIMM sticks if you want. Nicea repair ^^ Sadly white vinegar doesn't work that well on my boards, I don't know why ...

[@RetroSpector78]

Been looking at this : au.rs-online.com/web/p/simm-sockets/3789419/ Think that these can be pushed into the mainboard without any (de-)solder work on the board or the sipp sockets. At that point I guess standard 1MB simm modules can be used. Or I might by some off ebay as these simm holders are also pretty expensive.

[@Dxceor2486]

@@RetroSpector78 surely you can do that, however I'm not sure if that would be held firmly enough. But maybe I'm wrong. What I often do is to salvage these from dead boards (though not everyone have dead motherboards with interesting parts to get)

[@VK2FVAX]

@@Dxceor2486 I've got a 286 board that's a dead ringer for this board. Same. I've put some slant SIMM sockets in as he suggested ..works just fine. I've used some hot glue which is non-destructive to give it a smidgeon of extra strength. Back in the day (tm) .. I soldered hundreds of cut up staples to simms to upgrade my PC which required SIPP's. It was ugly as all get-out ..but I was a student learning to program on a budget and it worked and gave me an extra 4mb ram to sport a total of 5mb. Then I got to learn how to code for EMM with 8-64kb windows. :> Good times!

[@Daniel-mt9ce]

Can you please tell me which type cable do you use at 15:36 ?

[@MyRicardex]

Great job! Im working in a system with that exact same case... just a much more yellow! :( im buildind a p100 system in it. I chose that case because of the 3 digit led display.

[@RetroSpector78]

Cool, also like the case a lot ! I was afraid this PC was going to be a 486 because of the 3 digit LED but lucked out with this 386. A 286 would have even been better but happy with this one also.

[@GuybrushThriftweed]

@@RetroSpector78 yes these 286's ;)

[@RetroSpector78]

@@GuybrushThriftweed Keep forgetting I have the 5162 and the 5170 :) But I also love those 286 clones. But I will have an update on that soon :)

[@daniellragnsvald464]

You can acturly get sipp to simm adaptors. I bougt a box of nos at some point, i think i still have a box of them somewhere.

[@RetroSpector78]

Went ahead and ordered them after I shot the video ... still in a desk drawer somewhere :) Looked for some SIPPs online but they were quite expensive.... But I will do a follow-up on this video .... when I find the time :)

[@herauthon]

two empty solder points and a missing battery.. well, the CR3032 holder is cheap.. and effective..

[@cdos9186]

How in the world did the hard drive still work in that state!?

[@CyrusBrinkworthRAS]

I would spray some F2 contact cleaner on that corrosion!

[@nikolaszisoudis8408]

I found some old pentium pcs a Out in the wild and cleaned it. Do you recommend turning it on?

[@harbinger200]

How do you have working floppy disks ?

[@Alex4SiliconValley]

How would you go about fixing a Dell 486-33/L motherboard that powers on but will not post. PC diagnostic card report nothing and lights do not blink, no error codes, no beeps, Nothing. What happened is I was trying to add a CD-ROM drive and I did not realize the computer was on so I was connecting and disconnecting the IDE cables while the computer was on. I must have shorted something out ?

[@-taz-]

I remember when I bought RAM for my 286 (2 MB). It would accept ICs or SIPP. The vendor told me not to bother with SIPPs because they have a fatal flaw. They tend to work their way out of the sockets over time for some obscure reason. And I'm sure I eventually read the same reports from computer magazines.

[@-taz-]

That was 1988 and I still have the 286 board, in fact.

[@Dxceor2486]

I just bought a lot on a local ad an I think I've found two identical motherboard that look just like yours (I'll have to check back when I have the time), except mine came with SIMM slots instead ! Also they're in much better shape.

[@RetroSpector78]

Nice ! Always great to find a lot of stuff in one shot isn't it ?

[@Dxceor2486]

@@RetroSpector78 Indeed ! I got a ton of old hard drives (including two ST125 that look quite similar to the ST that was in that 386 except they're half the capacity), video cards and motherboards, which is awesome :D

[@RetroSpector78]

Deksor very cool ! Enjoy them and what you don’t use / need : the channel welcomes all kinds of donations :)

[@Dxceor2486]

@@RetroSpector78 I'd be more keen on trading ^^

[@RetroSpector78]

Deksor also possible. Need to find some time to make an inventory of all the stuff I have here.

[@cyberjack]

did this get a follow up video ? cant find it

[@silentbloodyslayer98]

19:50 i'm afraid that fix will not hold for too long, it eventually will crack the solder again

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

I honestly hate working on old PC motherboards, I have had no end to the trouble I’ve experienced with my Athlon XP board, first the rubber pads fall off then I realise that the CPU preinstalled was cracked, when I replaced the CPU I find that my I/O shield would fight me to get the board out and when I do I spot traces underneath that look scratched near the chipset and a capacitor bulging. So now I’ve got to do microscopic repair work and replace capacitors around the VRMs!

[@RetroSpector78]

When I started collecting retro PCs I bought 3 identical Athlon XP systems. All of them had the same ASRock mainboard. But each mainboard had different types of caps on it (different brands) 2 of these Athlon XP boards completely failed (bulging caps). Only 1 is still running. Don't really like that time-period as I find the hardware to be even more error-prone when compared to 286-386-486.

[@amirpourghoureiyan1637]

@@RetroSpector78 It's my build for Windows 98 and it was the cheapest option as people selling older stuff online know that they're in demand again so they try and rip you off with steep prices. I've got to get myself a multimeter now so I can fix those traces. I'm not sure whose idea it was to make thin motherboards for consumers and CPU's with exposed dies but I hope that they are having a bad time for the sake of all the PC's that've died because of the bad design. I know that it's definitely shortened my lifespan by a couple of decades with all the stress it's caused me.

[@ESDI80]

You can probably make SIP memory by soldering legs onto standard SIMM memory. Provided the pinouts are the same.

[@GGigabiteM]

If you look at the board around the SIPP sockets, you can see large through holes, which are for SIMM socket anchors. It looks like the board was designed to take either, but populated with SIPP from the factory. It wouldn't be difficult to remove the SIPP sockets and install SIMM slots, the hard bit would be sourcing the slots themselves. You could probably get some off of a dead motherboard, but it'd be ideal to find new-old stock to avoid having to muck with desoldering them from a donor board.

[@99man]

Purchased a Monotech NuXT v2.0 MicroATX Turbo XT MoBo. Been looking for a case exactly like this particular one in this video. Search eBay with no luck, any advice?

[@JVHShack]

I know that it's been a while since this video came out, but there is something that I would like to see someone try: solder pins onto 30 pin SIMMs. SIPPs and SIMMs are 100% pin compatible, just physically different.

[@RetroSpector78]

Yeah it is on my todo list :) but I also got these simm sockets that I think I can solder onto the motherboard. That way I think these can act as adapters to use regular simms on this motherboard

[@Alex4SiliconValley]

Can you make a video about how you would trouble shoot a dead non working 386/486 motherboard with a multimeter ? ( Cache, CPU, RAM, Traces, BIOS, Voltage rails, etc. ).

[@jensdroessler3575]

Uh, that tool isn‘t meant to be used with „regular“ ICs, it‘s a special tool for PLCCs.

[@Bluez2008]

what did you do about internal battery

[@SergioQ-S-80]

que gran trabajo

[@RetroSpector78]

Muchas gracias

[@cyberjack]

would contact cleaner be better ?

[@brandonupchurch7628]

Maybe this wasn't the best video to click for testing if h264ify and the hardware video decoding is working right

[@kienhwengtai8113]

Those soldered on motherboard batteries, hate those things.

[@GuybrushThriftweed]

Will need to give my Soyo board another try. It also gives the no keyboard error

[@RetroSpector78]

Would be happy to take a look at it :)

[@GuybrushThriftweed]

@@RetroSpector78 The 5150 is also waiting :p

[@RetroSpector78]

@@GuybrushThriftweed Let's arrange something next week..... 2 days off.

[@GuybrushThriftweed]

@@RetroSpector78 at home for two weeks now :)

[@cdos9186]

That poor Seagate ST157A. :(

[@AxellTh]

I have one of these amd 386dx 40 with a leaking battery. The leak had gotten under a chip 74als 245awm. I wasnt careful when removing the chip, so damaged the pins and some pads. Bought a new one from china and did my best to solder it on the board and checked connections. Computer will not post. No output to screen. Does that indicate a fault with the repair or something completely different? Do you know if cheap chinese chips are reliable?

[@RetroSpector78]

Can be any number of reasons why the computer doesn't boot. Sometimes you focus on a very specific area while the problem can be somewhere else completely. Difficult to see without seeing the hardware ... you can always ship it to me so I can take a look :)

[@Jerkwad152]

I call those Varta batteries "Farta" batteries, because they fart out their contents everywhere.

[@mhp0810]

Great video. But please, the 'L' in solder is not silent!

[@firatyuksek]

An Atari sticker on the Case and Keyboard and Viola this is an Atari PC

[@timcat1004]

Subbed ya

[@henrikgustav2294]

Wait, it can boot without battery?

[@tonkscartman1274]

What liquid you use for clean corrosion? I can read english, but cant translate on the fly in video, sorry, iam from Ukraine, such as you like retro PC

[@qwertykeyboard5901]

damn varta batteries

[@milesprower6641]

can we get an F for the 40MB MFM hard drive

[@SeltsamerAttraktor]

11:00 holy hell, you should get some proper wire

[@RetroSpector78]

Indeed... like i said in the video it was the only wire I had available unfortunately.

[@bombtwenty3867]

@@RetroSpector78 What's wrong with the wire, and what wire is good for repairing traces? Thanks

[@xDownSetx]

@@bombtwenty3867 Magnet wire is what most use. It's single strand enamel coated wire that is very low profile and easy to run. But the wire Retro used is perfectly fine, just not attractive to the eyes.

[@OctoomyYTOfficial]

I have a working example of the drive inside that computer

[@jeffm2787]

You used some really thick wire. I would have used wire wrap wire.

[@viscountalpha]

Are you sure it wasn't an atari dev kit?

[@eformance]

Do you have any SIPP RAM for this?

[@thomasguilder9288]

EFormance Engineering you can make sip from 30pin simm by soldering these short 2.54mm pins to it, pinout is the same

[@eformance]

@@thomasguilder9288 I'm aware, I was asking because I have some SIPP RAM.

[@MainAvel]

This motherboard is now 90% bodge.

[@connorm955]

What's Windows 98 like on a 386?

[@viscountalpha]

windows 95 was really slow on a GOOD 486. I think windows 98 would take half an hour to an hour to boot.

[@dergrunepunkt]

I really like what you done, so A for result but C for execution, I don't try to offend toy or anything, but your soldering and wiring skills need some work, that said, keep it up! :-)

[@RetroSpector78]

None taken :) thx !

[@dergrunepunkt]

@@RetroSpector78 I sometimes do what you did on you vid, and I use Voultar's videos as my ideal goal, he mod consoles, but you can get some great tips to do repairs and modding of electronics, if you haven't came across his videos, give them a look, you won't regret.

[@Kingstersreejit]

Is that WD-40?

[@Asure007]

What you keep calling test points are actually called via's.

[@JoeyRivers]

4:00 Its amazing how many modern cases DO NOT have a removeable motherboard tray!.

[@TheMrMinecrafttnt]

Keyboard error! Press F1 to continue.. xD