by "Nibby" (nibby68)
Published 03/08/2017 at 13:19
by "Nibby" (nibby68)
Published 03/08/2017 at 13:19
Tags: 486
STARS: 1
This is it, folks. The moment y’all been waiting for. I’ve been trying to find one that was not stupid expensive online for several years. Finally got one that was less than $65 shipped!
It’s a Gateway 2000 4DX2-66V which means it has an Intel 486 DX2 66MHz. Has 8MB RAM and came with floppy drive, 2X proprietary Sony CDROM drive and no drives or expansion cards.
First thing I did was clean it up inside and out. So much dust, but for a machine that was made in December 1993, that is to be expected.
Pretty good. Not perfect but a lot better. Next was installing the cards.
A 1MB Genoa 8500VL Rev G VESA Local Bus (VLB) graphics card based on the Cirrus Logic CL-GD5426
Yamaha YMF719-S sound card
3COM 3C509B ethernet card and a (not pictured) Gateway 2000 14.4K modem
dat proprietary 2X Sony CDROM... 34 pin connector which won’t work with tradtional 40PIN IDE ones
I put a paper clip in the CDROM drive opening (did you know there’s a little hole for ejecting DVD/CD drives that do not have power?). Found this.
Made an ISO of it and here are the contents. You can actually download this here
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Testing time. Plugged in video, mouse, keyboard, power. Nothing. Removed the AT power switch from the case and checked to see if the button was okay, nothing. Ended up opening the PSU...
And there was a fuse that was dislodged. Reseated it and then the machine turned on! ... but no video or beeps or anything. Just the fans going off and a green light on the mobo turned on.
Reseated the processor, nothing. I removed the graphics card and the machine beeped at turn on. Messaged the seller I got the VLB card from, he said the card was tested and in working condition before he sent it off. Tried with/without RAM, tried some spare SIMMs I had, no dice. Tried putting the Genoa gfx card in the other VLB slot, nope.
So, a bit bummed it doesn’t seem to work but the seller gave me a partial refund of $20. Not sure if it is the processor or the motherboard but the case uses a standard baby AT layout so any Socket 3/5/7 AT style board (or 286/386 if I wanted) would fit in just fine.
At the very least the case came out looking very clean for its age (air compressor + magic erasers work WONDERS for cleaning computers).
Doubt any of you would happen to have any spare 486 boards, processors, or old IDE hard drives, but if you do please let me know! I’m itching to get this sucker back up and running again.
"TheHondaBro" (wwaveform)
03/08/2017 at 13:23, STARS: 0
I want.
"jimz" (jimz)
03/08/2017 at 13:23, STARS: 0
if it has jumpers to set clock speeds, make sure they’re correct. ISTR that VLB was very, very sensitive about overclocking.
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 13:24, STARS: 0
Verified those settings are correct.
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 13:24, STARS: 0
did you get your old HP up and running?
"functionoverfashion" (functionoverfashion)
03/08/2017 at 13:25, STARS: 0
That is nearly identical to our family’s
first computer.
We were SO exicted. I’m sure ours was a 386, but otherwise it was a Gateway 2000 and looked very similar.
That’s probably like someone saying, “Oh hey my family had a GM sedan of some kind, from the early 1980's, too! Nearly identical!”
"jimz" (jimz)
03/08/2017 at 13:28, STARS: 0
any swollen electrolytic capacitors on there? Is the power supply asserting the “Power Good” wire after you turn it on?
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 13:29, STARS: 0
Caps look fine... someone is sending me a spare AT PSU just to verify anyways
"TheHondaBro" (wwaveform)
03/08/2017 at 13:31, STARS: 1
Yeah. Just haven’t really used it since. It can’t run The Sims 3.
Then again, no computer in existence can run The Sims 3.
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 13:36, STARS: 0
No way it would even run the Sims 2, it’s a Pentium 3 right?
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 13:37, STARS: 0
This thing was like the Corvette of GM though
"TheHondaBro" (wwaveform)
03/08/2017 at 13:38, STARS: 0
Don’t remember. I think it’s some shitty Pentium that was even shitty back in the day.
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 13:39, STARS: 0
Definitely not.
"AndyG_UK" (ajg1974)
03/08/2017 at 13:45, STARS: 0
You paid $65 for a 486 PC from 1993?!?!?1!?
I’ve chucked away many PC’s of it’s like and much better, faster newer ones!
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 13:47, STARS: 1
Well, it’s money I make from selling things online, not money that I work for :P
"Meatcoma" (mastapoof)
03/08/2017 at 13:48, STARS: 0
Get me a closeup on that ram. I bet I can find another stick or two.
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 13:49, STARS: 0
Thanks, I have a few other spare SIMMs though so it’s not necessary
"My X-type is too a real Jaguar" (TomSlick)
03/08/2017 at 13:51, STARS: 0
I might have an ide drive somewhere will look after work if I remember.
"AndyG_UK" (ajg1974)
03/08/2017 at 13:52, STARS: 0
I’ll let you off then!
When my parents downsized a couple of years ago, they still had my old Pentium Pro (with MMX Technology! lol) PC in their house, that thing had pretty much everything you could imagine in it (even a Zip drive!), that old full size tower case was full right up! It powered and booted up fine. I pulled the HDD’s (all 3 of them), put a nail through them and then took the lot to the local recycling centre!
"fintail" (fintail)
03/08/2017 at 13:54, STARS: 1
Just think, that thing with monitor and dot matrix printer was easily $2500 when new.
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 13:59, STARS: 0
such a sad story ;(
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 13:59, STARS: 0
$2995 according to this ad
"Ash78, voting early and often" (ash78)
03/08/2017 at 14:01, STARS: 1
Nibby, that may well be my family’s first “real” PC (Commodore 64 doesn’t count). It was purchased in late 1993 for around $2,500. My dad was so pissed at the expense, he demanded we use it a certain amount each day, even if there was nothing to do. Everything else on your machine is virtually identical in specs except I didn’t spring for the factory modem or CD-ROM for another $300+, I just installed those later (probably dumb considering the many hours I spent getting them to work). Thanks for the pics, this is like a time capsule.
"AndyG_UK" (ajg1974)
03/08/2017 at 14:05, STARS: 0
I know, I felt bad after doing it but I was short on space at the time (got a bloody huge house now!) and really had no use for it.
We still have my partners old Amiga 1200 though and it boots fine off it’s external HDD (after you give it a short, sharp smack to get it to spin up!).
"fintail" (fintail)
03/08/2017 at 14:09, STARS: 0
Awesome. That’s around 4.5K today.
"Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs" (yowen)
03/08/2017 at 14:10, STARS: 1
My first computer was a 286, the next one a Pentium 166 mhz MMX with voodoo 2 graphics card (that I bought later), after that came a PIII with 800mhz, I eventually had a Geforce 2 in there, I even messed around with throwing the graphics card from the 166 in there as well as running the onboard video, then I hooked up my TV, an old monitor and my then current monitor to play Flight simulator across all screens, lol.
After that I built an AMD64 machine and now we arrive to my current machine an i5 with a 6870, it’s like 5 years old now. Still meets all of my daily needs.
What do you plan to do with the 486 once you get it running (hopefully)?
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 14:10, STARS: 0
That’s more than 4 times the price of my i7 6700K build
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 14:12, STARS: 0
Glad you enjoyed it! We had a Gateway 2000 PC when I was little too except I don’t know if it was a 486 or a P5
"fintail" (fintail)
03/08/2017 at 14:12, STARS: 0
Or maybe 10 cheapo laptops. Crazy times.
I think I have babbled about this before, I remember a friend bought a Pentium Pro (200, I think) machine in 1996, with monitor it was around $3500 in those dollars. Insane.
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 14:13, STARS: 0
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 14:17, STARS: 0
Wow, each increment is a major upgrade. Unfortunately upgrading your i5 wouldn’t be nearly as big of a bump to a SKy or Kaby Lake so you’re probably better off with your i5 as long as you have 8GB or more RAM and an SSD for a good while longer. Going from a 286 to a 166MHz Pentium must’ve been a whole new world.
PLanning on playing older DOS games that don’t like my Pentium 200 HP Vectra and moar old MIDI stuff!
"Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs" (yowen)
03/08/2017 at 14:29, STARS: 1
Yep, we were never even close to well off when I was growing up, so I made those computers last. Especially the 166 and the P3. Up to the Pentium 3 was all provided by my moms work. Getting the Voodoo2 and the Geforce in those computers really extended their lives. The first one I bought on my own dime was the AMD64. Started with a Radeon 9300 (a carry-over from the P3, I think) or something of that nature, it was a piece of junk that thankfully failed! Because Crucial than replaced it under warranty with a 9800, which was badass at the time! Throughout the lives of those computers I scavenged ram wherever I could to upgrade that too.
You are right, that 166 was a WORLD of difference. That’s when I really got into gaming. Although I did have a ton of fun with Commander Keen and Prince of Persia (trying to recall anything else I might’ve played in those days), haha. Speaking of DOS games, which ones did you enjoy?
The P3 was a whole new upgrade, it opened up the possibility of all kinds of new games, especially with the geforce 2 in there. Then came the internet too! That was a big deal!
As for the i5, I believe it’s a Sandy Bridge, 3.1 Ghz, the 2400 model. Think it’s not all that worth upgrading? I am totally fine with it. I do have 8GB of ram and I have an AMD 6870 in it that I could upgrade. I definitely want to toss an SSD in there too and get windows 10 loaded up on it. I think the next game I want to play on there is Cities Skylines.
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 14:40, STARS: 0
Yeah, toss in a nice 256GB SSD and start off fresh, put all your data/movies/games/documents/pictures/music on your HD and you’d be set.
i5 2400 is a bit long in the tooth but should be okay for many games, just maybe not the newest ones at highest settings.
For DOS games, stuff like Mad Dog McCree, Day of the Tentacle, Tetripz! (this trippy tetris clone), a few other SCUMM games, and Windows 3.11 stuff as well
"Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs" (yowen)
03/08/2017 at 14:51, STARS: 0
oooh yeah! Windows 3.1, I used to play games on that at my grandpa and grandma’s. My grandma still has that computer, haha.
Maybe I’ll have to get a hold of an old DOS computer before I have kids, so they can properly and chronologically get started on video games :D
As for my computer, would you just leave well enough alone with the 6870? I imagine if I upgrade too much the 2400 will bottleneck it anyway. At least the SSD can move to a new desktop at some point, I don’t see much point upgrading the processor on this current build/motherboard.
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/08/2017 at 17:07, STARS: 0
Yeah just upgrade to SSD and hold off on the others
"Yowen - not necessarily not spaghetti and meatballs" (yowen)
03/09/2017 at 08:04, STARS: 0
Sounds good! Do you like the Samsung 850 EVO? Or do you prefer others at that price point at ~$100 for 250GB.
"Nibby" (nibby68)
03/09/2017 at 08:25, STARS: 0
Solid choice, I use that one in my laptop.
"Meatcoma" (mastapoof)
03/09/2017 at 09:47, STARS: 0
oright.
"PS9" (PS9)
03/12/2017 at 07:56, STARS: 1
Haha. I still remember the early sony days.
Sony: Okay everyone, we’re going to do things our way now!
Everyone: Haha, naw.
Sony: Come on guys, I’m really serious about this!
Everyone: *
just points and laughs*
Sony: *sigh*, I guess I’ll just quit being a fucking idiot to my customers and use already established and perfectly fine industry standard stuff.
Apple: Hey, Sony. I like your style.