To everyone sending me links to hard disk cables they think will work on this machine: as mentioned near the end of the video, there is _only one_ cable that works with this configuration on this particular variant of the Model 30. That would be IBM PN:61X8903. Even then I still don't have the correct hard drive for this machine so I wouldn't be able to use the thing anyway, so I'm temporarily just using an XT-CF-Lite card instead. Also, yes I am aware that blowing air into a fan can cause problems. TOO BAD, HAD FUN, _NO REGRETS_ :P

The power button was most likely disabled on purpose, because this machine was never supposed to be turned off.

I don't even own any old computer stuff but it's just relaxing and interesting hearing you talk about this kind of thing.

I hate when I get computer restoration blue balls. I feel your pain.

"I don't know what this thing went through, but I found it sad" Judging by the scraped off serial number, the permanent marker, and the masking tape label, probably public school

You should write a big book about all things old IBM PC and call it "Fifty Shades Of Beige".

'That was used so that IBM can annoy me 30 years later.' That is pure gold.

Clint's Home for Wayward PCs

Your passion for forgotten obsolete technology is so refreshing in the current throwaway culture we live in.

I can't believe I'm have an emotional reaction to a KZfaq video but I'm loving these old PC reviews. I'm quickly approaching 40 so these are the kinds of computers I had as a kid. My dad was a teacher so he'd bring various computers home from school for me to use. One year he brought home a PS/2 Model 30 with an IBM dot matrix printer and IBM monitor. For me watching this video and the other ones where you build a "dream" Win 98 or XP PC is incredibly nostalgic. I remember in the late 1990s/early 2000s wanting a killer Tualatin 1.4S system. Seeing the boxes with Diamond Stealth video cards Gravis soundcards takes me back to going to the local computer store and seeing all the components and of course the ever present Altec Lansing speakers. They're also an incredible source of nostalgia for me. I think one of the biggest things for me was that back in the 1980s and into the 1990s computers were kind of like a secret club. They were pretty expensive and most people didn't have the first clue about them. I didn't feel elitist or anything like that. I just felt like computers were these magical devices and I could poke around them and figure out how to get them to do what I wanted. So yeah, seeing all this stuff brings back a lot of memories of my childhood, highschool, and university days. I've often thought about building a "dream machine" from the Windows 3.11/95/98/XP/7/Vista eras but I have no idea what I would do with them after I built them and played a couple of games. For me the fun would be in actually building it and getting it all set up.

I feel its pain, it's as old as I am LMAO. Floppy, grimey, oily, we'll all be in that state some time 😂

10 print "farts" 20 goto 10 run

Why is this so soothing

What a beauty! We had these, or maybe a 35, at our school :D Great memories of learning Logo and other stuff, and of course at the end of the lesson the teacher would let us play games! Zany Golf anyone? Great video!

I know nothing about computers, but watching these videos is so satisfying and fun to me

"I don't know if it's actually helping, but it makes me feel better..." Ahh. Story of my life :D

this was my first computer. I'm still using its keyboard as of today. Thank you for this

"some of my Packard Bells" is not a phrase I expected to hear in the Year of Our Lord 2018

I can't wait for you to hit 1M, man. You deserve it so much. Been here since

Amazing! I was the proud owner, upon graduating High School in 1989, of an IBM PS/2 Model 30/286. It had a 20MB HDD and a few K of memory. I was later to upgrade it with a Plus Hardcard XL 100MB, and 2x 512k SIMMs for 1MB RAM - WOW! The Hardcard was the sweetest peripheral I ever purchased. 10 years later it was still operating just fine, having been transplanted to my 386 and then to my VLB 486 and never giving me errors or crashes. That Hardcard cost my Dad $500 at Egghead Software when it was new, and I had to do a good deal of convincing him that it was a good investment. I also installed a 2400 baud MNP5 modem for my first online experience. My parents didn't like BBSes - thought they'd run up our long distance bill - but they were OK when I connected to the college's Annex box for Internet access. Eventually I installed Minix on this PS/2. That was the end of playing DOS games and pretty much anything else useful... but, MINIX!!!

you have no idea how much I love these videos, they are very well produced, and they still help me practice my English every day, thanks ^^

You should have just written "GR" after the "L" :P

When I worked for IBM I had a PC/AT with a 3278 emulator card. Using a series of keystrokes you could switch from PC mode to green screen mainframe access and back. I had a PS2/30 286 with windows for home use. I ordered the PC and then broke my leg. I spent my recovery playing King’s Quest IV. Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.

God, I used to own a 286, 386, 486 back in the days. The beeps, the Dos commands.... make me so nostalgic... Those were the PCs. These things were computers and computers only. You felt special owning one. It was rare and a special thing to approach it and flip the switch... I am subscribed and notifications are ON :)

Christmas morning 2003, building my 1st PC with new parts (Athlon 1.1GHZ) I cut my finger all the way to the bone. Blood makes me faint, well not so much after having cancer but back then I hit the ground and woke up in my parent's bedroom hours later. Have a nike swoosh looking scar to this day.

You should make more of these restoration videos, they are just so relaxing to watch

Back in the mid 90's I worked for IBM in a hard drive fab plant in the UK. Surrounded by IBM and all of its goodness. This brings back fond memories...

when i heard you say ESDI...it brought back memories of when i was looking into my PC's specs as a kid. I had totally forgotten that term.

This video is cool and all, but we're all left asking.. Where's the woodgrain?

For a moment, I was thinking you'd just go and add a "GR" to that L

Wow, did you bring back some memories! About six months of my first year of full-time employment was spent on a 1987 IBM PS/2 Model 30 very much like this one, writing software and providing tech support for my company's software package! I didn't know much about hardware in those days - I was primarily a programmer - but I do remember that my PS/2 Model 30 had the optional "whopping-big" 30MB ESDI hard drive and 640kB RAM. The computer came from one of my employer's business partners, who was an IBM dealer, so it also came with a matching PS/2 VGA monitor, a 14" IBM 8512, I think. If I remember correctly, it had a 10MHz 80286 processor (but did not have the math coprocessor), which made it the fastest Intel-based PC I had ever used up to that point. It couldn't keep up with my boss's Compaq DeskPro 386/16, of course, but it was more than enough for the kind of work we were doing at the time. We didn't have 3270 emulator network cards at that company (although in 1988, I got a new job in a bank's IT department, and at that bank we did use 3270 emulation, first mostly with IRMA coax cards similar to the one you found in this computer, and later via software emulation that worked with our IBM Token-Ring network hardware. (Also at that second job, I had an IBM PS/2 Model 50 for awhile, which had a slightly faster '286 processor and Micro Channel Architecture.)

That power switch it ridiculous! I bet you couldn't believe what you were looking at when you opened it. I love your writing, and encourage you to keep going! More vintage machine restorations! PLEASE!

This was my first PC. I miss it like crazy. 20 MB Hard Drive!

What's this? More IBM stuff? Awesome!

I like that power toggle over the AT death switches that had live AC wires running to the switch

I enjoyed the video, especially seeing Silpheed at the end. I played it so much in my childhood I can still remember the names of some of the ships used for copy protection in the manual. Seeing you demo that game brought back a huge wave of nostalgia. Thanks for that!

IPL is an IBM term, "Initial Program Load". I think it attempts to boot from the network.

Always smile when an LGR video is uploades, at least when it´s fresh video.

Around '95 I had a buddy who ran a computer store. One time he offered me old used PS/2 systems (386dx20) for ~$10 each, me and my best friends grabbed 10-11 of them, incl a bunch of ps/2 keyboards. Over the years they all ended up in a dumpster for one reason or another. Just a few years after the last of them were gone, I realized the vintage value..... I still havent stopped crying.

Thank you for making these videos! They’re really enjoyable to watch while relaxing.

I have not watched this yet but I know it’s gonna be good since it’s an LGR video

I love your restoration videos!

Not many people can make cleaning a 31-year-old computer interesting, but somehow you can. And that's what I love about this channel, along with the oodles of oddware, the exciting edutainment videos, & the terrific thrifting videos. :)

I learned to program assembly language on one of these PS/2 machines in college. All of the school's PCs booted off of discs - no hard drives. Wow what a memory! This probably would've been in 1989 or 1990. The school also had a mainframe lab, which featured a VAX clone Solborne machine hooked up to a bunch of all caps greenscreen dumb terminals. I learned Cobol on those, if I recall correctly. Sent my first email, had my first user account, and viewed my first bulletin boards there too. Thanks for the memories Clint!

I used to have a stack of a couple dozen PS/2's of all different models... I now wish I had not scrapped most of them for parts back around 1998 when they were worthless junk. I saved a few, but it still hurts me to think I wasted so many.

I suppose this machine worked over here in Germany for a while! There’s a sticker on the Power supply which says „TÜV geprüfte Bauart“ TüV stands for „Technischer Überwachungsverein“ its a technical test Organisation and „tested constructio“

We had about 4 of these and 4 model 50's. They all went straight into the dumpster save for the Model M keyboards. Propreitary crpp through and through. This week I pulled out all 8 Model M keyboards, and swapped otu all my membrane keyboards for these 1986 PS/2 Model M's and I'm in keyboard heaven now. The keyboards were the only ting worth saving on these machines and by an accident of fate we saved all of them while all the rest of the units got hurled in a dumpster around 1993... some after being shot with a 22 rifle. You could of saved yourself a lot of time dusting by just hitting the thing from every direction inside with an electric leaf blower... including through the power supply fan. Seriously, I've never used a can of compressed air in my life... leaf blower all the way. Just do it outside on your porch. I don't even charge for it. Isopropyl alcohol will take off the stickers

Thank you so much for that. It really takes me back. My 1st PC was a 2nd hand IBM PS/2 mod 70. Tool-less case, hard power switch on the front. Lots of satisfying clicks. running os/2. I junked it back in 2006 and have regretted it ever since. Love your work.

ZOMG this was my first computer! My family bought it for 600 USD in 1996 because we didn't know any better. It had some kind of after market TI co processor that was supposed to make it a 386 equivalent (according to the family that sold it to us). I think it was a normal math co processor though. Also mine still had it's 5.5 disk drive.

That power switch though! WANT!

Silpheed was my first game with sound on my 8088 XT clone with a MediaVision Thunderboard sound card... great memories, I'm so glad you featured it.

1989 I worked for Chevron in SanFran setting up these PS/2 computers and sending them in 5 unit sets (along with monitors, keyboards and the first HP deskjets ) out to their fleet of ships. Previous to this, I was a 2nd Engineer in their fleet and I knew nothing about computers, but knew the ships and their people. Chevron sent me on training courses to learn, and I learned machine code and programming in their learning centres. After one year, I was hacking Lotus 123 and creating nuisance code to randomly change the keyboard language of my fellow office workers. Man, that was fun!

"Lets address some of the yellowing going on with the front of the case" Hello and welcome back to The 8-Bit Guy

I didn't know there were PC floppies that were powered through the data cable. That's how Mac floppies work, and surprisingly their cables are much smaller.

Mr. Lgr your videos have inspired me to find and get all our old computers back running and play old dos games and such. I even found a 486 laptop and pentium 1 I didn't know we had. I already have our PC AT clone working. As someone who grew up in the 90s and built 3 pcs by 2000 it is bringing back so many memories and not all good. Sadly memories of IRQ conflicts and such that plug and play eliminated. Not trying to blow wind up your skirt and dont get a big head but keep up the good work and thanks clint. Wow this sounds way more pandering than I meant to but whatever. Most these old computers get tossed so its good to see someone saving them.

man i really love your content, I'm not a retro computer guy myself but your laid back format and clear love for what you do lightens my day every time :)

Hang on, LGR AdLib clone?

I actually have one of these somewhere in storage. Of course, I haven't turned it on in probably 15 years. Luckily for me though, I have a working HDD and cable in mine (last I checked)

This video was certainly educational. I just came into possession of a 286 model 30. With a 30MB hard drive already installed... It certainly needs a very good clean but otherwise looks intact. No obvious signs of abuse or corrosion. Other than the abuse I gave it bypassing the lock since I didn't get a key with it. And if it wasn't 2 AM right now, I'd be outside blowing out the dust already. Damn you time!

My first PC didn't have a hard drive, just 2 floppies, and i still played games. SILPHEED was one of my favorites. This brings back memories.

I wrote C programs on one of those boxes (and Intel Assembly) while in college. :) I loved the old keyboards, but hated the mouse...

I think that computer was a server at a company and was NEVER to be shutdown. Also, that hard drive was removed because of the stuff on it, not to leave the building.

One of the most relaxing videos I've watched in awhile. I could listen to LGR restoring old computers forever.

man, youre totally the best retro computing tuber. i love how informative yet entertaining you are.

Good morning from Australia :)

omg yes

This is particularly nostalgic for me. The 30-286 10mhz model was the first dos based PC I had. Upgraded it with an Ad-lib card, 1 MB of RAM and a 2400 bps modem. That machine defined much of my nerdy and socially awkward childhood and I probably used it long past its prime. Wing Commander 1 didn't run very well on it in retrospect, but I didn't know any better.

I think I could watch you clean old computers for hours.

When all your favorite youtubers post videos back to back after a dry spell 😭

Nice timing I was really bored.

Oh man, the CLUNK of that power switch. That's sooooooo satisfying.

I love how many of the restorations you do are of machines I've actually owned at some point in time.

Oh.. Im as old as this computer

Target used these as terminals in there stores in the late 80s and early 90s

Sooooo satisfying to see you clean up and restore things. LGSMR.

Although I never grew up with computers like this one or similar types, and even though I consider myself as a noob when it comes to most computer stuff it is always very interesting and pleasing to watch LGR. You do a great job, dude!

Friend 1:Hey! I have a PS2! Do you want to come to my home? Friend 2:Yes please! -shows ps/2- Friend 2:Ok bye

I deactivated adblock for this channel.

The way that power switch works and the way you could fix it was so hilariously IBM.

EXTREME....ly satisfying, thanks for recording and editing this!

If I wanted to aquire one of those detailing brushes, what exactly would I be looking for? As in, what are they called? What would I type into Amazon search, for instance.

to explain the missing product label being scraped off, it wasn't that uncommon for companies to intentionally scrape off serial numbers, especially front panel serial numbers do possibly distance themselves with the their computer suppliers if for whatever reason their business relations with the company declined at some point or just as a company policy that they do not show front panel product numbers on any of their office machines. Back in my time as a janitor some years ago I ran into quite a few of these old PS/2s and IBM PCs (being thrown away sadly, and no we couldn't salvage them and/or take them home, that was against the company policy, we had to just throw them out with the garbage back than) that had their front serial numbers removed in almost the exact same way.

I ran a computer lab after college (for another college) and we had the 486SX/25 brand of PS/2 systems, which used the proprietary SIMMs which were a pain in the ass. Just a warning... Those plastic SIMM slots are VERY fragile. If you break the tab, you are out of luck, so be careful about that "satisfying click". On our models they produced 1M, 2M and 3M simms. (3??? But yes, three.) Our systems didn't have that weird hard drive, though ours had SCSI installations which had their own horrid quirks. We did however have Thin-net cards (10base-2) in them in a token-ring setup and that network card you had reminded me of them. Full length with a BNC connector in the back. Lastly, the power switch may have intentionally been "broken" like that. In my lab, we powered the entire row of computers on and off via power strip. The reason was that one computer down and the network *COULD* be impacted (as I suspect our shoddy wall wiring would ground part of the loop in certain sections of the room causing the "ring" to experience noise), so we disabled the power switch from functioning so users couldn't flip it. And then likewise, the students were notoriously fidgetty, and would scratch off the stickers we put on anything. We ended up supergluing stickers down because the students would eventually learn (after getting superglue residue on their hands) that they needed to stop doing that. So, your machine appeared to be a school system which probably had similar issues as I had.

I remember those old PS/2's.... I'm sure glad times have changed!

It's worth mentioning for any readers just getting into VC that PS/2 systems are very attractive and often have some pretty fascinating features (particularly the later, MCA Bus systems) but they're not really "first project" material due to how nonstandard they are. They can also get pretty pricy for how common they are, even by the standards of a increasingly expensive hobby. Our boy Clint is striving for authenticity, but anyone who's working on a proprietary HDD based PS/2 like the 25 or 30 may be better served with a ISA IDE card such as the XT-IDE depending on their budgetary and/or time needs. (Later models, using MCA, are better served by SCSI cards like Future Domain's fare since ISA cards are unusable and no IDE card for MCA exists.)

Arrrhh, perfect timing Clint. My gf just made me an Irish coffee, now i can enjoy it with a good episode of LGR.

The amber motherboard with the yellow chips look great and would go well with a wooden look case. Microfibre cloths are great for cleaning computers, consoles, motorbikes and all sorts. A very NICE video. Cheers👍

Holy crap, that SSK made my heart stop for a second! I almost forgot you got one in a previous video, man. Also you're not wrong at all about the textured plastic from this era of IBM. I've been working on restoring a Model M122 the past few days, and good lord the dirt is absolutely embedded into this thing. Even after several hours of hard scrubbing, it's still not all out. At least you were able to get this thing looking beautiful again!

omg 2160p 60fps, it's glorious

Dang. Haven't seen SIMM's in many many years. Largest ones were one meg iirc?

Why do I love this channel so god damn much? I didn't even knew that I liked old computers.. Clint you must be a wizard the way you enchant me with passion for old PC's and games!

My first computer when I got my first real software dev job. We had a weird IBM only policy at the time. I eventually got a model 80! And then we went to all sorts of different clones. Heh. Back then? Qbasic, so this was a fine machine for that. I loved the interchangeability of the PS/2 components. I still enjoy seeing the legacy PS/2 keyboard and mouse connectors and think back to all those years ago :)

I wonder why they went with captive spring-loaded Torx screws it they were trying to save money

Am I watching LGR or The 8-Bit Guy?

Your videos are so soothing and entertaining to watch during the Holidays. Merry Christmas, anyone seeing this.

As someone who was only familiar with the console versions of Silpheed, hearing that familiar tune played by an ad lib sound card really made this video feel relatable to me even though my first PC experiences were with Windows 98, not DOS.

That monitor is screaming out for a hinge so it can fold flat against the top of the PC. It would look beautiful. Swap that gigantic PSU for a couple of D Cells, and you would have a retro laptop-ish thing. Yay.

I’m 11 and I already know how to restore windows 98 because of this god

thank you for delivering us this content, its amazing and i appreciate everything you do

A fantastic solvent for sticker adhesive is something called 'Stoddard solvent', which is just a fancy way of saying barbecue lighter fluid. It won't damage plastics, but it makes short work of sticker adhesive. If the sticker is an uncoated paper label, saturate it with lighter fluid and leave it for about 5 mins - it will peel off as easily as a post-it. If the sticker has a shiny plastic coating, rip this off to expose the paper underneath and treat as above. Any remaining residue can be removed with some more lighter fluid on a paper towel.