Restoring a Vintage Windows 95 Laptop - Retro Computer Restoration

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Restoring a Vintage Windows 95 Laptop - Retro Computer Restoration

Рет қаралды 38,412

3 жыл бұрын

In this video I restore a vintage Windows 95 laptop. The machine is a Pentium 233MHz MMX from 1997. This laptop would have been in the top tier of laptops available at the time, with a 1024x768 display and a USB port, the latter which was not even supported in WIndows 95 until 2 years later in OSR 2, i.e. Windows 95 "B".
The lack of a dial up modem is further evidence that this laptop was targeted towards enterprise clients, as this would otherwise have been standard in a computer of the era.
My history with this particular machine is interesting. I bought it second hand 20 years ago and gifted it to my cousin a few years later. It ended up making its way back to me, and I couldn't be more thrilled to own a machine from this era that can run DOS games natively and has a working floppy drive.
🌎 Support the channel by buying some of my merch or one of my console builds
www.BorderlineO...
💡Reading materials you might find interesting:
• Installing Windows 95 from scratch: www.nickh.org/c...
• DOS Video Expansion Utility: web.archive.org...
• Product page of this laptop on Hitachi's Japanese website: www.hitachi.co...
🔧 Toolkit
Screwdriver Set: amzn.to/2X7s0Gj
Automatic Wire Stripper: amzn.to/30F5TJm
🖌 Soldering Essentials
TS100 Soldering Iron: amzn.to/2YIJZUR
No Clean Flux Syringe: amzn.to/2NFUZvQ
No Clean Solder: amzn.to/2NHEAqQ
Desoldering Braid: amzn.to/312Grws
🔍 Soldering Add-ons
Fume extractor with hose: amzn.to/3hspLZi
Tip Tinner: amzn.to/31w2EF4
Helping Hands Soldering Aid: amzn.to/3ihgksP
🔥 Thermal Compounds
Arctic MX-4 Thermal Paste: amzn.to/2Ak2y8w
1.5MM Arctic Thermal Pads: amzn.to/2Vv1RQU
🖥 Composite and S-Video on my Mac
USB Capture Card: amzn.to/2YM4TT7
(Catalina 64-bit drivers can be found on the manufacturer's website)
🎵 Music
Sappheiros - Fragments / sappheirosmusic
"Sappheiros - Fragments" is under a Creative Commons license (CC BY 3.0)

Пікірлер: 138

@mjc0961 3 жыл бұрын

That battery is a great example of why everyone should check their work. Thanks for leaving that in.

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Ha yes indeed. Just when I feel a little over-confident something happens to remind me to stay humble. Double and triple check!

@TonyDeCoste 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for putting extra effort into your restore videos, it's great to see someone do more than just setup one overhead wide angle shot and that's all you get for 30+ minutes while they um and uh their way through the process.

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Lol. My setup is pretty basic but I really enjoy these projects and a lot of love goes into them. Glad you enjoyed it bud.

@TonyDeCoste 3 жыл бұрын

@@BorderlineOCD I've binge watched all your videos in the last few days and it's great to see how far they've come already, I look forward to seeing the progression continue, Cheers!

@user-rv9vw5ef9e 3 жыл бұрын

You know that joke: "There's short circuit!" - "So what's the problem? Just make it longer".

@ChiroMclean 3 жыл бұрын

Even a 97 computer has more ports than any newer laptop. Nice video!

@nathanmead140 3 жыл бұрын

Because old computers were made to be upgraded and used for a long time but new ones are made to be used then thrown away and replaced every year.

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Indeed, they don't make them like they used to. Although this particular model was targeted towards the corporate market (evidenced by the disabled 56k modem hiding on the motherboard which would have been common on a consumer version) so it probably had everything they could cram into it. But indeed the philosophy of "built to last" electronics is not how products are made these days.

@ThePolarKuma 3 жыл бұрын

I have no desire to restore a pc like this but I watched all of it and appreciate the craft and time you took to make this video, I’m currently binge watching all your videos good sir keep up the good work

@LucaBlightOfHighland Жыл бұрын

Wow, the design is incredibly modern for such an ancient laptop

@janktron Жыл бұрын

This channel just started showing up in my 'recommended' and it does not disappoint. This laptop was crazy good for 1997. What a gem to get back in your possession! I got an NEC desktop pc in ~may of 97 and it was only a 200mhz Pentium with a 2gb hdd. 4 gb hdd in a laptop was insane in 97, lol. No wonder this thing was over $6000 back then.

@CarsRestored 3 жыл бұрын

Me: No way he can restore this! Borderline OCD: Hold my tools

@FlyboyHelosim 3 жыл бұрын

He didn't do anything to it apart from replace the CMOS batteries and hard drive. It didn't exactly need restoring because it had been dumped.

@MidwayMaiTais 2 жыл бұрын

Dude, I just found your channel. Your videos are full of quality information and presented in a refreshing, non over the top annoying way. My wife watches make up tutorials all the time and these are my make up tutorials, or those are her retro restoration videos. Whichever makes more sense. Keep up the great work, you've already inspired me to continue my desire to restore retro electronics.

@BorderlineOCD 2 жыл бұрын

Haha thanks, glad you are enjoying the content. Cheers.

@Nixima81 Жыл бұрын

That's a trip down memory lane. I use to brake my windows installs all the time back in the days and learned to fix it myself after some nudging from my stepmom. First ever pc was a 286 whit 2MB ram and 60MB hdd. Good times.

@MadITGeek Жыл бұрын

I'm fairly confident that larger of the 2 batteries you restored is a sleep/hibernation battery-it was used on old laptops like this one to "Save the system state" for things like sleep or for when you swapped out the main battery. I see that a lot on laptops from this era. Some laptops (like my Compaq Armada that is a Pentium II 233) can use the main battery to keep CMOS settings. Yeah, I don't know how a battery from 1997 STILL holds a good charge...but it does.

@SeizureGman Жыл бұрын

You are one of the most interesting people I watched in console and now computer restoration simply cause you include the odd error and that allows us to learn. You earned a sub from me

@bramvandenbroeck5060 3 жыл бұрын

Its amazing to see that you still have your first laptop :) i have my dad's first pc laptop, a toshiba satellite 4300 series from 1998/99, i restored this laptop as best as i can, the dstn screen starts to show signs of faillure, it starts to flicker, nothing i can do about that, i also have my dad's first apple laptop, a pismo powerbook g3, i have completely restored this machine, even the battery received some fresh cells, this laptop was in a rough shape, but now, it looks like it came right out of the box, i cleaned it up as good as i can, i am proud of this restore, i use this machine from time to time, but this powerbook g3 is near and dear to my heart because it was my dreamlaptop when i was a kid :) awesome vid man

@RalonsoF1 2 жыл бұрын

Great work, man and lovely old pictures at the end!! Merry Christmas!

@BorderlineOCD 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you, cheers!

@edwardpiotrowski228 2 жыл бұрын

I'm watching all your videos and my kids love them too. thank you

@boydsterling3193 Жыл бұрын

My favourite setup for a pre-1998 machine is a 98lite install with the 95 Explorer and all of the 95 sounds and assets, it looks and feels *exactly* like 95 with the extra features and stability of 98SE

@oldschooldude8370 2 жыл бұрын

Laptops have always been a pain in the ass to disassemble. Especially old ones like this. What a relic. That Pentium 233 was fire back in 97. Great laptop for all the classic dos/win95/98 games.

@ballsrgrossnugly 2 жыл бұрын

Hah, as you soldered on that negative I thought to myself "that tag looks shorted, I hope that's not shorted!" 3 minutes later, fixing the shorted tab. I've been practicing, maybe I'm getting better at this stuff! XD

@JigoroKano 3 жыл бұрын

So funny, recently I have started playing Warcraft III The Frozen Throne and seeing you playing the first version.

@Mathos1985 3 жыл бұрын

An amazing job mate 👍🏻

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you! Cheers!

@WaynesWorld69 Жыл бұрын

Great video! Warcraft II is probably my all time favorite game followed by Command and Conquer.

@alex.starostin 2 жыл бұрын

Can't believe they had a touchpad back in 1997! wow. my old laptop from 2006 even didn't have one

@KongTeddy 3 жыл бұрын

Great to see some new content from you :-)

@JrManPT 3 жыл бұрын

Another great video, thoroughly enjoy your restaurations.

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks very much my man, cheers!

@Mr172590 Жыл бұрын

I know this is a year old I'm just glad the battery didn't explode in or die by all the heat of the soldering iron

@snowman5020 3 жыл бұрын

Great stuff as always. Pics at the end were funny too :)

@alpha_au 3 жыл бұрын

Another fantastic restoration video! Great detail and thoroughness

@raphaelgamer9818 3 жыл бұрын

This is a nice laptop good work!

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks bud, cheers!

@ghostmouthzach56 3 жыл бұрын

Another excellent video! Good timing, as I am going to be tackling a similar project for an old HP laptop soon.

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Thank you and good luck with your restoration!

@gluonpa6878 2 жыл бұрын

"... enjoy Windows 95..." so we had to wait 22 years to hear this.

@baggins1 2 жыл бұрын

Awesome stuff man. Just picked up a DIGITAL lappy with native 98. Might have to give it a go.

@gp6723 2 жыл бұрын

Great video, I bet hunting for battery replacement was haard! still loved to see an ssd go in

@troublemakerss 3 жыл бұрын

1996 - Windows 95, 166 MHZ MMX intel inside desktop with 32 MB RAM. My ultimate (unfulfilled) dream

@iJorgeTech 2 жыл бұрын

Great job! I just found your channel today, so far this has been my favorite but all the others have been equally as good!

@Littlelewie151 9 ай бұрын

I'd try sanding the batteries where you plan on soldering. I've had the same problem

@hadesmcc 3 жыл бұрын

Really great video but a word of warning, there is a reason why battery terminals are spot welded and soldered on like you did there. Heat from temperatures as high as the ones from a soldering iron changes the chemistry of the batteries very quickly causing degradation. Keep the videos coming!

@xanderblackstar8236 2 жыл бұрын

Amazing job with the electrical tape on the batteries.

@ProProboscis Жыл бұрын

22:39 The version of Windows you have installed has on its startup logo an additional line of text : "Microsoft Internet Explorer". It is indicative of Windows being OSR 2.5, released late in 1997, that one had USB support.

@sobirateljp2087 2 жыл бұрын

This thing is beautiful, how to see more videos with old premum Japanese laptops restored.

@zamiyaFlow Жыл бұрын

In the age of chaos... two factions battle for dominance!

@JohanFroloff81 2 жыл бұрын

I think the paperclip was for inserting the ribbon cable easier. (Life Hack) 😁

@mthanry 3 жыл бұрын

So next step, you host a Warcraft 2 network games with your subscribers! Top quality video as usual :-)

@nikolaszisoudis8408 3 жыл бұрын

Nice video love those retro laptops. They have a special place in my heart. Yesterday i found 2 PC's they cases are in bad state. Corrosion and rust But the internals are great. One is a gaming pc from 2005 and the other one from 2007. I hope you restore some retro pcs and make videos. Nice video loved it. Also got 3 games. Cs 1.6 fsx:D and crysis for 10$ none work:( gonna return them.

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Good luck with your loot :)

@nikolaszisoudis8408 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks

@FumblsTheSniper 2 жыл бұрын

The paper clip was a clue from your future self that he put there in the past to warn you not to miss that doctors appointment next Thursday.

@andrewclark3325 3 жыл бұрын

Very cute puppy!

@selwynandrews9665 2 жыл бұрын

Great work as usual! Just subscribed recently and have watched lots of your restoration videos, I'm a fan of your work. With regard to heatshrink. If I don't have the right size I'll stretch what I've got with a pair of needle-nose pliers (or larger pliers for larger heatshrink). Sometimes I tear it and cry, but with a bit of trial and error I can often make the heatshrink I have fit the parts I need to insulate. Cheers

@LifeOnHoth Жыл бұрын

oh! I have one VERY similar. Now I'm gonna restore it! :)

@drPeidos 3 жыл бұрын

Very well done repair. Just a comment, don't forget in a few years to remove the new batteries from the inside of the laptop. I've had several laptops destroyed by thos batteries leaking :( Thank you for the screen stretching utility :)

@chimantra Жыл бұрын

Would love that laptop

@techtomek5062 3 жыл бұрын

Nice video as always. Two points from my side. If you don't have an HDD anymore, the SD to EIDE adapters work quite well, of course they don't reach the performance of real SSDs but old systems can't use that anyway and the access times and transfer rates of SD cards are way above old HDDs. About the display, this one is good but the CCFLs age and then they become hardly readable. There are two ways to replace the CCFL, yes you can get such fluorescent tubes. Alternatively, you can also convert them to LED, I have done this several times on older Thinkpads, there are complete kits, but there are standard kits that have to be adapted. The result is usually very good

@urfearz3983 3 жыл бұрын

Let's get it, another fucking awesome video 🤘😤🔥

@willyho322 6 ай бұрын

funny though, this morning I just asking a guy if he knew any body able to restatrt my old laptop with windows 95, came with 550mb ( also brought around that time, a no name brand ) than type in google to see what I can find... how interesting and Thanks.

@No1BRC 3 жыл бұрын

Damn, nice :) I actually just resurrected my 1997 Pentium2.. along with its original scsi harddrive. A blast from the past :') I'm an old dos gamer, still have my 486 mainbkard in a box and would love to put it into working condition as well.

@nathanmead140 3 жыл бұрын

You should create an image of the drive if that hasn't been done yet so if the drive completely dies and doesn't want to work again it's data can be restored to a different drive.

@botchedrepair1542 3 жыл бұрын

Was an early adopter of IDE. Glad of the decision. Now I don't have to worry about scsi HDDs in my 486.

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome that you still have those parts. I will eventually realize my goal of building a 486, but its just going to have to wait for the time being. If you decide to restore it best of luck to you!

@niino4329 3 жыл бұрын

The paperclip was probably used to make pushing down the latch easier (it's larger and you would be able to push down on the latch from the left and right sides), and then it was just left there.

@NSHG 2 жыл бұрын

Y'know, thanks to your video, I am just feeling thrilled to go through my retro desktops and laptop and see what's there to do. Just as an idea - Epox + Slot A Athlon, Soyo 440BX Slot 1 + P3 650, ASUS P2B + P2 400, a Celeron 433 + PCChips M726MRT (the most interesting), and an even more interesting K6-2+500 & LuckyTech mobo combo. Especially since the last one would be a unconventional AT/ATX fusion monster. The lappy is an Armada E500 (a 440BX/Rage Pro LT/ P3 650MHz powerhouse no less!) that unfortunately is in dire need of a new screen, as it seems the original one is delaminating.

@oldschooldude8370 2 жыл бұрын

Some relics you have lying around. That k6 is a treasure. Socket 7 powerhouse.

@sithounetsith9877 3 жыл бұрын

Some old Dos monster !

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

The kids these days don't appreciate the meaning of "portable". Now THIS was portable...

@sithounetsith9877 3 жыл бұрын

@@BorderlineOCD The kids don't get me started!

@user-rv9vw5ef9e 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks to Microsoft I saw word "emulation". It differs from emulgation!

@larryroyovitz7829 2 жыл бұрын

NT 4.0 was a beautiful OS.

@Junkyard_Dawg 3 жыл бұрын

I enjoyed you creating a new battery with quality cells. I have had to make a couple when I could not locate a suitable replacement. I am not a big fan of thermal pads, so I use quality thermal compound where I can. If I need to separate the gap, I have thin sheets of copper that I cut with shears to size. You can also solder the copper sheets to the surface of the heatsink, but I do not think this will work well on aluminum surfaces.

@zerocks88 2 жыл бұрын

those finger prints I bet could come out with a magic eraser- they can get anything off ;)

@emlyndewar 3 жыл бұрын

Great restoration!

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Glad you like it!

@V1CT1MIZED Жыл бұрын

It appears clippy was hiding in your laptop all this time!

@Johnathan_Waters Жыл бұрын

I think your flux is just colder at times. It flows MUCH slower at lower temps...

@Tossphate 2 жыл бұрын

Warcraft and Warcraft 2 are such amazing games

@BorderlineOCD 2 жыл бұрын

Yes my liege! Yes! Yes! Yes!

@stest2935 3 жыл бұрын

Nice video and rebuild. Have so much patience in rebuilding the batteries. Would you be able to add a larger HD like 80 or even 120GB and put Win 98 in it?

@Crftbt 2 жыл бұрын

When that 1 battery cell was bridged, the voltage was lowered more than the rest. Since that set is unbalanced, it's never going to hold a full charge.

@jamesdavies686 3 жыл бұрын

Mg chemicals paste flux tends to get lumpy. It's still very good stuff.

@74bobby 3 жыл бұрын

Great Video

@Japanese_dosent_work_as_handle Жыл бұрын

You know it’s old when the cpu is the daughter board

@RyanFGNM 3 жыл бұрын

I read the reviews for the flux you use and the more recent reviews mention a similar problem. Some claim that they changed something and that's why it doesn't want to come out.

@DougPlummer 2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the video! I have a Toshiba Satellite Pro 430CDT that I wanted to change the Cmos battery in that looks just like the ones you changed. and the stretching helps too! One question is why didnt you retrobright the keys and plastic to get the make them look a bit better?

@barbsfpv3066 Жыл бұрын

Those old mushroom top batteries were likely a mercury composition. Sadly they’re no longer available due to environmental concerns. It’s too bad too, because they hold a charge better than anything. I bought some old camera gear from the mid-70s that had those mushroom top batteries in them and they still had a charge after 30+ years. Of course a laptop has the parasitic drain from the CMOS, whereas when a camera is off, it’s off, but it still blew my mind because I figured they’d be deader than a doornail.

@Veritas1980-Chill Жыл бұрын

did you think of upgrading the ram to the best it could take? you might have been able to get XP on this machine, which is a better OS and is backwards compatible with dos apps and games. if you turn off all the pretty stuff, I bet it would run well, especially if you use an ssd on it. you probably also could upgrade the processor on it. maybe this would make a good follow-up video :D

@GummyGruffi 2 жыл бұрын

Did you notice the inscription on PCB? "Artworked by Hitachi" :] Definitely not being modest here, Hitachi-san. Although it is really nice notebook from that era.

@mima85 3 жыл бұрын

I have one of these in my collection, but unfortunately is missing the optical drive and the hard disk, together with their caddies which are impossible to find. That's a shame because it's a nice laptop and I'd love to have it complete with all its parts.

@riparaggi 2 жыл бұрын

Nice work! very risky using soldering iron on lithium battery but It worked well ;-)

@rimmersbryggeri 2 жыл бұрын

I have the same problem with my new monitor now. Doesnt handle warcraft 2 Resolutions.

@zerocks88 2 жыл бұрын

I've heard it's not a good idea to solder to batteries directly but to instead do tac welding- I don't know how suitable it would even be but the long heat apparently can cause damage Maybe worth looking at if you don't know or have one already, they're super cool too and given how many things you fix it might even make some other things easier to repair too, who knows? not me this is just a near-un-informed comment! :D

@ChrisBarnes575 3 жыл бұрын

Might be a silly question, but how do you keep track of which screw goes where? Do you make a diagram or number them?

@user-rv9vw5ef9e 3 жыл бұрын

He make video. You can make picture and stick screws on it. For every part separate picture. Simple as gentoo!

@botchedrepair1542 3 жыл бұрын

@@user-rv9vw5ef9e n o t g e n t o o l i n u x

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

The lid of my iFixit Mako driver set is a tray divider lid so I put each batch of screws in one compartment and work my way down and across in order. It's not magnetic, which would have been perfect. But I don't have pets or kids running around the house so as long as I don't knock it over it does a nice job :) If you don't already have one you can consider a magnetic tray, they seem to work well from what others have shared. Some people also use a cardboard box and insert the screws in the same pattern you take them off, and you can scribble in your own notes etc. It's low tech and works very well.

@brad9529 Жыл бұрын

Flux is too cold White powder cleaner will get the fingerprints of like Ajax if you guys have that

@gamenfix2586 3 жыл бұрын

I did something similiar to a dell cpx but I was wondering if you could do another Xbox 360 fat restoration

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

No 360s in the backlog at the moment but I'm on the lookout for a Halo Edition fat so hopefully in the near future :)

@overnxted 3 жыл бұрын

Nice restore. I have a toshiba waiting to be restored.

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Nice, what are the specs of your machine? Good luck restoring it.

@user-rv9vw5ef9e 3 жыл бұрын

Rumors says that Toshiba stopped shipping parts in Russia, so my lapbook be never repaired. :-(

@overnxted 3 жыл бұрын

@@BorderlineOCD It is a Toshiba Tecra 510CDT P 133mhz, 2.1 gb, 16mb ram. Needs to take care because plastic broken very easy.

@overnxted 3 жыл бұрын

@@user-rv9vw5ef9e Needs to have another way to find parts. What model is it?

@zZiL341yRj736 2 жыл бұрын

That's more expensive than my gaming PC with and RTX and i9 in 2021.

@charlorme9155 Жыл бұрын

ha ha nice photos 😄

@ayoubennaciri4656 3 жыл бұрын

Good vedio Work on thumbnails 👍👍😁

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Do you want to be my graphics designer?

@ayoubennaciri4656 3 жыл бұрын

@@BorderlineOCD just joking good job 😆😆😆😆😆

@ayoubennaciri4656 3 жыл бұрын

@@BorderlineOCD can you please do a wii restoration and moding vedio

@ayoubennaciri4656 3 жыл бұрын

@@BorderlineOCD i just like to get you ideas from what I think as a viewer to help the channel to grow fast because I like your vedios and this is my favorite stuff to watch Sorry if English cind of broken and sorry if I write something you didn't like and continue to make a great videos in the future 👍👍

@mancavehobbies6213 3 жыл бұрын

Awesome subbed you

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the sub.

@Dtr146 Жыл бұрын

Soldering directly to a battery makes me nervous.

@joshtowns5642 3 жыл бұрын

working on a new vid?

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Tomorrow morning!

@gbc4810 3 жыл бұрын

Hello. Can you review my Xbox 360 eBay? I’m trying to save up for a PC :)

@FMudanyali 3 жыл бұрын

YOOOOO

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

Yo yo

@mjc0961 3 жыл бұрын

"Windows ME" No.

@BorderlineOCD 3 жыл бұрын

I know. We were so excited about it when it came out. It was so cool. It only became lame a few years later.

@user-rv9vw5ef9e 3 жыл бұрын

Windows NOT YOU? :P

@user-rv9vw5ef9e 3 жыл бұрын

@@BorderlineOCD I cannot recall: I remember DOS 3.3, DOS 6, Win95, 98 and right next 2000 and XP. Some experienced harmers say that Windows 9 and 12 are the best.