£3 Dell Latitude D620 Laptop Testing

I picked this up a while ago but only just gotten around to test it to see if it has any signs of life.

It's a bit grubby but what do you expect for £3?  Initially the seller wanted £5 for the laptop but after I pointed out the 2 missing keys I got a couple of quid knocked off.

Now lets see if it has a Hard Disk Drive and some RAM...

As luck would have it, there's a 60GB SATA Hard Disk Drive in the laptop but no RAM, at least no RAM installed in the socket on the bottom of the laptop/motherboard but there should also be a slot for a SO-DIMM under the keyboard so hopefully there is some RAM installed there else when I try and power her up it wont work!

Before I try and power her up, I've just noticed that the bezel that covers the hinges and top of the keyboard is not seated correctly, so I wonder if someone has tried to fix the keyboard or something and not put it back on properly?

On removing the bezel, all seemed fine but I did notice that there is a connector not connected to anything!  As you can see from the photo on the right there is a space for something for the connector to connect to but there is nothing there - if you know what it's for then please let me know in the comments below.

Now to connect up my universal power adapter and see if she turns on...

We have life!

A free Disc!!

Okay, so it doesn't have the original Operating System on it (Windows XP Professional) but it does has Linux on it showing that it does indeed work.

All I need to do now is see if I have a spare keyboard in my laptop keyboards box and get Windows XP installed on it...

Unpacking a Laptop from over Two Decades Ago! - A Twinhead SlimNote 5100T

Tech Job Lot from eBay

I made a cheeky bid on this little lot that got accepted and after waiting a few days in quarantine (the spare bedroom) it's now time to unbox it and see what I've got!

The only thing I can remember being in this haul is a HP laptop that works but has a broken screen (which I just so happen to have a spare of) so the plan is to fix it, flog it and the rest (as they say) is gravy!  More money to buy more interesting Retro Computing stuff!

Anyway, here's the video:

Testing IBM ThinkPad 380D Laptop - Car Boot Sale Find!

As it cost me under £2 at a Car Boot Sale earlier on in the year, it's not surprising this little beauty did not come with a power adapter, not to worry though as I just so happen to have a box of geniune adapters 'just in case'...

First things first, time to check the voltage on the power adapter I have to ensure it doesnt damage the laptop:

It's the correct voltage so we're good to go!


As you can see not only did the laptop power on, but it has a working hard disk drive in it with what appears to be a relatively fresh installation of Windows 95 on it!

Overall the laptop is in very good condition, although there is some damage to the bottom right-hand corner:

I was pleasantly surprised to see Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (just about) runs on this laptop even if the playing back of videos was a but jerky it was still playable.

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Specifications:

CPU: Intel Pentium 150MHz (P150)
RAM: 16MB
Optical Drive: 8x CD-ROM
Floppy Disk Drive: 1.44MB
Graphics: 1MB Neomagic NM2093 MagicGraph 1282V
Audio/Sound: Crystal Audio (SoundBlaster Pro 2.0 Compatible)

Compaq Presario 1400 - Retro Laptop Unpacking/Unboxing!

Finally got around to unboxing this little beauty today!  It doesn't look like any other Compaq laptop I have ever seen (nor own), it looks a bit 'Apple Maccy' (if that's such a word) a bit like they were experimenting on what their new laptops were going to look like going forward, I don't remember see anything like this before from Compaq so I guess it didn't catch on!

How to Upgrade the RAM on a Samsung V25 Laptop

The RAM slots are located underneath the keyboard on this laptop so the first thing you need to do is locate and remove the single screw that is holding the keyboard in place from underneath the laptop as shown here:

You then to press two clips that are holding the keyboard in place as shown here:

 The PC133 RAM can be found under the metal cover which is being held in place with a single screw as shown here:

Compaq Armada 7350MT Laptop - Disassembly - How To Replace The Hard Disk Drive

As you can see, there is an unlocked/unsecured flap on the side that reveals the hard disk drive and its caddy... you cant actually remove it yet though as it is secured by a single screw holding a metal plate in place which you access from underneath the laptop.

That's it!  The hard disk is now removed and you can do what you need to with it and remember, the rattle noise is normal :)

Disassembly

As this partticular laptop of mine doesn't power on, it's time to remove all the screws underneath, carefully remove the keyboard and top bezel to reveal the motherboard:

Everything looks OK but on closer inspection you can see that the CMOS battery is a bit dodgy and the connectors are stuck fast on the motherboard.

As it's beyond economical repair this will get put back together and placed in my Spares and Repairs pile in case I get another one etc.

Cleaning A Very Dirty Compaq 7350MT Laptop

I picked up a (very) dirty old laptop the other day for a couple of quid that has clearly been sitting in a barn or garage somewhere for a very long time...

To clean a dirty old laptop like this, I use two different products.  First I give it a once-over with the trusty old AF Foamclene followed by a magic sponge/eraser!

After a very short while you then end up with something like this:

As you can see it has come out really nice :)

Compaq LTE 5280 Laptop

Picked this up today for just £1!

As you can see it's rather dirty, but better than that - it's Year 2000 Compliant!

It's a lot cleaner on the inside but I'm not holding my breath that it works.

Despite the clean looking keyboard and screen, although it does power on, it doesn't POST and an LED of a tap is displayed indicating possible water damage.

Time to see what the battery and HDD are like (assuming there is a HDD or even a HDD caddy that is)...

The battery has some sort of speckly mess on it and peeking inside the laptop it does indeed look like it has a large amount of water damage.  Fortunately it hasn't spread to the HDD Caddy or indeed the HDD inside:

At least this can be used for Spares and Repairs as once the case has been cleaned up it's actually in very good condition, just needs a new motherboard and well, anything else that is inside!

Rare Compaq Presario 700 Laptop

You know a laptop isn't rare when a seller tells you it is!  This 'rare' Compaq Presario 700 Series laptop is so rare, that not only did I manage to pick up two of them from two different sellers, I purchased them on the same day!

One works, one doesn't.

Typical with an old laptop, the CMOS battery needs replacing as per the next screen:

On pressing F1 to Boot, Windows XP begins to load...

As this AMD based system only has 128MB of RAM, Windows XP is VERY slow to load...

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These laptops are rather old so it's highly likely that you will need to replace the CMOS battery, to see how it's done click here: Compaq Presario 700 CMOS Battery Replacement

Compaq Armada 7400

This turned up a few weeks back but I've only just had a chance to take a look at it.  It's a bit dirty, the hinge covers are damaged and there are a couple of screws missing.  It did however come with not one, but two power supplies which is a bit of luck as it's not a normal round connector but a square-ish one with 4 prongs inside it.

On connecting up one of the power supplies that came with this laptop I briefly saw the Compaq logo appear on the screen before it turned itself off.  Seems there is a loose connection as when I wiggled the power cable at the rear of the laptop it would let me power it on but as soon as I moved the cable slightly it powered off again - I'll have to take it apart and see if it's fixable at a later date.

Compaq Contura 3/25 intel 80386SX

Just got around to opening up the Compaq Contura 3/25 I 'won' on eBay the other week to see if it works or not.  I got out my trusted universal power adaptor of the day, plugged it in, pressed the power button and hoped for the best!... and it powered on, booted and failed the POST due to the CMOS/BIOS battery being flat - no surprise really as this laptop is originally from 1992!

Time to take it apart to explore its innards:

Ooh! Is that a Hard Disk Drive I see hidden at the top right of the laptop under the silver piece of metal?  Lets find out...

Yes it is!

So, the reason it was sold on eBay as not working is due to the CMOS/BIOS battery being flat and not storing the HDD geometry settings so it doesn't think it has a hard disk inside (which it clearly does).

It doesn't take the standard CR2032 battery but a slightly larger CR2430 so I have ordered some from Amazon (Same-Day Delivery) so I should be able to get this up and running tomorrow so watch this space...

162 System Options Not Set - Compaq Armada 1700/1750

Are you getting the 162 System Options Not Set on an old vintage/retro laptop?

Is it followed by a message telling you the Time and Date are not set?  Does it go on to ask you to save the changed or ignore them?

The biggest clue to what is causing this error message is the date/time not being set.  When you power off your laptop a small button battery keeps the on-board real-time-clock (RTC) and it is this that keeps the time and date on your laptop correct and on some laptops it also keeps any System Setup or BIOS/CMOS settings stored too.

Luckily there is an easy fix, replace the RTC/CMOS battery!

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Click here to see how to replace the RTC/CMOS battery on a Compaq Armada 1700/1750 - including how to make your own.

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On a Compaq Armada 1700/1750, once you have replaced the battery you will need to then load up the Computer Setup program either via a floppy disk (or if you have it installed on the maintenance partition of your hard disk drive you can press F10 shortly after the POST).

I have it on floppy disk so I inserted it in to the floppy disk drive and launched the setup program that way.

Once in the Setup Program have a look around and make any changes you like and then set the date and time.  Save the settings, exit and then reboot!

I took the opportunity to set the Asset Tag of my laptop and also the Company and now when I power on my laptop it shows the company name (I used the URL of this blog as the company name)!