Lets look at some bubble systems from Compaq and HP!
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- čas přidán 19. 05. 2024
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Having a look at some systems from that weird, short-lived era of translucent plastic: Bubble systems! A Compaq Presario 5000, an HP Pavilion 360n, and an HP Pavilion a200n. Translucent plastic was the epitome of cool in the early 2000s and teenaged me certainly agreed!
0:00 Intro
0:20 System 1 Tour
3:13 S1 Disassembly
5:50 S1 Refresh and PSU test
10:28 S1 Case refresh
12:06 S1 Testing
15:50 S1 Re-face and verdict
16:13 System 2 Tour
17:09 S2 Disassembly and refresh
20:30 S2 Cleanup
22:34 S2 Testing
26:05 S2 Re-face and verdict
26:31 System 3 Tour
27:14 S3 Disassembly and refresh
29:24 S3 Testing and verdict
31:39 Other systems and outro
That blueish HP was an animal at the time. I got it with an adjustable 4:3 lcd. It smashed Zoo Tycoon 2 no problem! The bundle was around $1200 CAD at Costco early 2000s...
Circa 2000, a number of tech influencers believed CD burners would wear out if we used them as readers, their logic being that the head was heavier in burners than in readers. Eventually we figured out it made little if any difference, but when your Compaq was new, there were people who would argue installing both was a best practice.
What i remember was you didnt want a 52x speed burner as it would give you more errors and was expencive AF. Had to wright the whole disc in one go and if anything stopped the data, the disc failed. So you had a high speed reader that was cheap and a slower drive speed for the writer. And yeah people talking about the burner drives wearing out. Given they cost more, it would be better to slap a cheapo reader and use it mostly then risk it.
Back then, you wanted two disk drives to easily copy from one drive to another.
I was literally working on an old Dell optiplex metal shell xp home version and was extremely confused why it had two different disk trays. The more you know. I just disconnected the second one and used the wires for the original hdd since I put an ssd on sata 0
@@anthonygrimaldi9483 I copied so many Playstation 1 games back in the day.
You needed a reader and a writer if you wanted to copy a cd without the need to make an image on your pc.
On the Compaq 5000 series (purple bubble) PC, the top piece that is missing would have held a quick start guide on a little card that was punched into the plastic piece for reference.
When he nearly pulled it out on the second system but didn't quite get there, I was screaming at the television!
@@koobydotnet Not all systems had the card if I remember correctly. The second system looked like it did not have one and had a permanently attached piece of plastic as a placeholder.
@@bob2600 Fair enough! Oh man, what a time to be alive though. These towers were so cool.
Ahhh, the Presario 5000, the first computer I used as the shared family PC, then as a hand me down. Still regret throwing it out when I got the next hand me down Presario. Having XP on my own PC in 2005 was still a big deal, the boys in my (three year older) sister's class were mad jealous, them still having OSes like 98 if they even had their own PC. Still remember the evening my dad was setting it up for me, installing XP. I was supposed to go to bed, but you know I kept going over to the studyroom to take a peek. Many hours of Rollercoaster Tycoon 1&2, SimCity 3000 and LEGO Creator were spent on it.
This channel slowly becomes addictive...
Gotta love a hot tech guy who hits the nostalgia itch
Love your enthusiasm for old systems. I love getting my hands on older systems and getting them working again. Wish the sentiment was shared by my girlfriend.
My wife does not share this sentiment with me either. 😆
@@RetroPC Women tend to be incompatible with retro omputing (or any non-mainstream hobby for that matter). It's just how they were designed.
YES! I like to do this as well AND...my wife is not happy about it at all. But...I tell her the Truth..its a low cost hobby that keeps me out of trouble with everyone but Her...but...she endures.
Stay strong, stay inquisitive and have fun, sir.
@@32discodave There are plenty of other uses besides those for these old systems. I just built an XP machine specifically for analog video capture. I would strongly advise anyone to not use these for a server unless you get a new case, these old OEM cases had 0 airflow and often no option to mount any intake fans.
This is one of the few mainly hardware related channels. I love it. Thanks for doing this.
Thanks! I've always been slightly more hardware-oriented. Kind of strange that I work 100% in the cloud now... This is my way of getting a hardware fix!
My mom had a Compaq Presario 5000 and it honestly lasted far longer than it should have. I upgraded it from Windows 98 to Windows Me and finally to Windows XP. If memory serves me correctly, we got hers in early 2001 and she had it until mid-2005.
...I acquired an 2005 Noblis business computer in 2016. It came from a small business and was used mostly for their on-line applications like check cashing, sales promotions, things like that. It had 1 gig of Ram, a 40 GB h.d.d.s and was using XP.
...and it often got Very Dusty inside...My wife brought it home twice for me to 'fix it' when...luckily...it just needed a good dusting...and 'Poof!' it worked again and she'd take it back to the store. One day, she brought it home and said that I could keep it.
...I upped the ram to 4 GB and a 3.4 Processor and installed Windows 7....I still use the Noblis...that I dubbed The Phantom Cruiser...not everyday like I used to but that bad boy works well....And I think for being made in 2005, it was/is Quite a computer. I was impressed by its speed and possible Up Grades it 'Could Have Had Done'.
That last HP brings back good memories. My family had that exact computer although I remember ours had a 2.7Ghz Celeron so it might have been a slightly newer model. Loved the look of that case.
HP made some very nice looking machines during this time period.
I remember my parents having a Compaq Presario 5000. I think it was their second computer. Pretty nostalgic.
This is one of my favourite channels regarding retro computers, i almost cant wait for new videos :)
The first compaq system is a masterclass in how to produce a prebuilt if only modern systems were so thoughtfully put together
I ended up with all these cases,3 was what our family computer came in,2 was what my mom's office computer came in,and I found number 1 on the curb with the original peripherals
Sees De-Oxit on the shelf, and also used in the video....Ahh...I see, a man of culture. LMAO...That's great stuff. Love seeing these now retro machines come back to life. I'd have been around 15-20 when these were new. I remember them well. Cheers!
Hey MikeTech, If you Don't Know about GameHouse Solitaire, This is Super GameHouse Solitaire Volume 1, It was a Card Game Developed by GameHouse and Released on October 31st, 2002, The Difference on Windows Solitaire and GameHouse Solitaire is That Windows has Solitaire, Hearts, and Freecell While GameHouse Solitaire has 10 Games on 1 Ranging From Klondike Solitaire, Pyramid Solitaire, Tri-Peak Solitaire, Golf Solitaire and others.
The HP 350n is very similar to an HP my Granny bought in 2001 with an Intel Celeron here in Canada. The extra speaker port was for the included Polk Audio speakers. The speakers had a single cable and no external power. You are correct, that is an amplifier in the case. An interesting system for sure. Brings back many wonderful memories! Not long after Granny bought her HP, our small town got high speed ADSL service. I hardly recall using dial-up. I was quite small when she got that machine.
Woah, thanks for this comment. I've had a similar HP and the Polk speakers since childhood, but had forgotten they were meant to be paired together. Every time I see those speakers I wonder where they came from and why they're unpowered, but now it makes sense and the memories of using them together are starting to come back to me.
You are a beautiful man! That HP was my workhorse for the longest time in the late 90's.
I had a Persario 5000! Reused the case for a sleeper build years later.... mega nostalgia
The button on top of those systems with blue smoke facade is a pull tab attached to a piece of carboard with information on it
I always get a kick out of watching your videos. I’m always impressed as how meticulous and gentle you are with these old systems. I also have your power supply tester. Can’t live without it.
Another amazing video. Every time I visit CZcams on a Friday, I am always met with a smile cause of this man.
Thanks! 🙂
0:28 gotta admire how much detail went into printing this manual and making sure the panel stands out.
1:03 love this CD storage. Very convenient.
1:57 ... I have questions :D
3:25 oh boy dust galore extravaganza.
9:29 ba dum TSSSSSSSS!
22:43 ouch. That fan looks like it's in pain.
26:08 ah yes, the wanna-be vinyl disc.
You have to be my favourite youtuber in the space of retro pc restoration, your personality and presentation with these are brilliant. I recently fixed up a PC myself that had an Athlon XP 1800 in it too :p
Thanks so much! 🙂
New MikeTech AND New Summoning Salt on same day? Yes, please.
Great channel! These systems are in some of my earliest memories (born 02/2003).
Rainbow watch! Hunky too!
Mike! We are really waiting for your repair videos! :)
I got a Compaq Presario in 1998 but I distinctly remember mine having a DVD drive.
seeing the Knoppix disk makes memory's fly back into view
I had one of those HP Pavilion machines from the early 2000s. 800 Mhz P3 Celeron, windows ME and 64 mb of ram. Huge POS, replaced it with the first PC I built myself: a gaming machine I built out of an HP kayak workstation that outperformed the pavilion by a mile.
_Mmm, bubblishous goodness!!_ Great vid Mike as usual - love your dry humor :)
I got a secondhand HP 360n as a kid. I believe they went with an amplified audio jack to help out the piddly Harmon/Kardon desktop speakers.
Yass! I've been waiting for that Compaq 5000 series. Let's do this!
2:21 those plastic Q's were cosmetic, not functional. But similar to the face plate, they could be swapped with different designs. 8:03 - Also, the model number starts with LTN, another clue it's a Lite-On.
You made that thing shine! Nice!
I touched hundreds and hundreds of these back in the day at both Best Buy store level and service center (repair facility when they sent it out for repair from the stores). Crazy how all the little nuaunces and details came back to me before you even cracked them open. Good video.
Awesome video! I'm still an AMD fanboy and proud of it! 😁
Nothing wrong with that 😂
You are a sick man. Just stay where you are, and some nice people will come and take you to a place where you can rest and not have the bad thoughts.
@@keithbrown7685 🤣
@@keithbrown7685 ungoodthought
Early 2000's vibes going on here! I can remember seeing S1 at college starting around then though it was separate from the standard beige cases we had at the time. At home we also had a HP desktop in the style of S3 which had a slightly faster P4, 2.8Ghz. You barely get enough time to enjoy this side hobby, you do well to get videos out!
I was watching while wife was cooking dinner and she was giggling at your puns and humor.
Mike, Nice relaxing PC preview - I'm proud of you!👏👏👏👏🙂
Dude!!! Leaf blower on the driveway. My allergies went off from here.
These videos bring back memories I didn't know I had.
Great video, dust buildup in the first one plus the cpu cooler astonishing
Love these videos. I think the amount of dust in a fan correlates with the amount of pets you have. When I had cats the fans had a serious amount of hair in them. Probably because they spent hours sitting on my keyboard desperate to stop me working. These are a pleasure to watch…..
....Yes...I had four four-legged family members at one time, but only one enjoyed watching me hammer away on the keyboard. Often, she would lay above the keyboard, that was on a slide out shelf...and she'd reach out and lay a paw on the keyboard as I tapped away.
....I think it was her way of 'being a part of it' ...OR....her way of being with me.
I had one of these Compaqs with an Athlon TBird in it. Loved that machine
That HP Pavilion A200N is the system my Dad bought me for my freshman year of college. I had the matching printer, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers.
It's sat in their house for about 10 years unused, and I think I sold it for about $65 in 2015.
Should have held onto it. You don't see complete systems like that much anymore.
Thanks for the awesome video, as always!
I have worked on almost every system you have made a video on so far... Love the videos.🙂
Thanks Mike for the video. I have to unhook the front panel. I didn't know how to do it. Now I know how. Regards , From Poland .Dzięki , Mike za filmik . Muszę odpiąć panel czołowy . Nie wiedziałem jak to zrobić . Teraz wiem jak . Pozdrawiam . Z polski🤔🤗🤝👍
Yet another Friday, ! great video, full of so many awesome "One Liners" lol
As always your sense of humor cracks me up! I like the CD storage on both the compaq and HP. I like the compaq better. The dust in the second system was crazy. I never saw that much dust in a computer. I like that it had a paper cd in the storage compartment. The look of the last HP really appealed to me. I like it. The bubble systems are cool too! The last one is especially cool. Too bad you didn’t have time for the last two systems. Keep the videos coming, they make my day!
Man, what a blast from the past! The last two computers were very close if not the same models my family used back in the day! Loved those HP machines.
Great video. brings back memories.
I always wanted one of those 5000 series presario
YES! Another video, more systems more fun!
I sold a lot of those 5000's. I remember the first few years of that design having a special thing that I think one person took advantage of, where they'd send you one free faceplate in a color you could choose other than the included blue.
i always find it fascinating with how much care and love you approach such old pc systems. keep up the good work mike! i think your channel is great! i hope you have more of this free time in the future that everyone talks about ... greetings from germany! :)
Thanks!
Wow this is a blast from the past ❤ I had a Compaq that looked almost like the one at the start of this video and one of my best friends had an HP computer that looked exactly like the one on the left loved these style of computers ❤
Thank you for the video. Good content.
That compaq case is pretty epic especially to do a modern build in.
Have a latte on me - Love these vids so much - always many a laugh and very informative. Awesome way to pass the holidays! - Love to see an instagram of all these systems if you have that going on!
Thanks so much! Currently this is the only platform I show these systems on. I should probably step that up…
@@miketech1024 Always welcome and looking forward to everything good forward!
New subscriber here and just had a pleasant afternoon watching many of your past videos. They brought back so many happy memories repairing old computers in my previous job. Great channel, great presentation and you're a pleasure to watch in so many ways😉. Keep up the great work.
Thanks! Glad you’re enjoying them. 🙂
Very happy to see the psu tester added your arsenal. I obtained one recently and it's been so handy to have in the kit.
It sure beats jumping the PS_ON signal and rigging up voltmeters!
I have an HP a500n. I paid to have it recapped because I like it. It is still a snappy computer with a 32-bit operating system on it. It was a workhorse in the home office for many years and is still very useful for many things. These old machines are like horses. They just need a job if we can find one for them.
I just got off on -call myself at my work. I feel ya.
This was so much fun and I live the top CD holder! If you can please make a video of you actually cleaning PC cleaning techniques!
I worked at Radio Shack from '98-'00 and I'm experiencing serious flashbacks seeing that Presario for the first time since then. Only thing missing is the CueCat scanner.
I miss RadioShack so much... Loved having a brick-and-mortar source for components. Now I have to wait days for that one resistor value I don't have.
I'm a little younger, but it gave me the same feelings! I had the 5000 with the green accent plates as my first not-shared-with family PC as a kid. I remember upgrading the RAM from 128MB and the weird rubber bumper on the HDD; wasting my life playing the Sims-and even more downloading user-made objects over dial-up, haha. Annoying my mom to buy me Cakewalk ScoreWriter so I could turn random MIDIs into sheet music...So many memories; I ran that thing into the ground using it so much.
I got lots of components from radio shack all the time. Last thing I put together with RS components was an IR receiver circuit that plugged into the microphone jack and was powered by USB. The IR receiver was a 3-legged component that I bridged 2 legs (data and ground) with a diode.
I probably didn’t need the diode.
I then used lircd in windows and Linux. Worked a treat!
I love how the Compaq was "cutting edge" with its front USB but it was too shy to have them exposed to the elements, hence the door! But yes, when I was younger my grandfather had one of these with 64 megs of RAM. Years later upgraded it to 256 and years after that I managed to get Ubuntu headless installed and the TTY would just display hieroglyphics so I blindly installed SSH with Apt!
Ahhhh the memories. Our first family computer was an HP bubble computer of some description. I can remember it was a celeron cpu and came running with Windows ME 😄
This is a trip down memory lane. I've had the middle one as a child, and my grandfather had the left one. I think the middle one is missing a weird plastic corner inside which directed the flow from the CPU directly to the outside of the chassis. I've had the matching crt screen with the weird ear like speakers and the matching mouse and keyboard. Wish I've kept both, but I was still a child back then.Thank you for this.
With the exception of it being a Pavilion 760n, same here! Yes, I wish I still had the elephant ear monitor and the keyboard! I was in my early 40s, though.
Oh my god!!!!! the 3rd compaq on the right, that was my first PC!!! thank you so much for these videos mike
We had one similar to the first system you shown, from 1998. The storage on top held a kind of a quick-start guide, convenient, but rarely used lollllll.
had the 2nd system, although i upgraded the motherboard and psu, did like that cd holder on top, good for when dealing with multiple disk installs without setting all the disks on your desk
That was fun. I upgraded to hardware like that. CD players were marvels of the future coming from my 5 1/4 & 3 1/2 floppies. Quality testament of the day that things still worked so well. Great content, so big thanks for your work!
The nostalgia!!!
There's a decomissioned a-series HP tower from around 2003 on my parent's house, and can definitely tell you its industrial design has aged quite well compared to the other HP you cleaned up. More so if you paired It with the then-edgy LCD flat panel (VGA only, though), as my father did!More on that later.
That tower was our family computer for many years, until my siblings and my dad had each one a laptop. Our hp, however, was a more upscale model. It was clearly meant to be a multimedia PC as it came with an AMD Athlon CPU @2.8 ghz, had an onboard nVidia GeForce 4 graphics card with 32-128 MB shared memory over an AGP 8x bus (as well as a spare AGP socket), 128 MB DDR RAM, a DVD-RW drive on the top and a CD-ROM on the bottom, of course a floppy drive but also a multi-card combo which could take CF, MMC, SD, and Sony's own Memory Stick, as well as a USB 2.0 + FireWire header justo in case you wanted to download your DV-cam's footage.
Over time, I upgraded it with a second hard drive, a standard PCI (not PCIe) 802.11abg WiFi card, and topped up the ram to its maximum 2 GB, but could not get Windows 7 on It because the AMD CPU lacked sse2 support.
Ten years later, by 2013, It was so obsolete that even Linux mint struggled to run fine on It: this time not because of the CPU but because of the onboard graphics, which proved to be troublesome. I was stuck with XP sp3 for the rest of the computer's life, although I hacked the registry to get POSready updates from Windows update. At that point, I rarely used the HP but to write long papers, as my laptop was way more powerful and convenient.
As I mentioned before, my dad bought the tower along a 15" LCD flat panel and matching Harman Kardon speakers, which are still in service to this day! Sure, an HDMI to VGA adapter had to be placed in the middle but, hey! It does help a lot if you want a secondary laptop screen -to check emails or do a quick web browse, on a raher cramped home-office (or, should I say appartment-office) desktop!
I wonder why HP got rid of that classy navy/bluish silver color scheme, It does look bold yet classy and timeless. I still get compliments on the looks of the monitor whenever I have visits on my flat.
Sadly, the keyboard an mouse are another story: the bundled optical mouse died three years later and, over time, the keyboard's keys jammed so much because of wear and tear. Neither a deep clean by pulling out the keycaps or lubbing the stems made an improvement so, for now, It Is stored away until I can figure out how to make It work properly.
Gosh, so many memories... I strongly advice you to get the whole matching set for the tower and please your eyes, you won't regret It. Same for the Compaq: my uncle had one of those and looked so great with the purplish-blue speakers hanging on the sides of the CRT screen. How did PC design came to be so bland these days?
Dave from London here again. Another great video . Wow your up to 7.7 K subscribers keep em coming . You must have that magic touch 👍🏻
Thanks! I can hardly believe it… 10k is in sight!
@@miketech1024 it sure is people obviously love you and the way you present
I feel privileged to be along for the ride joined at 2k subscribers
Wishing you all the best
My first computer was one of those bubble HP systems! I can confirm the extra audio output was amplified audio. The speakers it came with would plug directly to that without an extra power cable. Kinda neat for cable management!
de dust 2 drop was clever
Whow, memories :-) I used to sell such a Compaqs back in 2001,2002 and still remember that there is a storage for CDs 🙂
Love the lower cased, darker design of HP machines in the 2000s
I’ve got the HP Pavilion 563 that uses the same case as that one, I’ve recently gutted it and built a gaming rig in it. I love their design
No week is complete without your fridays hardware review. I really like your sense for the (smaller and bigger) details. 👍🏼
Thanks!
In 1998, i was given a box of 50 of thise NICs when a friend working for an IT company did upgrades to all the company computers. He got around 400 or so in total. I gave NICs away to everyone at a party of local IRC' friends.
Took 4 days of seeing the thumbnail several times a day to realize you were blowing bubbles 😂
Heh, I still have one of those Presario 5000 series hiding in my back room. It likely needs to go in the recycle bin, but I've got to have SOMETHING to collect dust to keep it off my working machines!🤣 Nice work on the cleanup!
Actually been looking for one of those 5000 series Compaqs
The 360N one with a CD folder on the top was my favorite dumpster dive find as a kid. First PC I had that ever had XP on it and that was something I wanted more than a PS2
Everyone of these systems that I worked on over the years, eventually the motherboard failed. These boards also were known for capacitor plague, every single one of them. I was able to swap in an aftermarket board, cpu, and memory to get them back up and running. Everyone of them were loaded in dust, and never cared for. The HP Pavilion was the easiest system to upgrade to a much higher platform, and even added a front all-in-one card reader in the 3.5 empty slot.
These were my favorite computer styles. I used to sell these at Best Buy. I wish that modern PC's had this style again, or that at least it was an option. I guess I could always build a sleeper PC in one of these cases. The little tag you were looking at usually had some information on it. I think it had the serial number and service tag.
I worked for ASUS as a bench repair tech for systems under warranty. They pronounced it ASOOS, not ACES. Just saying. Not being mean or anything. Nice video. I enjoyed watching this.
I worked in an Asus warranty and refurbish facility back around 2008, I was in the laptop dept. Was an interesting job if only they had paid reasonably for the work. Ended up leaving to repair industrial CNC and robots.
Had to watch this video as soon as I saw the thumbnail since I have all 3 of these cases, albeit different systems inside 😆
I was impressed by the quality of that first Compaq case. It's quite heavy duty and the latching side panel is really nice for a prebuilt of that era. I too assumed the gray piece on top slides out but I was too scared to try and force it. You have taught me how to remove the front panel though (why did they make it so complicated?), so thank you for that.
Be careful with the power button on that last HP. The switch isn't centered (it's towards either the top or bottom, can't remember which) and the button will eventually snap off if pressed too hard in the center. Weird and annoying design flaw. My cousin had a PC in the same case and it happened to his too.
This is a very cool, high quality video. I like the bits of humor you throw in and your knowledge of these old components. Definitely gonna like and subscribe. 👍
I had a ompaq Presario 7000, way back when.. it was model 7RPME2. Oh the memories…
Another interesting and well presented video.👍👍 I had an HP Pavilion PC., many years ago, but the case was of a slightly different design to the ones which you have shown and it had a 2.66 GHZ., Pentium 4 processor and it came with 512 mb., of ram., and I added a second ram., stick to bring it up to it's maximum of 1 gig., that was plenty in those days. It had an 80 gig., hard drive and two optical drives and a built in card reader and a fire wire port and it had XP home installed, I recall that it was a very neat looking computer.
Sod the bubbles, I know what I want to blow 😆
Great video as always!
A CDR and CDRom was a common setup back then for the exact reason you said - copying discs 1:1.
Shocked by the dust in these
I really like these old cases! I have an old HP case where a pentium d was housed, i gutted the machine and put a core i7 2600 in it, and every front panel connection works! I even removed the firewire connection from the front and i replaced it with a usb 3 plug :p
As kid I had a Presario 5000 running on ME with a Nvidia GPU with the matching monitor mounted speakers. Ran really well and was good the gaming at the time (It could run Mafia at full graphics and Sims 2 without frame drops). I actually miss it
Nicly designed &build systems!!!
I had that HP, wish I could build another system like it
We had that middle HP Pavillion when I was a kid. With matching 'bubble' monitor, keyboard and mouse. My dad kept upgrading it with more ram, newer GPU, better sound card etc, until it was finally too old to use in 2009.
I like your joke about the ATE sticker. I'm a new subscriber.
Such a great video in your inimitable style. I love your humour. Its rather ironic expecting to hear your old faithful clickety-clack hard drives on power supply smoke tests. Cheers
Thanks! 🙂