Posting from Windows 98 right now!

I've managed to get network printing to an HP TCP/IP printer working on both Windows 98 and Windows 3.11, using generic HP Deskjet drivers. Works very well with no hitches. I was surprised it was so easy.

I've installed Microsoft Office 2000 on Win98, and Office 4.3 on Win3.1. Using RTF for compatibility reasons works well.

And everything in DOS is still running like a charm.

I already have a bunch of DOS games set up on the DOS/Win3.1 partition. I'm thinking about installing Combat Flight Simulator 2 on Windows 98 to see what happens. I bet I can make it work smoothly if I turn the graphics options down enough.

What I feared has come upon me:

The battery charging circuit in this machine is kaput.

I rebuilt the battery - using 3 cells instead of the original 6, since I can still get more than the original 2800 mAh using 3500 mAh cells (the originals were 1400 each, 3 parallel pairs of 2 each in series to get 10.8 V) - but the unit still exhibits the exact same functionality: the power meter stays at 80% all the time and the battery will not charge. I have the bottom of the battery case off so I can test the voltage and it does absolutely nothing. No charging at all. It says it's charging it, but in reality it's not even trying.

I found a forum post where someone has an identical problem (complete with high pitched whine): https://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=124457

Considering that this guy bought a whole new battery and it still didn't fix it, I think maybe the DC/DC board is shot. I wonder what's wrong with it. I found one here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/IBM-05K3195-THIHKPAD … Z867V:rk:1:pf:0 but I don't really want to pay $50 for it plus shipping.

It appears to have a lot of electrolytic capacitors on it. I wonder if changing all of those would fix it.

I also have to replace or somehow repair the CD drive at some point. There's a combo CD/floppy unit on eBay for $20. Geez. Maybe I should go for the CD/floppy unit, and deal with the DC/DC board while I'm replacing that.

I really did not want to have to tear this unit apart, ever.

Anyone have a different one they want to trade me with? 🤣