First post, by xeon3d
Hi. (BTW I'm new here, but been a lurker for a while).
Recently a local charity asked me to check out a room full of computers to see if any of them could be worked to get at least windows xp on them and be usable. They also wanted to repurpose the room where the computers were. After being there for a whole day my conclusion was that there wasn't really any usable computers there (for them at least) as the most recent computer was a 1.5 Ghz P4 with 256Mb of RAM. So after telling the person in charge of the (bad) news, I was told to keep what I wanted and the rest would be binned. Amongst a few white branded PCs, DELL Optiplexes and Compaq Presarios (White/Blue case) I got to bring home an IBM PS/1 Model 2133-642.
Amazingly it still works wonders, but I'm having quite some difficulty find info about it online. From the case itself it should have a 486SX @ 25Mhz, 4MB of RAM and a 170MB HDD, but after opening the case and having a quick look/pictures taken, I found out the following:
- The CPU has the following markings: IBM Blue Lightning DX2 IBM26 486-V266GA which according to http://www.cpu-collection.de/?l0=co&l1=IBM&l2=486 is a 486 DX2 @ 66 Mhz, 5V CPU.
- The motherboard looks like the one here (from what I could see): http://ps-2.kev009.com/eprmhtml/eprm/f281.htm
- I haven't got any disks for it. It boots up Windows 95 (!).
- If I recall correctly, the amount of detected memory changes per power on cycle.
Now for the questions:
a) According to the same handbook website, the motherboard seems from a 2133A type machine even tho there is no reference of 2133A anywhere on the computer, is this common?
b) It also says that that motherboard should come with a 486SX so my guess is that this was upgraded?
c) Where is the cheapest place to get RAM / Cache chips for this?
d) Any tips of how to restore the metal casing? It has a bit of rust.
Thanks in advance, here are some pics for your viewing pleasure: