I have a Deskpro XL 590 that is now more or less fully outfitted and running great. I also have a 386/33M - it stopped powering up long ago and I am on the verge of tearing into it to see if I can restore it & bring it back to life.
The XL is a fabulous, utterly reliable machine that runs fast, stays quiet and is more than robust enough to use as a stool if you were desperate. After a lot of time & work (and admittedly, money) it's now fully kitted out. Note: you only have a couple of PCI slots that must be used sparingly, and this system's vintage of PCI is not always compatible with more modern PCI hardware. After months of swapping and benchmarking I've arrived at the following configuration:
- Fully decked out on RAM.... 136MB I believe
- I use a Matrox Millennium II 12MB as the video card. It runs most things I want this era machine to run quite well and lets me use any color depth and resolution I'd care for. Riva128 and G200 cards also work but the Millennium seemed to have the best combination of DOS and Windows performance. I have QVision 1024/E and Rage64 EISA video cards and neither holds a candle to the Millennium.
- For storage, I've long had the best luck with a Ultra133 TX2 controller against a fast PATA 7200rpm drive. This is clearly faster than the onboard IDE controller. I've recently begun kicking the tires on SCSI and may give that a try.
- I'd love to try a different processor board for grins. I bought the 486/66 board cheap long ago and perhaps at some point I'll give it a try. I'd be more interested in getting a P133 or even finding the 6150 or 6200.... but so far I've not seen one available anywhere. (I'll take any leads!)
- I use mine with both the 3.5" and 5.25" Compaq floppy drives, and this computer has now become my primary system for 5.25" backups when I don't need a Kyroflux+Teac setup.
- The RTC gave out long ago... fortunately there is that handy connector for an external battery.
Things I dislike about the XL series:
- As mentioned above, PCI compatibility is hit-or-miss, and this system is EISA heavy, PCI light
- Needing to use the system configuration utility slows everything down. Deploying the dedicated partition is a pain if you're testing different operating systems, and it's flat-out incompatible with DDOs sometimes... sticking to the floppy set is... sluggish. Use one of the older versions... the final supported version (2.58) comes on 4 disks, 3 of which have to be read before the system will configure itself.
- The drive cage fitment and cable routing is substandard at best if you find yourself doing a lot of drive bay swaps.
- My power switch doesn't work... when 120V is plugged into the PSU the system immediately starts up. I gotta fix this...
*Important request to make*: Anyone with Deskpro M series can you do this?
Hi good to see you pop up with your 386/33m and XL.
Can you measure voltage when 386/33M computer is off and powered on for pin 1 (rearmost and is on pin 1 right side row (on the motherboard's power connector pin 1 is marked with a "*" asterisk and pin 2 (Pin 2 is one pin down under the pin 1) on your power supply connector while hooked to the motherboard.
I suspect pin 1 is steady power but which voltage? Also another pin 2 is probably POWER_GOOD signal from power supply. But I need to know what this pin 1 and pin 2 are doing when on or off.
I already ohmed all the other pins on the motherboard's power supply connector since deskpro M power supply is impossible to find anymore.
Having multiple Deskpro /Ms and /XLs I can confirm these are perfect DOS machines. Both can be easily upgraded by swaping the CPU board to P66 for the M or PPro for the XL .
The P90 board of the XL can be tweaked to P120, but never found a way to make it run @133 MHz.
Some Prosignia used the same CPU board as the XL, while the Systempro /LT uses CPU and memory board of the M.
The only limits I found are the some of the build in components:
- The Ms Business Audio is allmost unusable for gaming, even if you manage to find the break out box.
- Installing IDE harddrives in the M can be difficult as well as you need to run the EISA setup to get them configured.
- The driver for the XLs AMD SCSI is sometimes picky.
Hope you got the Compaq Vocalyst Keyboard with your XL?
Unfortunately I do not have a spare power supply for the M, but some CPU and memory boards.
Hi there, Eisapc, are you knowledgeable with electronics and using multi-meter? I'm interested in power supply pinout for Deskpro M.
I have 386DX-33 with 16K cache controller (395DX-33) and DX2-66 processor cards for the Deskpro M.
I managed to locate Deskpro XL processor card and bought, running at 66MHz to enable either 100, 133 and 166 even pentium 200 processor. Checked against the parts list p/n and it is.
I'm separating out the article from a thread about needing for power supply pinouts for compaq computers shortly.
However the processor card running at 66Mhz may be Socket 4 which means if you want to run a 120 or 133MHz CPU, you'll need an overdrive which are super hard to come by.
Hi there, Eisapc, are you knowledgeable with electronics and using multi-meter? I'm interested in power supply pinout for Deskpro M.
Sure I can, it may just take a few days.
Machine and multimeter are at hand, I just will be off for the weekend.
Fot tweaking the XL Socket 5 Pentium boards I was able to change some of the SMD resistors to make it run at 120 instead of 90 Mhz.
Never found out how to get it running at 100 or 133 MHz though, nor did I find a matching CPU board to copy the layout.
One major advance of the M ist the installable RAM capacity.
With the optional RAM expansion board you can easily upgrade it to 64 MB (PS/2 with parity).
This makes it a real performer with WIN3.x or any DOS application.
I still remember when I outperformed most of my student colleages at university with my 16 MB 386 against their 8 MB 486 machines.
I was lucky to have 16 SIMM slots, while most 486 had only 8 and 4 MB 30 pin SIMMs were unobtainium.
Having multiple Deskpro /Ms and /XLs I can confirm these are perfect DOS machines. Both can be easily upgraded by swaping the CPU board to P66 for the M or PPro for the XL .
The P90 board of the XL can be tweaked to P120, but never found a way to make it run @133 MHz.
Some Prosignia used the same CPU board as the XL, while the Systempro /LT uses CPU and memory board of the M.
Hi! In your experience, what is involved in transplanting a ProSignia board into an XL? I have a P120 ProSignia 300 board (169174-002) and when I slot it into the XL, I get no video and the case fan running at 100% duty cycle. I’ve populated the board with some sticks of 32MB EDO, but get the same result unpopulated. The one major difference I see is that the ProSignia board seems to have a fan connector on it. I know my XL will not power without a fan connected to the motherboard connector; might this require a second fan connected to the CPU/memory board?
The Prosignia 300/500 has a different planar, but the CPU complex is identical with the XL.
I swapped them so often, I still dont know what board originated where.
The only difference might be the bracket, but I am not even sure about this.
I do not remeber plugging a fan to the CPU board, only to the XL planar.
First I would try to run the CPU complex with the memory soldered onboard only, second step Add some parity PS/2 Simms.
Only combo i did not prove yet is the 6200 CPU complex in the Prosinia. The Pentium Pro was never offered in the Prosignia by Compaq.
BTW did you run the latest ROMPAQ on the XL?
If it was a 4xx model originally it might not support the 5xx CPU boards natively.
If you still cannot make it work PM me for a known working spare.
eisapcwrote on 2020-05-19, 06:03:The Prosignia 300/500 has a different planar, but the CPU complex is identical with the XL.
I swapped them so often, I still do […] Show full quote
The Prosignia 300/500 has a different planar, but the CPU complex is identical with the XL.
I swapped them so often, I still dont know what board originated where.
The only difference might be the bracket, but I am not even sure about this.
I do not remeber plugging a fan to the CPU board, only to the XL planar.
First I would try to run the CPU complex with the memory soldered onboard only, second step Add some parity PS/2 Simms.
Only combo i did not prove yet is the 6200 CPU complex in the Prosinia. The Pentium Pro was never offered in the Prosignia by Compaq.
BTW did you run the latest ROMPAQ on the XL?
If it was a 4xx model originally it might not support the 5xx CPU boards natively.
If you still cannot make it work PM me for a known working spare.
Hi eisapc,
I've tried with both the onboard memory only as well as appropriate memory sticks without success--same behavior. The machine is running the final ROMPAQ for the XL (I believe 4/97 or thereabouts.). The machine was a native / original P90 that I am trying to slot a faster Pentium board into.
Here is a picture of my Prosignia 300 P120 board - 169174-002 (baseboard 004812-015) which matches several references online. There is a P120 under the heatsink. Note the six RAM slots and the fan header just above the CPU. I also have a P150 board (262329-001, often described as a P150 for the Prosignia 300/500 though less definitively; baseboard labeled 004712-014 suggesting Prosignia 300) that as far as I can tell is absolutely identical other than (a) the part no. labels and (b) a P150 underneath the heatsink. Both are Socket 5.
In contrast here is the original board that came with my XL, labeled 003510-001, with a P90 under the heatsink, also Socket 5. Here, there are only 4 slots for memory, the board layout is different, and there is no fan header above the CPU. I also have two other XL boards (P60 and the 486/66) I purchased many years ago; neither is socketed nor tested (never got around to it) but both boards also have 4 RAM slots. The 486 is socket 2; the P60 is Socket 4.
I'll PM you directly but wanted to share this information here for posterity--it's hard to find information online about these computers.
Somewhat unrelated, I have been leveraging the following documents for part number information but am curious if anyone knows their origin. They reference IBM part numbers for Compaq parts which is unusual. They also seem to represent the best summary of critical upgradable parts for old Compaq desktops despite being IBM douments?! Any ideas?
Does anyone know the difference between the "210982-001" and "148077-001" system boards in the XL series? I imagine each supports a particular range of processor cards but I'm not sure which might be which.
My XL 590 uses 148077-001. Anyone have a different model of this machine and can check what system board yours has?
O.k. here are the two XL boards I found:
Assy 004024-102 Spare 148238-001 50 MHz Socket 4
Assy 004843-006 Socket 5
This should be 120 MHz but a 90 MHz CPU is installed.
For the M I found a backplane, 3 486 4MB Boards Assy 002501-101, and -011 and 3 memory boards.
I need to have another look, there must be some more boards.
But have to do the voltage measurements for you first.
Thanks for sharing the photos. At this point I do not believe it is true that the Prosignia 300 and Deskpro XL boards are interchangeable; both of my Prosignia boards have six RAM slots and are quite different. Fortunately I was able to purchase them for the same cost the CPUs alone would have run, so regrets about buying them and trying them. I am still interested to know if there is a compatibility path though.
Regarding the XL model, some other hard-fought information to share here are the latest software for this model:
Sp1664.exe - v2.35 SCSI support for DOS, W311, W9x
Sp3642.exe - Final released BIOS (486W, 4/07/97)
Sp19619.exe - v2.58 final System Configuration Utility with Deskpro/XL support. 4 disks. NOTE: I believe Deskpro M support was removed by v2.58 and have not yet searched for the final SCU for that model
Another thing I learned was the use of Ctrl-A in the main menu of the System Configuration Utility to enable advanced mode. Among other things, this allowed me to enable a 'PCI Mastering' option (disabled by default) which has resolved some glitchiness between the XL and modern drive controllers such as an Ultra133 TX2 and a FastTrack S150 TX2Plus (SATA) both of which are darn speedy on the XL with a proper quick drive.
I finally found the Pentium Pro processor board and it should arrive in a couple of days--I will post pics when it does. I'm excited to see how far I can push the XL chassis. 😀
eisapcwrote on 2020-05-29, 13:19:O.k. here are the two XL boards I found:
Assy 004024-102 Spare 148238-001 50 MHz Socket 4
Assy 004843-006 Socket 5
This should […] Show full quote
O.k. here are the two XL boards I found:
Assy 004024-102 Spare 148238-001 50 MHz Socket 4
Assy 004843-006 Socket 5
This should be 120 MHz but a 90 MHz CPU is installed.
For the M I found a backplane, 3 486 4MB Boards Assy 002501-101, and -011 and 3 memory boards.
I need to have another look, there must be some more boards.
But have to do the voltage measurements for you first.
eisapc,
Awesome, thanks, keep me updated. I still have need for memory board and parts for M, trying to locate official compaq rather than kingston's.
If you might, I have 386/25e that I'm working on finding 4MB memory modules (they are daughter-boards modules rather than SIMM/DIMM.
And update: I purchased a barebone Deskpro M chassis in good condition and cables. What needs to do: floppy drive with bezel, brackets for drives (sigh, more searching). I have processor cards and board spares still no memory expansion card yet. What I'm still looking is power supply or more complete information on power supply for M.
I also purchased convertible compaq 386/33i motherboard that can either have 386dx 33 with own 16K cache controller and 387 socket or 486DX 33 socket with 64K cache module. To go with that, I also purchased complete deskpro 486/33i computer to play with and restore. Need restoration work but price was right.
People who using compaq computers to run vintage software.
eisapc and Swiego: What kind of game software these computers are good at? I'm curious.
I’m happy to help with any advice on the Deskpro I. The 4/66i was the first computer I purchased new with my own money, at 15 with three years of lawn mowing money. I still have it today in top condition and fully upgraded, and even the original box has remained in pristine condition and over the years I’ve gotten to know every nook and cranny 😀. This is a fine, rare line and I love it despite the lack of PCI.
Re: games when I’m not futzing with the XL I’m actually using it to archive a couple thousand floppy disks. (Very slow going.) it’s been a great, stable platform to image disks then try out the apps or review data that was on them. I’ve played some age of empires mostly 😀
Good news, I finally received a pair of what I believe are the Pentium Pro boards for the XL. I have only unwrapped them and likely won't have time to try them for a few days but here is a picture:
Both boards look new. The rear has quite a few very large Intel branded ICs. The RAM slots are different from my existing boards so I have to check my stash to see if I have anything compatible. There also are two connectors on the board below the RAM slots whose purpose I cannot discern. Lastly, I have a PPro 200 (256kb) en route so until that arrives, I cannot do much with this thing. Happy to take requests though.
I'm still concerned that the PPro XL units utilized a newer system / IO board and I'll run into problems trying to use this on my existing computer.
Last edited by Swiego on 2020-06-06, 13:01. Edited 1 time in total.
The PPRO card looks great. But I wonder if a CPU card with such a little glue logic can really work on system boards designed for Pentium (or even 486?). Are this cards compatible as soon as they fit into the slot?
I have this system board (004321-001 or 004320-001). I am trying to find out if ti can take the CPU card that looks just like P120 one on picture above. But I have just the board - no PSU. Could someone with working system post/measure the connector and pinout? Ot is it documented somewhere?
