In those days, "cable management" meant you managed to shove all the cables into the case.

Ol' Pew Pew has gone from phaser to hungry kitten in this one.. :D

Compaq seem to have been a massive fan of that particular crumpled coke-can CPU cooler don't they!

Compaq was really good about putting replacement part numbers on everything!

That poor motor drive circuit is going to let out it's magic smoke.

But, glad to hear the Pew Pew again. 🥰

hah, mercilessly sacrificing a HDD that fixed itself just to get it to produce pew pews, and blanket-heating a stubborn conner just to get it to boot, only on Mike's channel :P

Mr Pew Pew, you're back my pretty, oh joy of joys !! I just deciphered its language Mike and it says 'Thank You! '

You had me laughing so hard when you gleefully glued the hard drive up and again when you put a blanket over the connor drive so it was cosy. Hahahaha. Thanks for your video.

Haven’t watched yet, but it’s always nice to have a new MikeTech video that I can look forward watching when I get home from work.

I really enjoy the level of effort that you put into getting the HDD going. I couldn't have thought of anything else to try myself. It was all for nothing when you found the head crashes inside. I felt bad when the screwdriver jammed into the platter but it turned out it didn't matter :)

Our family PC from 1996! Came with a shopping mall UI over windows called 'Presario Plaza' from memory. Oh and Compton's encyclopaedia, narrated by Patrick Stewart.

Can't wait for part 2! There are actually two modems because the Compaq Operator software checks for a specific modem during startup. If it isn't present, it throws two errors unless the entry is commented out in WIN.INI. I also documented restoring these systems back to their factory configuration on the Intrnet Archive, including a newer Volume 2 that corrects a number of things from Volume 1 and includes an earlier Quick Restore ISO.

@24:10 There is your symphony, it's a one-disk symphony! Lol, too freaking hilarious, I was laughing the whole time.

When Mike struggles with a case you know it's seriously stuck...

17:34 I worked at an enterprise office complex where 2 companies merged, one company was using Dell computers the other was using Compaq I liked when the ticket came in for a Dell vs a Compaq, the Dells were so easy to work on, Compaq not so much. The company I worked for I was the lead IT guy and when it came to a PC refresh they asked me what machine I would suggest and I told them Dell. I was so happy when I was called to warehouse receiving to unload a truck full of boxes with Dell all over them.

that pew pew drive now kinda sounds like a kitty lol, love it!

25:08 caught me off guard when you said my name (Connor). Forgot for a second you’re talking about the Conner hard drive lol 😅

28:12 My bad guys.

That series was a serious gaming-ready PC. I was working at Best Buy at the time as the in-store upgrade specialist while I was also attending college in computer science and engineering. These machines were sought after for the strong Sound Blaster compatibility, and I installed a 3dFX VooDoo in many of them with more RAM, to provide better game compatibility. I did the same with IBM, as well, but that ALWAYS had a Sound Blaster 16 as well. For the people who thought IBM meant quality (yet used terrible, incompatible sound systems).

Man this system looks like it was the beginning of the end for Compaq, kinda sad really since this era of Compaq always stood out to me with quality (and proprietary) builds comparable to the Vectra line.

Maybe that's how the hardware part of the floppotron was born.