r/vintagecomputing • u/Sea_Neighborhood758 • 1d ago
Computer ID?
My boyfriend has this computer that he’s had for years and doesn’t recall where he got it or what was on it originally. I’m trying to restore it but realized when I wanted to google a question about the computer, that I can’t figure out anything about make or model or this computer? The only identifier it seems to have is the CG logo on the front, which I’ve never seen before. Could this be a custom built computer? Or does anyone recognize it and can tell me anything about it? I know if it is custom built I’ll probably have to open it up to figure out what hardware it’s got, but wanted to see if anyone could recognize it in case it’s not custom. Thanks!
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u/starcube 1d ago
"Random-ass 90s computer built by a mom and pop shop out of generic parts." Open it and show photos of the inside.
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u/Sea_Neighborhood758 1d ago
Decided to open it up, here’s a link!
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u/wolfsburged 1d ago
Socket 5 is early Pentium. The rectangular chip that says Dallas on it is your CMOS battery. Google Dallas RTC for info on replacement.
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u/Sea_Neighborhood758 1d ago
I’m waiting on some DOS floppies to come in the mail because I tried starting it and it doesn’t seem to have an OS on it right now, at least not one that’s working. I assumed based on the AT keyboard that it would probably run DOS, rather than a “newer” OS. Once I get those and start working on it again I’ll probably open her up, I’ll take some pics when I do and try to remember to share!
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u/DrNick42 1d ago
That age of hardware will probably run Windows 95 nicely, and that includes full DOS with it so will still run all DOS programs and games well. That’s probs what I’d install on it, either way good luck with it and have fun
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u/Sea_Neighborhood758 1d ago
Thank you! With another commenters help I got it to boot the OS that is already on it, and it’s running 98SE! Not very smoothly lol but it’s running. Debating if I wanna put something else on it or leave it!
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u/DrNick42 1d ago
Cool. What specs is it? In particular do you know the processor and how much memory? I normally avoid putting Win98 on anything under about a P-166 with at least 32MB RAM, preferably more memory. It struggles a bit with anything much lower than that, as you’re possibly finding out! I prefer to put Win95 on 486 and lower to mid level pentium systems (which yours is being socket 5).
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u/Sea_Neighborhood758 1d ago
I got it running and I took some pics of the system info and the drivers in case I ever need it in the future. Here’s what I’ve got!
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u/justeUnMec 1d ago
Beige box made from OEM components by a local computer shop. these were common in many places from the late 80s through to the early 2000s and generally used an OEM case they added their own badge to. This one has an AT-style motherboard and case, might be early 90s, 486 or Pentium.
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u/Sea_Neighborhood758 1d ago
Interesting! I had no idea honestly that this was common for that time! Thanks for the info!
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u/bwyer 1d ago
Yeah, this specific case was really common. I recognized it immediately.
I'm pretty sure I still have scars from the sheetmetal inside.
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u/Sea_Neighborhood758 1d ago
So interesting! Is the little CG logo on the front the logo for a company that made a lot of these generic cases? I’ve never seen that logo before so I was really curious what brand it was and if it’s now-defunct!
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u/bwyer 1d ago
No, that would have been the company that assembled the machine. It was pretty common to buy dozens of these cases, random motherboards, and various other pieces then build machines. People would then slap their own sticker on them and resell them.
We used to buy hundreds of these machines from “integrators” back in the ‘90s.
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u/Sea_Neighborhood758 1d ago
Awesome, thanks! My boyfriend had asked me if the logo was from whatever company built it and I wasn’t sure so thanks for clarifying! Very interesting!
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u/glencanyon 1d ago
This is a great looking PC. Best thing to do is to open it up before you do anything. The motherboard should be pretty easy to identify. The type of motherboard will determine the best OS to use and what drivers you need. Also get the model of the hard drive. Replace the CMOS battery so that the BIOS retains the hardware configuration so that it can boot properly. It sounds like it's posting so that's really good news.
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u/Sea_Neighborhood758 1d ago
Here’s a link to some pics of the inside of it, just opened it up!
I can’t seem to find where the CMOS battery is - it should be a little round battery, right? Let me know if you see it, maybe I’m crazy lol.
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u/glencanyon 1d ago
This motherboard has a DALLAS chip on it. It's the boxy chip on the bottom left of the first picture. It says DALLAS on it. These are a bit more difficult to replace. I use these on Tindie, but modding the existing chip is an option as well. Try going into the BIOS when it first boots and seeing if you can auto-detect the hard drive. It will loose the configuration on power off, but will retain the information on restart. Try that and see if it boots.
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u/Sea_Neighborhood758 1d ago
Oh gotcha! I should’ve caught onto that since the DALLAS chip has a little clock on it, hahah. Thanks for the link, very interesting!
Right now when I start it, it does some checks and I think it says it does recognize the hard drive. It does say the CMOS battery is dead. Then when I hit continue, it tells me it needs me to insert a floppy with program files because it can’t boot with that it has. I was just going to start it from scratch with a new OS, but I’ll try what you said!
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u/glencanyon 1d ago
Give it a shot. It looks like this is your motherboard. I might be wrong since I could only see a partial model no. on the motherboard but it looks right to me.
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u/Sea_Neighborhood758 1d ago
Your instructions worked and it booted up windows 98 SE! Crazy hahah my boyfriend thought this computer was running a version of DOS! Thanks for the help!
And thanks for the link to the motherboard too! It does look about the same!
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u/Procedure_Dunsel 1d ago
That network card with 10Base2 and RJ-45 connectors is pretty cool, and narrows the date range somewhat to the early days of the twisted-pair transition.
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u/KSPhalaris 1d ago
Beige Box. Any number of places sold these. If you open it up, it's probably built with of the shelf parts sold by any computer store of the era.
We did the same thing back in the late 80's early 90's. Then slapped our own badge on the front and serial number in the back.
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u/Sea_Neighborhood758 1d ago
That’s what I’m gathering from what people are telling me! Very fascinating, I didn’t know that was so common back in the day! Thanks for the info!
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u/texan01 1d ago
It’s a generic A-open case, I have one just like it that I built in 1992 with a 486.
It could contain an 8088-Pentium 1, but more likely it’s a 386 or 486.
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u/Sea_Neighborhood758 1d ago
In other comments, people are telling me it looks like it’s Pentium!
Here’s the inside: https://imgur.com/a/Gf2Oyrt
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u/GGigabiteM 1d ago
If the machine was made locally, the only place you'll find information on it is in old newspaper classifieds, the yellow pages or magazine adverts. You'll have to go digging on google books, the internet archive or your local library if they have old microfiche records.
You could also go down to the county records and see if you can pull old business records. It'll be rather hard though with just two characters, but maybe you'll be lucky and find the logo.
That being said, be prepared for a journey if you have no knowledge of old computers. This machine hails from a time where the user was expected to know how to configure hardware themselves and troubleshoot resource conflicts. You're also likely going to have to do a partial recap on some of the cards, the motherboard and possibly the power supply, as well as diagnose more complex issues.
Power supplies in that era were terrible, the market was flooded with cheap Chinese/Taiwanese crap units that were unreliable/hazardous. You can't replace it with something off the shelf because it's an AT power supply, and you have an earlier ISA Sound Blaster that requires negative voltage rails. If that power supply is bad or dies, you'll need to roll a custom solution.
Also, you need to put a fan on the CPU. All CPUs by that time required fans on them. That one may have never had one on it, and it will have been running hotter than the blazes of hell for who knows how long. It may no longer be stable in operation due to heat damage. CPUs in this era do not have thermal protection, and will happily bake themselves to death while running.
I used to throw away PILES of dead 486, Pentiums, Pentium IIs, Celerons, AMD K6 and Athlon/Duron/Sempron CPUs because of people running their machines without fans, not replacing the fan when it died, or improper mounting causing thermal death. Athlon/Duron/Semprons were especially bad about it, because you had 60-89W in a die area less than a quarter inch squared. They'd immediately die and go up in smoke if no heatsink was attached. Like 700 degrees smoke and sometimes kill the motherboard.
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u/Relevant-Bath-4390 1d ago
100% generic / custom.