Reviving an IBM laptop from 1991!

This IBM PS/2 L40 SX had so many leaking caps, no wonder it was called a plague.

Any feedback is welcome, as always.

Bookmarks!
00:00:00 - Intro
00:04:22 - Powering up
00:05:38 - Do we have VGA?
00:10:02 - Disassembly
00:19:06 - Starting the recap
00:22:50 - Booting into reference disk
00:28:23 - Screen disassembly
00:31:41 - Testing components
00:36:52 - Screen recapping
00:39:05 - Testing
00:40:41 - Booting DOS!
00:43:10 - Conclusion

Links!

Credits!
Music:
* Andreas Boldt - Gentle Impulsions
* Birdies - Skipping Class
* Masaru Setsumaru - Data Select (from Sonic 3)
Putting up with my weird hobbies: My wife

Disclaimer!
I am NOT an expert, I have genuinely NO idea what I'm doing, and mostly just glue things together and use a lot of Google-fu until stuff works. I've been tinkering with electronics since I was a kid but have no formal training and will probably do things incorrectly. If you learn something from this, that's awesome, but trust me - I'm learning too!

#ibm #retrocomputing #repair

[silvestronsbitsandbytes]

Here's a fun fact that I didn't address in the video: when this laptop was launched in March 1991, its introductory price was US$5995 - equivalent to ~$13350 in 2023 US dollars or ~$20550 Aussie dollarydoos!

[MrMy]

Excellent video. I have two of these machines. One of them fixed up for now (recapped systemboard, inverter and remaining screen caps + cf/ide 512mb CF). The other one is still to be fxed (as soon as you connect it to power, it will power on regardless of how the power-switch is on or off). They are quite nice machines. Not the fastest ones around, but otherwise quite cool.

[saturnaliam]

sick vid, i always love seeing people restore vintage electronics!! you may want to consider putting some music in the background of the video, a little bit of background audio can go a long way

[maxf]

Good stuff man, nice to see that you got the laptop going!

[il_nostro_della_segreto]

Excellent video and a beauty of a laptop! Thank you!

[BrianBoys]

Great video. So gratifying to see it boot up in DOS. What kind of spray cleaner did you use on the dimmer and contrast sliders?

[madacpaul]

Can I tell me the values on the inverter board capacitors?thank you.