Demo & Teardown - IBM PC XT Model 5160

In this video I do a demo and full teardown of my IBM Personal Computer XT (Model 5160) from 1986.

Specs:
Intel 8088 CPU @ 4.77MHz
640kb RAM
25mb Seagate ST-225 Hard Drive
360k 5.25" Floppy
IBM Monochrome Display Adapter

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[MarK-iwxj]

Between his accent his knowledge and a quality camera these are quickly becoming my favorite videos

[vwestlife]

BTW, those plastic standoffs are designed to come off with the motherboard. That's why they're in slots, so when assembling the system, you can insert the standoffs into the holes in the motherboard, then with the board attached to them, slide the standoffs into position in those slots and use the screws to secure the board in place.

[kjamison]

Although the screws are all flat blade/slotted type, I think I recall using a ‘nut driver’ to Undo those screws because of their hexagonal head.

[moraleza]

Awesome video! I was really curious to see really just how the hard drive controllers of the era looked, and I now I know! Amazing.

[screwbyte]

You can run LapLink in DOSBox with COM1 pointed to a USB serial adapter and transfer files straight from a modern PC :) Also might be worth tracking down a Hercules card for that monochrome monitor!

[bakatoroi]

Absolutely amazingly detailed teardown!
An XT was the first PC compatible computer I've ever used at 5 years old so it brings back memories. It had a yellowish (amber?) monitor though and nowhere near that long fadeout time so that was really surprising.

[NFreund]

Oh! So that's the HDD Sound used in so many Games! :D Fallout 3, NV and 4 use that quite often. First HDD i came in contact with, was a Western Digital Caviar AC280...my first PC i've got had two Quantum Drives...i never knew, HDD's could sound that beautiful :D

[BenM]

super cool that you made it working again. These computers are unbreakable. most of the times its just a bad electrolytic capasitor. Great job! I have an xt myself. I turn it on often, so everything keeps in a nice condition. Especially the mechanical parts like the Seagate drive.

[raffiglen]

I love how the hard drive controller's main processing unit is a Zilog Z80, another CPU that dominated the early computer market. Two historic processors in that system.

[Zakalwe-]

What a fantastic-looking beast, especially the monitor!

[Jfteksp]

I have always loved the sound of those old HardDrives. Wish I still had a working one.

[jannevaatainen]

Excellent video. Thanks! The Model M keyboard looks weird with XT. I didn't know that they shipped XT with Model M. I also didn't know they made 8088 and 286 based XT's at the same time. This is a very old school machine, even for 1986.

[cpcnw]

This was my 1st PC - I installed Software Toolworks [a DOS WP/SS/DB] - soon as I started typing my reports up on this and printing them on a dotmatrix printer my marks at Uni started going up.

[JarrodCoombes]

If you get a set of socket screw drivers that fit the top of the screws they are MUCH easier to work with. I find that if you just take out the bit from a screw driver like the one you used the case screws fit right in and can be removed easier than with a flat head.

[jaykay]

I have a couple XTs floating around, one still in service, so I can relive my childhood. BTW--the screws are all flat head because ALL IBM machines used flat heat screws. I don't know the reason for that, but that's what they chose to use on their machines. This even continued into the PS/2 Models 25 and 30 for the slot cover bracket screws. Somewhere, I have an IBM PS/ValuePoint 486 system, and the case screws for that were also flat head. I believe that even extended into some of the early Pentium Aptivas.

Source: My father worked for IBM for over 30 years.

[richardloxley]

Thanks for this. I've just acquired an XT, and it has exactly the same symptoms (dead, but PSU fires up when the motherboard is disconnected). I shall investigate short circuits and have a look at those capacitors!

Incidentally, I found your video as I was trying to figure out how to disassemble the PC to investigate further. I had removed the screws, and was confounded when the cover wouldn't slide backwards. It never occurred to me to slide it forwards. Doh!

[MAB-yjgp]

Спасибо.
Отличное видео!
Теперь понятно как крепится плата в корпусе.
Оказывается только двумя винтами и пластиковыми стойками.

[RWL]

The YD- model number on the floppy drive points to Ye Data.

[mark]

Nice review and presentation, as always you do.
However, why do not clean that great motherboard, just to preserve it better ? Cheers, Mark

[TimonSuricata]

i had so many of these machines as a kid, god i miss them... no idea wat happend to em but now im broke and i want my machines back...