Tales of Weird Stuff | NEC PowerMate SX/20 almost broke me @TalesofWeirdStuff | Uploaded May 2024 | Updated October 2024, 15 hours ago.
Troubleshooting this vintage NEC PowerMate SX/20 PC was a bit more than I bargained for. It is so stubborn about not wanting to work, at all, without a working Dallas RTC. I will get it booting from a hard drive... no matter the cost!

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00:00 Cold open
00:19 Intro
02:01 Exterior
03:59 Interior
05:39 Highly unusual
14:15 So many questions
16:38 First power on
21:09 Signs of life?
26:52 Interesting discoveries!
34:30 RIP XT-IDE :(
38:01 Plan C: SCSI
42:13 First boot from Adaptec
43:21 Removable SCSI media
47:02 Closing words

NEC PowerMate SX/20 manual:

ardent-tool.com/media/PS2_MOST/ACROREAD/TSSFACT/TFSPC/NEC/2012011.PDF

NEC PowerMate SX/20 on The Retro Web:

theretroweb.com/motherboards/s/nec-powermate-sx-20

Necroware nwX287 Dallas RTC replacement:

github.com/necroware/nwX287

Adaptec 1542CF manual:

download.adaptec.com/pdfs/installation_guides/aha1540cf_ig.pdf