IBM 5162 PC XT/286 CPU, BIOS & Memory Upgrade
The machine IBM didn't want you to upgrade. AKA: upgrading shouldn't be this hard!
In this video, I take this rare IBM computer with an identity crisis and upgrade its CPU, its RAM and give it a little bit of DOS-based multi-tasking. This ad-free, full length version is just for Patreon and Substack paid subscribers only, please don't share it!
Additional Patreon & Substack exclusive content: teardown video!
Not only is the text & video on this article exclusive to Patreon & Substack members, there's also another exclusive video for paid members, which is a separate article, showing a teardown of the IBM XT/286, floppy drive cleaning, memory upgrade & more!
IBM sold both the XT and the AT side-by-side, however, in September of 1986, IBM pulled a strange stunt and released the Personal Computer XT Model 286, or model 5162. This machine is odd in many ways: it had the same case as the XT, with its angled design, but inside, was an AT, using the same 80286 CPU as the original 6 Megahertz AT/5170 model. The 5162 was only in production for 10 months, making it a pretty rare machine, but also the cheapest IBM machine that was capable of running a true multitasking operating system, including OS/2 and even some x86 variants of UNIX. Due to the 286's capabilities, it was capable of addressing 16MB of real memory, or up to 1GB of virtual memory.
IBM 51xx timeline. The 5162 is the last line entry. Image courtesy of minuszerodegrees.
I've coupled my 5162 here with the IBM 5154 EGA monitor which is also pretty rare. I'm also a particularly fond of this 5162 as it was made in IBM's (now long since departed factory in Greenock, Scotland). I used to live at the top of the road where this factory once stood. All in all, my 5162 has a pretty nice setup if I say so, but forever the hacker, we can always improve on such things... especially, as you will find out, IBM deliberately clobbered this machine to ensure it didn't steal market share from other IBM machines.
My configuration at home. The machine actually gets quite a lot of use!
The 5162 was actually an improvement in performance over the original 1984 AT, because it had zero-wait state memory, rather than the single-wait-state of the AT. This made an increase in performance of some 32%. It also shipped with 640K of RAM, rather than the 512K of the AT, as well as a 20MB hard drive and an AT style half-height 1.2MB 5.25 inch floppy drive. I also added a 720K 3.5" floppy drive to my machine to complete the look.
Video follows
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