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Lenovo ThinkCentre M93p Desktop (Chlorine)

Chlorine Front

Overview

The Lenovo M93p desktop computer is compatible with ArcaOS. Built-in video, sound, network, USB, serial port all function under ArcaOS 5.1. The computer features tool-free installation of SATA hard drives and an assortment of PCI and PCIe slots.

Custom Orders

If you want to buy a customized version of this computer, fill out an order form and submit it to Blonde Guy. Blonde Guy will review your order and send you an invoice, payable using PayPal or any major credit card. If you prefer to pay by check, note that in the notes field of the order form, and I will e-mail you an invoice payable by check.

Enter the customizations you want on the computer in the notes portion of the order form.

Specifications

Manufacturer: Lenovo
Model: ThinkCentre M93p Desktop
Model number: 10A9000SUS
Year introduced: 2013
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4570 CPU @ 3.20GHz
RAM: 8.0 GB
Hard drive: 240 GB SATA SSD
Optical drive: Lenovo DVD-Multi player drive
Network: Intel Gigabit Ethernet using MultiMac32-E1000E driver
Audio: Intel audio with line out and line in using UniAud driver
USB ports: 8 (2 front, 6 back)
USB controllers: 0 UHCI, 0 OHCI, 2 EHCI, 1 XHCI
Video ports: VGA, DisplayPort
PS/2 ports: 2 (1 keyboard, 1 mouse)
Parallel ports: 1

Physical Dimensions

Height: 14.8 inches
Width: 4.0 inches
Depth: 13.2 inches
Weight: 17.2 lbs

Power Consumption

Power consumption is 26 Watts, measured with the computer is booted to the desktop and idle. In use, with all 4 cores at 100% the computer can consume about 70 watts. This computer consumes less than 1 Watt if it's plugged in, but switched off.

Disk Layout

Volume NameDisk FormatDrive LetterVolume SizeDisk Name
ArcaOS-CJFS C:114,470 MBInternal SSD

ArcaOS version

ArcaOS 5.1.0 (August 26, 2023) is the version used for this installation.

Performance Benchmarks

This table reports the SysBench 0.9.5 benchmarks for this computer. You can download SysBench 0.9.5 here: http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/

CategoryMeasurement
PM-Graphics-marks 309
CPU integer-marks 14777
CPU floating point-marks 1424
DIVE-marks 16555
File I/O-marks 181208
Memory-marks 24859

PCI devices

There are 16 PCI devices found by the PCI 1.04vkA program.

PCI IDDescription
8086:0C00Bridge PCI to HOST
8086:0412Display VGA
8086:0C0CMultimedia Unknown!
8086:8C31Serial USB (UHCI), programming interface 30
8086:8C3ASimple Communication Other
8086:8C3DSimple Communication Serial - 16550
8086:153ANetwork Ethernet
8086:8C2DSerial USB 2.0 (EHCI)
8086:8C20Multimedia Unknown!
8086:8C10Bridge PCI to PCI
8086:8C16Bridge PCI to PCI
8086:8C26Serial USB 2.0 (EHCI)
8086:8C4EBridge PCI to ISA
8086:8C02Storage Serial ATA (AHCI 1.0)
8086:8C22Serial SMBus Controller
1283:8893Bridge PCI to PCI (Subtractive Decode)

Software

Preloaded Industrial Software

Blonde Guy ArcaOS preloaded computers can come with an load of software intended for OS/2 in industrial applications. This page lists what is in the current pre-load. This list is updated over time to incorporate new essential OS/2 software as well as to keep up to date versions of existing software.

Recovery DVD

The recovery DVD supplied is a bootable ArcaOS DVD with a backup of the hard drive as delivered. You can boot the machine from DVD, and perform maintenance functions. The maintenance folder is available on the recovery DVD. The factory backup is stored in the \Factory directory. The backups are simple zip files. You can use 7z or unzip to extract some or all of the files in a backup.

Build Notes

This section documents what I did to get this computer to work under ArcaOS. It is intended to show what goes into this computer, and also as a guide to the user who wants to build it himself.

BIOS changes

This computer had a cursed BIOS. I could not upgrade it using the Lenovo flash update program. Eventually, I found a way.

The cursed BIOS must be updated to version 74 first, and only then will be allowed to update to the latest, version DE. ArcaOS will have video issues unless this update is performed.

As far as I know only BIOS before 74 are cursed.

When the BIOS is old, The video has problems with DisplayPort monitor and shows only 640 x 480. Use the Windows FLASH update package. You may need to use WFLASH2.EXE to update the computer. Once updated, video should work normally.

BIOS settings

ArcaOS Installation

With eBay systems, it's best to do a throrough wipe of the hard disk before beginning. OS/2 and therefore ArcaOS, is very picky about drive geometry. A disk laid out by any other operating system will likely not work under OS/2.

I prefer to let Disk Utility on the ArcaOS installation CD do all the work. I boot the DVD, get to the start screen. I pick System Management, and then Disk Utility. This will have several possible outcomes.

If Disk Utility finds the disk, but does not find valid formatting, the following screen will appear. In this case I simply allow Disk Utility to fix the problem, and reboot.

Disk Utility

** Problems were detected in your disk layout. The problems are listed below.

We may be able to fix these problems for you; see below for details. Please note, however, that we cannot be held liable for any damage or lost data that may result from this action.

The following problems were found:

* There is no valid partition table on the disk. A new partition table must be written before this disk can be used.The disk appears to contain no data, so this operation should be harmless. However, if it does contain data which OS/2 has failed to detect, any such data will be lost if you proceed.

The above problem(s) must be fixed before you can use this disk with OS/2.

If I have fixed the disk using DiskUtility or other procedure, then I run Disk Utility again. If it says "No problems found.", then I proceed to lay out the disk paritioning that I want using "Manage Volumes (Graphical)."

Once volumes are laid out, I can proceed to install ArcaOS, or use the Blonde Guy Recovery DVD to restore a backed up ArcaOS installation.

Driver Notes

UniAud works with /A:1.

Driver=F:\MMOS2\UNIAUD32.SYS /A:1

DOS Window does not work. Alt-Home from a DOS Full-Screen then allows a DOS Window to work.

Photos

Front

Chlorine Front

Back

Chlorine Back

Rear Panel

Chlorine Rear Panel

Interior shot with tool-free drive bays.

Chlorine Interior