Acer Aspire 2856

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Last Updated: Sunday, July 3, 2016

Quick Specs
Brand, Make, Model:	Acer Aspire 2856
CPU Brand, Make, Model, Speed:	Intel Celeron 300MHz
RAM [On Box, Original, Current]:	48MB, 128MB, 192MB
Hard Drive Capacity [On Box, Original, Current]:	One 5.1GB, One 5.3GB, One 5.3GB and One 10GB
Optical Drive [On Box, Original, Current]:	24X CD Drive, Same, 52X CD Drive
Chipset:	Unknown
Video Spec, Brand, Make, Model:	Onboard ATI Rage 3D Pro, 2MB VRAM
Sound Spec, Brand, Make, Model:	Onboard Crystal Semiconductor Crystal Sound CS4237B
Integrated Network Adapter (Yes/No) - If Yes, what:	No
Integrated USB Ports (Yes/No) - If Yes, what:	Yes, Two Back USB Ports - Both USB 1.1 Specs
Original Peripherals Removed:	56Kbps PCI Modem
Peripherals Added:	Kingston KNEIIITX 10/100 PCI NIC, Netgear WPN311 PCI Wireless NIC
Operating System [Original, Upgraded, Today]:	Windows 95C, Windows 98 FE, Windows 98SE
Monitor Spec, Support (Original, Current):	CTX Monitor, Dell Trinitron [Beige]; Single Monitor Support
Date Obtained:	July 23?, 1998

The Acer Aspire, model number 2856. From 1998 to today, it still is operational. This computer was the one that had Internet access, while Cyrix sat in our room. The year 2003 came, and we lost our stuff. That same year, another computer showed up. Acer still proved useful, at least, to Dad.

History

1998: July. Went into Best Buy for the very first computer with Dad. The Acer Aspire 2856 was the final choice. To my recollection, it was $400. We were also told not to touch the computer. That didn't last long. That same year, we were told not to upgrade the system from Windows 95C to Windows 98. Didn't listen. It went smooth.
1999: January. Cyrix was introduced. Acer still was useful, as it was the only one with dial-up Internet access. It was also the computer we used to transfer games and stuff from... entirely via floppy disks. Not fun to run up and down the stairs, transferring files and running into a corrupted file or files in the process.
2000: Not much I remember in this year.
2001: August. Discovered video game emulation by accident on this computer. Files were transferred to Cyrix via floppy disks. Before that, we upgraded to broadband Internet.
2002: Not much I remember in this year.
2003: February. I was stupid enough to mess around with the system files on this computer, essentially screwing up the system, requiring a reinstall. Windows 98 SE was installed. In other notes, an eMachines T1360 arrived in May. Ended up sharing one line, no splitting involved.
2004: Obtained a Linksys BEFSR41 v2 router. No more Broadband Client! But Dad was slow on the uptake, as he tried to run it again on his computer.
2005: Got memory upgrade to 192 MB.
2006: Not much I remember in this year.
2007: Not much I remember in this year.
2008: Computer was taken to Dad's apartment nearest his workplace.
2009: Computer was returned. Photos were taken.
2010: Computer was taken, again. It went to Dad's room in a resort.
2011: Still there. Main reason why the specs page is not complete yet. Also, February. I managed to get a backup of the BIOS for this computer and released it on this page.
2012: Still there.
2013: Computer was returned. Managed to get wireless Internet access to work on Win98SE. From there, it was sent out until the card died, lol. After that, I phased out the Win2000 install, made that drive into a storage drive, and installed a Creative Sound Blaster AWE64 Gold sound card.
2014: Sat there for quite a while. Also, managed to upgrade the machine to 256MB without hanging. Later on, wanted wireless Internet access on Win98SE again. Painful. Also, phased out the LAN adapter, the AWE64 Gold, and the 13.1GB hard drive before the computer was sent out to his other location.
2015: Still there.
2016: Still there to this day.

Documents and/or Notes?
Not yet...

Photos?
Yes! Here:

Extra Stuff?
Yes! Here:

BIOS Ver. V3.1 - Backup Image via Uniflash [Read the readme.txt first!]
I also have the cardboard cutout, the manual... [unfortunately, the Restore CD is long ruined...]

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