Just noticed on one of my laptops – an IBM 600X – has starting displaying a strange straight out of a sci-fi flick error message upon boot-up.

When the machine powers on I get a RAM readout, which is okay, then I get two error codes 163 and 173. The screen then changes to a BIOS readout of the date and time (all nulled) with the mouse cursor having changed to a bird that flaps when moved. I kid you not. Those wacky folks at IBM.

From there, you have to set the time, then move the bird over and click …