problem with reinstalling win on really OLD computer

DaRuSsIaMaN

DaRuSsIaMaN

Geek Comrade
How do I go about finding the necessary drivers I need for a computer that is like 10 years old? It's a pentium I, 100Mhz...

I want to format the HD and reinstall win98 on it. But for that I'll need the video card and the motherboard drivers. But these components are so old... it's not like I can just go to ATI's site and d/l the drivers like I would nowadays. It was my dad's comp but I don't think we have any of that driver software that came with it anymore.

I'm not sure what my components are, actually. Anyone suggest a favorite program that detects what my components are? I know there's Belarc Advisor, for exampe... something like that. But I don't have one downloaded yet. If anyone can suggest a good one for me I'll download it and put it on this comp and figure out what my components are, then maybe I can try finding the drivers on the internet??

Thanks.
 
Use Sisoft Sandra to do all the detecting, that always does the trick for me...

As for drivers, you should try and contact the manufacturers by telephone and request the drivers to be sent out to you on CD... I think they have a commitment to provide drivers for all of their hardware, regardless of age...

Hope that helps,

Mike
 
Sandra is good yeah, though id just go to device manager and see what has an exclamation mark next to it. You might find its ok. Old motherboards like that probably wont have lan so theres one driver off the list. Its not uncommon for boards newer than that not to have sound.drivers. Has it got a dosplay card built in?

You'll probably find chipset drivers if there are any. Its amazing what drivers are out there.
 
Err.. will it even work on an old computer with win98? From the look of the website and all its features, it seems pretty fancy and designed for new comps. Are u sure its system requirements are not over the head of my old box? lol
 
Oh but I forgot to mention: you're right, it does not have a lan. And I don't know about the dosplay card. Will that Sandra thing tell me? I do have both a distinct video card and a distinct sound card. I dunno if it has either integrated into the board, but I don't think so. Cuz obviously even if it has integrated sound or video, u can still put in your own cards. But still I have a feeling it doesn't have either integrated sound nor video. The sound card is plugged into some really odd port, not a PCI. The video card is in a PCI slot. So I guess that makes an extra driver i forgot to mention at first: the sound card.
 
yeah sandra is ok, but i think PCWizard is better

[ot]it also works on any 32bit Windows (i think)[/ot]

*D R Man: if its not a PCI sound card, it could be an ISA card (just less than double the legnth of a PCI card
 
Windows 98 will run fine on a 100mhz system. Ive had it on a 120mhz 24mb RAM laptop for years.

Just get it on there and go from there.
 
zeus said:
Windows 98 will run fine on a 100mhz system. Ive had it on a 120mhz 24mb RAM laptop for years.

Just get it on there and go from there.
Click to expand...

No lol...... I meant the Sandra program haha! Will Sandra run fine on my 100mhz computer (under win98) so that I can figure out my hardware components with it? Right here on their 'compatibility list' page, it definitely seems like it's meant to be for win2000 or later. Win98 is not listed, so I'm guessing I won't even be able to use it on the old comp. All these new diagnostics programs seem to be designed to look pretty and to be really sophisticated and such an old comp would probably not even have enough memory for it or something lol... that's what I'm worried about.

So donkey, will your suggested PCWizard work on it, u think?

**

Actually, zeus, to address the last part you said there, I already do have win98 on it. It's up and running. I just want to re-install it. I want to make the partitions better on the HD cuz right now I don't really like the way they've been arranged. Also, the HD is cluttered with a bunch of crap left over from when it was used by my dad and people at his work, and there are also probably a bunch of viruses accumulated over the years. I think it will be best just to wipe it and give it a fresh install of everything (win always seems to behave better after a fresh install anyway) in order to achieve 3 goals: 1. make the partition(s) how i like it, 2. clean out all the crap I don't need which is thrown about all over the place in random folders 3. get rid of any viruses.

I just think that maybe I should make sure of what all my hardware components are instead of relying on the windows control panel? Maybe the windows control panel will have something missing/incorrect? Or am I just being stupid? But that's why I was asking about a program that would detect all that stuff. I was gonna download it, then burn it on a cd, then take it over to the old comp and finally install and run it on the old comp. Then, once I know all my hardware for a fact, I'd try to prepare the necessary drivers b4 wiping it all clean. That's my plan.
 
D R Man said:
So donkey, will your suggested PCWizard work on it, u think?
Click to expand...
yeah, PCWizard works on any 32 bit compatable Window OS[ot]95, 98, 2k XP 2k3 and i presume vista[/ot]
 
First of all ! What is the brand and Make /model of this computer ???
It would be nice to know what we are dealing with ..
 
Also, I just wanted to warn you that Microsoft end-of-life'd Windows 98 way back in 2003, so there are no more patches or updates for that platform. That means that there are about 4 years of built up security problems on that (already insecure) operating system just waiting to be exploited. So if you plan on getting online with that OS, it'll be the equivilent of throwing a fattened pig into a den of starving wolves. :eek: No matter what anti-virus software, etc. is utilized, the end result will eventually be the same. For that reason, if you're going to use Windows 98 please keep it off the Internet. ;)
 
Alright, time for an update.
I figured out what's inside the computer, and I scrounged up some drivers to boot. Here's what I got:

video card -- S3 Trio64V+ PCI(765)
sound card -- Creative Sound Blaster 16 Plug and Play
motherboard Intel -- Advanced/EV ("Endeavour")
processor -- Intel Pentium 100mhz

(see screenshot 1, the one on the left)

-

I looked around the internet and found drivers for both the video card and the soundcard. But nothing for the board. So am I good to go now?? Do I still need any drivers for the motherboard or not?? I even found a pdf manual for the MoBo but no drivers.

My motherboard on my main computer (the asus A7N8X) has a driver package for it. I looked at the readme for the a7n8x drivers, and the package seems sort of extensive. I know that my older intel board doesn't have LAN nor integrated sound, so those are off the list, but the a7n8x has other drivers besides that (see screenshot 2). The driver package includes ones like "GART driver, SMBus driver, Memory controller driver, IDE driver" (see screenshot 2). Those sound important lol, even though I don't really know what those names mean... So I'm paranoid lol. If my asus a7n8x needs all those drivers, doesn't my intel board need all that shit also, in order to work properly??

***

@AT
Anti-Trend said:
... it'll be the equivilent of throwing a fattened pig into a den of starving wolves. ...
Click to expand...
Hahaha, thanks for the vivid prediction of doom, man :D . Actually, I was thinking somewhat along those lines myself (although, admittedly, in not nearly as picturesque imagery as you :D), and so I was indeed planning on keeping this baby completely offline. It doesn't even have a NIC in it, so I can't plug it into my broadband-sharing network. And I don't really want to bother. The sole reason for this oldie computer is this: to play old-school games on it. (It will work better than DosBox the emulator.) I don't need to be connected to the internet for that.
 

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DaRuSsIaMaN said:
...Hahaha, thanks for the vivid prediction of doom, man :D . Actually, I was thinking somewhat along those lines myself (although, admittedly, in not nearly as picturesque imagery as you :D), and so I was indeed planning on keeping this baby completely offline. It doesn't even have a NIC in it, so I can't plug it into my broadband-sharing network. And I don't really want to bother. The sole reason for this oldie computer is this: to play old-school games on it. (It will work better than DosBox the emulator.) I don't need to be connected to the internet for that.
Click to expand...
I'm glad to hear that. :) A lot of people think that somehow AV software can prevent gaping security holes from being exploited, :doh: so I just wanted to throw that out there.
 
Alright, so no one can tell me what to do about my motherboard?? I have done everything I could with Intel. Their website does not have anything for that motherboard in their downloads section. Look at sreenshot 1, my first screen shot on the left. When I scroll down through all the products, my MoBo is not even listed. Then I tried going to the contact support through email section. There it is! It's listed (screenshot 2)! But then when I click next, I'm told they no longer offer any support for that board (screenshot 3). :( I click on the link u can see in screenshot3 and I get a page with headline "page not found" (screenshot 4) :dry: ... Finally, today I freaking called the bastards and they just told me no phone support is offered for that board.

Searching for drivers through google came up with nothing. So will my computer never work properly again if I uninstall the Windows that's on it now?? Or is it possible that this particular motherboard doesn't need any drivers?? I was under the impression that all motherboards need drivers...
 

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DA MAN said:
Searching for drivers through google came up with nothing. So will my computer never work properly again if I uninstall the Windows that's on it now?? Or is it possible that this particular motherboard doesn't need any drivers?? I was under the impression that all motherboards need drivers...
Click to expand...
yes and no, mobo's are better when using the correct drivers, but if you can't install the correct drivers, you have to use the generic drivers[ot]try the ATX mobo drivers unless the mobo is AT[/ot]

BTW: forget intel, they only care about anybody that has bought their CPU or mobo chipset from about 5 / 3 years ago
 
DA MAN said:
Alright, so do these generic drivers come with Win98 SE?
Click to expand...
yeah, i think so

DA MAN said:
It's actually Baby-AT form factor. What are these "ATX mobo drivers"? The generic drivers you mentioned above?
Click to expand...
ATX mobo drivers should (in theory) work on an AT board, as old hardware seems to be supported by new drivers, just ignore what the drivers say, and install them anyway, if they don't work you can always uninstall them in safe mode
 
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