New Vista Computer, Relative Wants Win98 on It

[AJtheIrishLass]

A family member just received a new Compaq Presario desktop loaded with Windows Vista. The system was sold without a boot disc or OEM copy of Vista (instead, it has a backup of the factory installation of Vista on a second installed hard drive).
The "fun" started when he learned that the anti-virus program he'd previously been using isn't currently supported by Vista. He actually threw a fit and refused to use another AV program. He was all set to just reformat the hard drive & put Win98SE on it until I pointed out there may be conflicts between 98 and the computer's hardware (I've heard that this is an issue). Added to the situation is that fact that he's managed to lose the serial number that came with his Win98 disc, so he wouldn't be able to proceed with the installation anyway.
Is there a good possibility that Win98 wouldn't recognize some of the hardware? Also, how would the issue of the misplaced serial number be dealt with?

 

[Route44]

Yes, by all means there can be issues between an old OS and new hardware. Drivers would certainly be an issue along with your motherboard chipset drivers.

On top of it -- and I could be wrong here -- I don't think Microsoft supports '98 anymore, or if they do it will soon disappear. XP will be only supported up to 2011 so I am sure '98 is already to the wayside.

 

[halo71]

What AV is he using that is not compatible with Vista? I think he needs to bite the bullet and get use to a AV and OS and forget about '98. Probably a lot less headaches that way!

 

[CCT]

There is a facility with the Presario to create your own 7 CD (yeah, 7) recovery set that at least gives owners some peace of mind.

In this persons' case, it would also free up one drive to 'play' with. Always test the recovery set before deleting anything else.

 

[TonyGuitar]

Your *Family Member* is level headed and I understand the loyalty to Win 98. I used to be the same until about a year ago when XP2 seemed to get ironed out and function VERY well.

Now I am resigned to using XP2 as everything seems to be running smoothly. I do still have a perfectly good Win98 box *Offline* where I keep a lot of good stuff safely away from the net.

So the best thing to do in my view is get a second computer with XP2 on it and enjoy to 2011 or so at least.

Your Vista is paid for in the computer price so you may as well keep it. Your decision then is which computer to put on line.

Win XP2 is something you get to like eventually. These latest editions of Windows are far too complex though and I resent them just as I resent modern *computer-chip* cars where you can*t even get to clean or change the plugs.

I miss the days of DOS6 when I ran everything on my computer and Microsoft employees were not in it updating once or twice a week.

Make your next car an EV... Save $400 a month in gas. ;-]

http://TonyGuitar.blogspot.com

 

[AJtheIrishLass]

What AV is he using that is not compatible with Vista? I think he needs to bite the bullet and get use to a AV and OS and forget about '98. Probably a lot less headaches that way!

Defender Pro 2005 (which I believe they're providing a Vista version of sometime soon). His main gripe was that the Presario came with Norton, which he doesn't like. I would imagine there are plenty of other good AV's he could use besides Norton, though.

 

[AJtheIrishLass]

So the best thing to do in my view is get a second computer with XP2 on it and enjoy to 2011 or so at least.



http://TonyGuitar.blogspot.com

Would XP2 (my MS OS of choice, BTW <g>) probably be more workable on a newer machine? Financially, buying yet another new one isn't practicle, so I'm wondering about this as an option.

 

[Daveskater]

i think that if they don't like vista then i'd say get used to xp sp2. ok windows 98 is alright but xp sp2 works very well and sometimes i wish i had it back as opposed to having vista

 

[AJtheIrishLass]

Thanks to all for your help.

 

[AJtheIrishLass]

An update

He is receptive to going to Windows 2000 (if still supported) or XP if it's possible with his system. What would be a good starting place to determine if either of these are options?
The computer in question is a Compaq Presario SR5030NX.

 

[Daveskater]

that pc would run xp quite well so go for xp sp (service pack) 2

sometimes i wish i still had xp

 

[SNGX1275]

I did this recently with an HP system, which is probably pretty similar. I put 2000 on it mainly as a little project to see if I could. The system came with XP MCE.

What you'll need to do is start at the very basic level of finding out if it has an AMD or Intel processor. I know you provided the model number, but I don't feel like doing all the work for you. After that you can begin looking for drivers, outside of Compaq. For example I had an Intel chipset on the motherboard, so I seeked out the generic Intel driver set for that chipset.

Windows 2000 will likely install alright, the only problem I can see is if the hard drive is SATA and the bios doesn't support emulating that as IDE. In that case you'd need to get the SATA drivers so you can press F6 during the install to load them up. Mine did recognise the SATA drive without problems because the bios did some translating or whatever its called, its transparent to the OS.

After you get 2000 installed you can go searching for the chipset drivers, vid drivers, ect. You probably won't have any onboard LAN until you get the drivers straightened out, so consider that. I wasn't even able to use a USB stick because the USB controller drivers weren't avaiable in the base 2000 install. So I had to burn stuff to a CD to get it over there.

It is definately a bit of work, but it should be possible.

I wouldn't even want to attempt doing that with 98, too many obstacles to overcome.

 

[AJtheIrishLass]

What you'll need to do is start at the very basic level of finding out if it has an AMD or Intel processor. .

It's an Intel, but I'd have to look up more specific info in the Device Manager on the other computer.
Another possiblity, I'd thought of, but am unsure of whether it's feasible: If he were to use a blank hard drive in a USB casing or some other external HD, would he be able to install an earlier version of Windows on the external HD, and just boot from that when he needs to run an earlier program?

 

[SNGX1275]

Nope, you won't get an older version of Windows booting from USB. Well you might be able to get 2000 to do it, but not 98.

Not sure you'll find the chipset information in device manager. What I did was look at the motherboard and got a number off of it, then googled, and saw what chipset it used. Then I actually found an easier way you might want to try. HP has some information on the boards they used, mine looked like this.

 

[bradthegreat]

have you considered installing XP and setting up the now free Windows Virtual PC with Windows 98? That way he could get his Windows 98 fix and get used to XP...just a thought