Win98SE to Win2000 Pro upgrade

[rblake]

Hi,

I've just tried to upgrade Win98SE to Win2000Pro on my old Compaq Deskpro 4000.

It went through a compatibility list and gave the following:


The following hardware may not support Windows 2000 without additional files.

Hard disk controllers
SMSC Hard Disk Adapter PDR (not currently present)

Other devices
VVRUSB Device (not currently present)

Unsupported Hardware

The following devices are not supported by Windows 2000. If you upgrade to Windows 2000, these devices will not work.

Universal Serial Bus controllers
VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller


Is this just MS covering themselves or will it really not work?

I'm lost, this is too much for me. Any help on how I might proceed would be greatly welcomed.

Thank you,

R.

 

[Nic]

Maybe if you provided more info on the hardware specs for you PC, then you may get a more useful response from members here. Looking at the message you provide, it appears that the Compaq Deskpro 4000 is quite an old PC and may not work properly with Win2k. I would stick with win98se if I were you.

However, if you are determined to give win2k a go, then your best bet is to format your hard drive and do a clean install, as otherwise you will likely have major problems.

Before you try and install win2k, you should check all the hardware manufacturer websites for your hardware and see if any win2k specific drivers are available. Make sure you check the Compaq website and read any faqs and especially check for any newer bios for your mainboard. Be prepared to spend the next few days trying to get everything working.

 

[rblake]

Sorry mate, I'm not really sure what info to post.

I'm quite determined to upgrade (rather than clean install) so if it all goes wrong, is it possible to "back track"?

Cheers,

R.

 

[Nic]

Upgrading an existing win98se install to win2k is asking for trouble because win2k needs win2k compatable drivers, hardware, and in some cases also software. Your best bet is to use a tool like Norton Ghost, or Powerquest Drive Image, to back up an image of your hard drive, so that you can do a proper restore if things go wrong. I think there may be an option to uninstall your upgrade later if you elect to keep your existing OS during install, but you'll be left with a half baked installation that will likely not work properly. If you don't mind having to reinstall win98se from scratch, then go ahead and try your upgrade. I doubt it will prove reliable, and you'll most likely wish you had not bothered. Do yourself a favour and format your hard drive first, so that you can do a clean install, and make sure you check for win2k compatable drivers and bios on the compaq website first. Its over to you now, so good luck, as you're probably going to need it.

 

[Rick]

When it says it will not work, it typically means that Windows 2000 does not include the proper drivers on the CD. But in most cases, you can download the proper drivers from your manufacturer's website.

Virtually any drivers designed for XP will work with 2000, so if your devices are supported by XP, then 2000 should work as well.

Compaq will likely not have the Windows 2000 drivers you are looking for, but Compaq isn't the only stop for drivers. Almost all of the components included in your system are not manufacturered by Compaq.

For example, the modem is probably made by Conexant or PCTel and you can get a driver straight from these companies by going to their website. www.conexant.com

I strongly recommend you get drivers for your modem first (Windows 2000 is very picky about modems in particular). As long as you have Internet access, you will be able to get the rest of your drivers, although I recommend getting them ALL in advance first.

I also HIGHLY recommend 128mb of memory and several GB of free space on your hard disk. Windows 2000 takes up about an additional 500mb and uses almost twice the memory of Windows 98.

 

[rblake]

Rick/Nic

Thanks guys.

I do want to do it but I will have a go at a clean install.

My PC is old and I'm not too fussed if I **** it up - it would be a nuisance though, of course!

I've got 256Mb of memory but only a 2Gb disk. How much space would it take up on a clean install?

My MoDem is external and quite new so I have the installation disk that says it has W2k drivers on it so that's ok, yes?

When you say get all the other drivers - how do I know what ones I need? Is it for things that come up on the upgrade report that W2k?

Sorry to be a pain, I didn't realise that it was so different from 98.

R.

 

[Rick]

Windows 2000 will trim about 1GB of space of your hard disk. That means you'll only have a little less than 1GB left.

As far as finding drivers, you can look at compaq's site and see what drivers they have for 98. This way you can get the names of parts and the manufacturer.

You can find a listing of Deskpro 4000s here and this is also a place where you can get the drivers for your system (but probably only for 98). http://productfinder.support.hp.com...ge=hpcom&h_tool=software&h_query=Deskpro+4000

You'll need to get more specific information about your computer though. It looks like there are many configurations of the Deskpro 4000.

 

[rblake]

Thanks excellent, thanks very much mate!

R.

 

[rblake]

I give up!
Win2000 for sale on eBay.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Dont give up yet!
I have an old Compaq Deskpro EN series, with a PII-400Mhz and 192MB memory. Rom/Bios-date 04/14/98, Rom-family 686T3, system-board revision 18. I use broadband and have a Realtec NIC in it, no modem, and an old RagePro 4MB graphics card.
Works like a charm with Win2000/SP4.
My wife uses this PC mainly for email, Internet and M$-Word.

If you can, partition your HD with Partition Magic, to get a partition as large as you can (min. 1GB), then install Win2000 on that new partition. Your PC turns into a dual-boot machine with either W98 or W2K.
Once you have W2Kup and running and you are happy with it, you can install the rest of the software you want.
When you are "done" with W98, start into W2k, then delete all directories from your C-drive but leave the stuff in the root of C:\ alone. Again using Partition Magic you can either resize C and D, or install further programs on the now empty C:

 

[rblake]

Thanks for the encouragement but the problem is also that all I have a 2Gb drive so with W2k on and MS Office and a few other "essentials" I'll have no disk space left!

R.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

how much HD-space is left?
You should uninstall all un-necessary stuff from W98, especially games. If you have lots of stuff in "My documents", use Winzip to compress all your docs (they shrink to about 25%). If you have a burner, put them and any other user-data on a CD.
Clean up your Temp directory and all your Temporary Internet Files. You'd be surprised to find out how much space can be made available. Then use a defragger to clean up your HD.

Now use e.g. Partition Magic and try to follow as I mentioned above.
You only fill up your HD when you install the basic W2K in a separate partition (should take about 800MB). Once W2K works, uninstall Office from the W98 partition and resize Csmaller) and Dlarger). You can do this in small steps, a bit more effort, but it works.

 

[rblake]

Well, I need MS Office on it.
Also, I need to use the HDD to store CD images when copying as I only have one CD drive.

Therefore I need: W2K + MSOffice + 700Mb + few other bits.

Wouldn't leave much!

Maybe I should install a new HDD?

Anyway, I've put the W2K up on eBay now so I can't go back!

 

[poertner_1274]

You can always create a bogus account and bid it so you win, or have a friend bid on it so you don't have to sell it.

But personally I would suggest getting another HDD. Even if it is a small one it will be much easier than having to keep deleting stuff all the time.

 

[Greeno]

Mate,

Only thing i'd say, I'm assuming you've bought the Windows 2000 pro now, which is what...overhere... £85 for OEM... the price of an 80GB is £60ish now.

 

[RealBlackStuff]

Greeno is absolutely right.
My method tried to stay within the existing limits, but really you should get another HD of minimum 6GB (used these are very cheap if money is an item)

 

[Nic]

Its only worth keeping if he can get win2k drivers for his hardware. Why buy another hard drive if he can't find the required drivers, that would only be a waste of both his time, and his money.

 

[rblake]

Basically, I'm trying to squeeze the last drop of performance out of my old machine at minimum cost.

I thought that W2K would help to do this.

I do need a larger HDD but there seem to be potential compatibility problems with that too! All this ATA stuff and so on.

So, I chickened out of that and went for W2K with my £50.

I don't want to spend much more than this on an ols PC as I will get around to a new one at some point.

Apparently though, we need a fitted bedroom first!? How do women know these things?

R.

 

[Jameson653]

clean install

Rblake, I disagree, your computer will run cleaner and faster although many of you'll will disagree if you clean install. A lot of the crap that comes from the internet is wiped clean, take my advice, Repartition, start from scratch, and sit in amazement.