Optimized Windows ;)

Post by **Polo** » Fri May 20, 2005 6:15 pm

Hi !
I've got a REALLY old computer, with an AMD K6-2 333Mhtz, 64Mb SDRAM, 8GB HDD, Ati 3d rage Pro

For the moment, it has Windows 98SE, which I thought was the best Windows for... this kind of computer...
Unfortunately, there are a lot of problems : after a few utilisations, the cdrom drive just get out of windows and don't come back (i mean, it's here if you use dos from the win98 floppy, but not here at all on windows), and some issues with DirectX/OpenGL when i'm trying to put a Geforce 2mx400 (3d graphics doesn't work, well sometime they do, sometime not

)
Any ideas what I should do ? Reinstall windows is not really the solution, I've already did that many times

I once thought putting Win2k would be the solution (that's my fav os

), I haven't tried, but on my actual computer, it refused to install (i had "only" 128mo rdram at the time and the installation was saying it won't install with this memory), so i guess it will just not work on my old computer

So, what should i do ? A clean install of 98se hasn't been good last time...
Maybe some people here have a similar configuration ? Can someone help me

?
I try to collect the more info as i can, coz this old computer is not in my house, it's quite far away, and it has no internet access, so i want to know what to do and what i should bring with me next time i'll see it

Thx !

Num3 · Post by **Num3** » Fri May 20, 2005 6:34 pm

Sounds like hardware problems...

Most likely the RAM you use is about to die, or the CD-ROM by the symptons you described.

I once was having lot's of problems with windows, until i found out it was the CD-rom that was starting to die.... it still worked, but it was damaged in some way...

Post by **Polo** » Fri May 20, 2005 6:42 pm

Won't be surprising if the cdrom was died

Why ? Because of the time he takes to reconize i've put a cd in and the time he loads it (it can take up to 1 minute or more

)
So i need to delete it ? i'll just unplug it and keep the cdburner i've added (this one is ok i think)...
For the ram, do you think it's really died ? I've seen i can have 128mb sdram for 19.5euro, maybe i'll buy that then, even if it's a pity to pay this price for this computer (which in fact as the value of 19.5euros

)

Will this ram be compatible with my computer ?
MEMORY PC100 128MB SDRAM OEM
it's said this is advised for old motherboard

I'm not so sure it's sdram, but i don't see what else it can be, i've bought this computer in 1998...

TerryHough · Post by **TerryHough** » Fri May 20, 2005 7:16 pm

When you added the CD burner, how did you set the two up. One as
master and one as slave?

Some old MB will accept both set the same way but then get very
confused when the CDRom is actually used. Similar symptoms to those
you describe: the system is trying to convince itself that it can actually
write on the CDRom when it really can't.

You are probably best just to disconnect the CDRom and test that way.

BTW, Win98SE requires 64Mb to run, is lots faster with 128Mb or more.

And, you may want to look here for the unoffical SE SP2. Sure made my
system perform better.

http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html

Post by **Polo** » Fri May 20, 2005 7:19 pm

Yes i've heard of the sp2, i'll download it

I'll check for the slave/master thing, i'm not sure of that

Thanks both !

Bonne_den_kule · Post by **Bonne_den_kule** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:23 pm

Install Linux on it

Post by **Polo** » Fri May 20, 2005 8:39 pm

Already tried, it was a disaster

Linux, even on my actual computer, is not really fast, at least at the loading of apps which can takes more than 5 seconds, and which is inacceptable comparing to windows loading.
And I can do more things on Windows, like real Purebasic, 3d, games, ...

dmoc · Post by **dmoc** » Fri May 20, 2005 10:56 pm

Replace your ide cables with decent 80-cable type. Also try a cd-based linux such as Dyne:Bolic

blueznl · Post by **blueznl** » Sat May 21, 2005 1:45 am

i've done some crazy stuff on old computers, go here...

http://www.xs4all.nl/~bluez/datatalk/lowgo.htm

Post by **Polo** » Sat May 21, 2005 8:00 am

blueznl wrote:i've done some crazy stuff on old computers, go here...

http://www.xs4all.nl/~bluez/datatalk/lowgo.htm

I'm reading this, it sounds really interesting, but i guess i'll have to buy some ram...

dagcrack · Post by **dagcrack** » Sat May 21, 2005 9:41 am

TerryHough: XP requires 64MB minimum... (which of course it wont run very well with that low amount of ram

but 98se ... I've ran it with 32mb no problem years ago, XP was the one that requires 64mb minimum (other OS' out of 9x, from windows too).

You'll want to get rid of all the crap you wont use.. theres some tools out there to convert your 9x into a "lite" version.. I had to do this many times on old customer's pcs (they had small harddrives in that case) and also, if you dont have to load many stuff, it will run faster.

Num3 · Post by **Num3** » Sat May 21, 2005 10:48 am

Slim XP comming soon:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/05/ ... nxp_1.html

Bonne_den_kule · Post by **Bonne_den_kule** » Sat May 21, 2005 12:58 pm

You can buy more RAM. Look here:
http://shop4.outpost.com/search?query_s ... om=0&to=24

else you can look at pricewatch:
http://www.pricewatch.com/

Post by **Polo** » Sat May 21, 2005 1:03 pm

Yeah, I can have the ram even cheaper, but spending 20 euros on this computer is exaggerated, because i guess his entire value is 20euros

traumatic · Post by **traumatic** » Sat May 21, 2005 1:05 pm

Num3 wrote:Slim XP comming soon:

http://www.infoworld.com/article/05/05/ ... nxp_1.html

"Eiger is being designed to run server-based applications; it won't run Office or line-of-business applications locally, Goffe said."