Tommy

Then at the risk of stating the true obvious, Windows XP still isn't 100% dead. Not even including POS2009, because if you can still pay despite a hefty price to continue supporting Windows XP, then it's still not completely dead. Does anyone remember if this practice was also offered with Windows 2000 back in 2010? I know XP is more widely used than 2000 but I didn't know if there was a similar paid option with it or not. The fact is, I think Microsoft knows it created a gem with XP and they want to kill it with fire since they're losing money out on it. However, for a big fee, they'll give you custom support. So despite still being old technology, they don't mind supporting it as long as they make some money from it. I personally think it's a big money issue moreso than it is an old operating system. Windows 8 was basically a bomb and Vista was okay but not well received by many so that basically leaves Windows 7 and XP. As hard as they're trying to push Windows 8, I continue to hear people complain about how bad it is. I did read that the start menu is actually going to make a comeback in it but it won't be the true classic one we all know and love. What I don't understand is if people love Windows XP so much, why doesn't Microsoft rewrite some of the code, add new features to it, and release it as a paid service pack that you could even buy in the store. That way it could be upgraded with the newest code while retaining its XP goodness, and on top of that, MS would be making some money off of it. Who wouldn't pay even say $50 for a service pack that would update you to DirectX11, a new firewall, the ability to use IE11, and even the newest and latest hardware and have that supported for at least another 5 years or so. Maybe I'm just way off base with old fashion thinking but MS could still make some money while doing what quite a few of their customers would like. Why continue to push OSs that few like and insist that's their only option? If Windows 9 is a bomb as well and it gets to the point where Windows 2000 isn't meeting my needs anymore, I'll probably just switch to Linux. Some are doing this already and you'd think MS would be a little concerned about that. But to sum this entire thing up, Windows XP is probably regarded as the best OS MS has released in quite a while and for most people, it works just fine. For the tried and true techies out there that insist everything always has to be the latest and greatest, they can have their new technology. But for people like me and quite a few others, as long as it works, why get rid of it? And in the case of ATMs where the only thing that is an issue is security...why would it need to be upgraded to something like Windows 7 or 8? It's a waste of an OS if you ask me. If it was stable and secure enough, ATMs and even cash registers shouldn't need anything newer than Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 (again, if security wasn't an issue). Putting Windows 7 on a cash register to me is like buying a space shuttle to go a few blocks to the grocery store.

I actually never thought of that, that would be way too convenient for Microsoft. I wouldn't doubt there's one little string of code in POSReady 2009 that differs it from regular Windows XP so a PR2009 update wouldn't natively install on Windows XP because of the condition it didn't meet. I'm thinking if the update was torn apart and changed so it would recognize Windows XP as PR2009 or change the condition to include Windows XP, it would probably work. That's just my theory though. But if there honestly is custom support going on for Windows XP, it would be just too easy for them to slightly mod updates meant for something they already continue supporting and give it out for a substantial fee.

I like Windows 98 because I did grow up with it for one thing, but also because it is fast and doesn't slow down after months of use. I have an up to date copy of MalwareBytes on my Windows 2000 machine and I used it to scan the 2000 machine and also I did a remote scan of Windows 98 since it won't install and run on there natively that I'm aware of. Windows 2000 had a few pieces of minor malware whereas the Windows 98 machine subjected to the same sites I visit on my 2000 computer, had nothing. It was clean. I believe people are sheep when it comes to certain things being told to them. One of those things is Microsoft scaring people to upgrade their computers because heaven forbids, they're way out of date. While in one aspect it might be true, in another aspect, as long as it gets the job done, why replace it? If you own something that does everything you need it to, why pay more for something that does the same thing, or maybe even less than you expect it to? That's just kind of stupid. Honestly, I don't understand why Windows 7 gets all the praise that it does. I mean sure, it's kind of like Windows XP Second Edition but it's a lot more bloated and also in my experience, it slows down and gets sluggish after using it for a month or two, it's not as fast as it was when first installed. Now of course I am a tech professional so I know all about cleaning it up, defragging and all that good stuff. Even doing all the routine maintenance doesn't restore it to its former glory. As for me, I don't do any special web activity except for browsing a few websites and doing email. I do a ton of local projects that don't require internet access but I don't do anything cloud related as I guess the new hipsters are calling it so I don't need the newest overpriced piece of junk from MS. I do own a copy of Vista and 7 both but neither one is in use at this time. Both are not installed on any machine. If it didn't have the limitations though, I'd use Windows 98 on every computer I own, seriously.

Yes, congrats on the new job! That's truly awesome! I'm still job hunting and it's a bad job market here so I haven't been doing so well in it. But I'm not giving up! Well, now the only problem I'm having is I can't remove WMP11 to install WMP9 first and then WMP11 so I'm thinking maybe set the version numbers different so the installer will just overwrite anything that's already there. I know usually a 500 server error is on the other side but I don't think that's the case here, I think something is broken but I don't know what it is. The funny thing though is when I put a DVD in the drive, it'll automatically download information for it but I can't do it manually. Weird, huh?

I have a question, I'm using the latest HF_SLIP compilation you have on your site (can't remember the date though) and for some reason, I'm always getting a 500 Internal Server error in Windows Media Player when I try to add album information from the web. I never had this issue using the November 2012 compilation. I'm thinking either something was removed to break this or something isn't going right but it's been well over a week and it's still not working. I'm using WMP11 which always worked in the past. Could it be because this didn't come with WMP9 first like November 2012 did and so I didn't bother with it and just installed WMP11. So it could be missing a few other components that WMP9 added?

I just want to add my two cents in here. It may be totally totally unrelated but EVGA is made by NVidia. I have an NVidia Geforce 8600GT card in my Windows 2000 machine. When I would log in, my computer would hang for like 3 minutes before the desktop came up to the point it was usable. If I waited for a bit to log in after the logon prompt came up, I'd log in and it would go right to the desktop and I could use the computer, but not immediately logging in when turning the computer on. I done some digging and my problem was caused by the NVidia Display Driver Service in the services control panel. When I went ahead and disabled it, I restarted the computer and now I can log on immediately after the logon prompt comes up and it no longer hangs. It was the display driver service. I don't see any different having it disabled unless it messes up the control panel for the card itself, but for my use, I no longer have a computer that hangs.

Love the final hours track from Majora's Mask!

I thought I replied to this, but I guess I didn't. D: I tried adding the registry key you mentioned, jaclaz. It wasn't there to begin with and neither a log off or even a restart made it take effect. So I don't think folders have tooltips in Windows 2000. It might've been something new adding in Windows XP.

I don't have infotips on folders in Windows 2000 either, but then rarely do I pay attention to them. Maybe something with the unofficial updates breaks it somehow? If you're using any sort of unofficial updates, see if you can try it out on a clean Win2k SP4 box and see what happens. But I don't get it either. I do on files, but not folders.

I too appreciate the hard work you put forth in creating this service pack for all the Windows 98 fans out there. I use it daily on my Windows 98 machine and I love it. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be able to use Windows 98 again but I can and I'm so happy for that! Thanks for putting all your hard work and time into this service pack.

dencorso's signature would definitely help with you getting started with RAM issues and hard drive issues. There is a way to fix the Win95 2.1GHz issue by following the link as well. If you have any specific hardware issues when you're ready to start an actual project and while working on one, let us know and we'll be here to help. And welcome to MSFN!

Hey ironman, I do have Windows 2000 plus UURollup! The Windows 98 machine I'm using is actually different from my main computer. My main computer runs Windows 2000. The Windows 98 machine is in my bedroom. I custom built both myself actually. Windows 98 has a AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ processor in it and I have 1 gig of RAM. I have a fast cable internet connection as well but it doesn't seem like page load it all that slow, it almost feels like the browser itself slows it down. It feels shaky if you know what I mean. I do have the KernelEx installed plus the latest USP 3 as well. It might even be the actual machine since I only have one IDE channel on it and both are in use by the CD drive and hard drive. I thought about trying the SATA drive and sticking it in compatibility mode but dencorso advised me not to do so, but I might just try anyway since it's just a matter of switching drives. I mean it can't hurt anything to try anyway. As of right now, I'm using the latest Pale Moon browser on Windows 2000 and I like it. It seems a bit snappier than FireFox does. @Flasche: I'm not sure why Opera is slow for me but as I said, it feels like the browser itself is slow, not anything to do with page load. But as I was describing to dencorso a few days ago via private message, it seems that loading affects Flash. If I load a movie on YouTube and pause it until it fully loads, it works just fine. But if I play it while it downloads the rest in the background, it's choppy and laggy. So I'm wondering if there's something else going on that makes it feel like a stick in the mud. As I said, I might just try installing it on my SATA drive and run it in compatibility mode, just to see what happens. It can't hurt anything to try.

I think what Flasche is saying that when you boot from the CD-ROM, there are no drivers for the SATA CD-ROM drive, since the Oak driver only does IDE drives and has no support for SATA. If this is the case, try this. If your computer has any USB ports which I'm assuming it does, insert a flash drive and see if the computer detects it as a drive in the BIOS. If it does, you might be a bit in luck. Copy the Win9x folder from your Me CD-ROM to the flash drive and boot the computer with the flash drive inserted and boot from the CD. It will of course tell you there are no CD-ROM devices found and that's okay because it can still get your to DOS prompt. Once there, try either the d:\ or I've even had it go to b:\ and if it's your flash drive, you can use the Win9x folder on it that you copied over. FDISK is loaded in the RAM disk during this time so it's always available by using the fdisk prompt. Do the partitioning thing and reboot and get to DOS prompt again using the above method. The do x:\win9x\format c: (X being your flash drive letter) and do a format. Then once that is finished, you do x:\win9x\setup and you can go from there. I almost recommend doing setup /P i just so it doesn't install it as a plug and play BIOS which can cause problems. Then you install as usual. You won't have access to your CD drive in Windows either, but at least you can get that far (hopefully!) and Windows Me has default drivers for flash drives so you can always use your flash drive to transfer stuff over and possibly get it online. Give it a try! I did this exact thing with my all SATA Dell Vostro computer and it worked just fine. I'm still to get the CD-ROM drive going but it's not priority right now. If you want the quick easy way to at least getting Windows going, this will probably be it.

It seriously wouldn't hurt to try at a later date. And honestly, they're not all that expensive. You can get a decent one for about $40 at your local computer shop and even if it's not the problem, it's ALWAYS good to have a spare PSU on hand.

If you can, please try a different PSU if you haven't already because as I outlined in my last post in here, this sounds exactly like what my board did when I needed a different PSU, the hard drive light stayed lit for me too.

How true it is, I don't know but I've read that it's literally impossible to kill a CPU unless you break the pins or it overheats to the point it destroys it. At this point, I wouldn't junk anything except the motherboard. I'd keep all the parts. As for the capacitors, it's not always that visible but they still could've leaked. I'm not saying that I'm right but how would the stuff end up on the capacitors like that unless it came from them to begin with? If you're still trying to get it going, have you removed everything except the PSU, CPU, and RAM from the computer? Having all drives and extras removed helps zero in on the issue. If all that is gone and it still doesn't work, more than likely the board is dead. Or...it could be the PSU on a rare case. I had a PSU that was a 20 pin and a board that was 24 pin, and the board's manual said a 20 pin connector would work. It did not. It turned on but there was no beeps or anything, just power. A 24 pin one did work. So it's possible the PSU could be giving you trouble. So that would be the one last thing I would try. good luck!

WOW!! This is pretty awesome indeed. I wonder if Windows 98SE as well. As for internet browsing, it seems just about any web browser is slow on the 9x kernel. Dencorso said that he uses his Windows XP machine for internet browsing needs. I've tried Firefox, Pale Moon, and Opera and all of them are slow on 9x. Either which way though, this is pretty darn good. And anyone who asks why you'd want to use Chrome on Windows Me when you should 'upgrade Windows!!!' can be quiet. lol

I'm surprised it lasted that long. My Optiplex had two caps just barely even beginning to bulge at the top, nothing was even leaking yet and yet it still died.

Yikes, not good at all. What brand of motherboard is it? Does it say on it? If it came from around the 2003-2005 era, it could've fallen victim to the bad caps produced around that time.

Sure. And both we (dencorso and myself) even have an external USB (non)case that we even don't have to crank open to change the disk inside it (that's what dencorso was talking about), something *like*: which has additionally the not-so trifling added feature that it is compatible with both 2.5" and 3.5" Pata disk drives and with Sata ones. jaclaz That is actually really sweet, Jaclaz. I've personally never see one of those but I'm intrigued. I might have to take a look into it. And using the NTFS program for 9x, you should literally be able to plug in any sort of hard drive and use it externally, right?

I have an external hard drive casing myself which is really nice so that I don't even have to crack open the computer and worry about slaving and hooking up to the computer's power supply. Good luck with your project and keep us informed with your results!

Glad to be of help! If you need anything else, post here or PM me and I'll help you out further! Cheers!

I've dabbled a bit into Linux and know for a fact that it's great for rescuing data from bad Windows installations. If you download the latest version of Ubuntu and put it on a DVD and use it as a live session and if you have an external drive or flash drive, you can rescue data from a broken computer (as long as the machine works that is lol) and back it up to an external source. MUCH easier than using plain DOS to try and rescue stuff. Linux is my friend for this feature alone. I've used this method when fixing customer computers that needed data backed up but the Windows installation was messed up and wouldn't boot at all. So this is definitely a valuable asset to any computer tech. Also, Ubuntu works pretty much the same way as Windows when it comes to copy and pasting and making new folders for easier identification of data. Just use the Files Explorer found on the toolbar and you should be able to go from there. And no, I'm not trying to treat you like a newb, I just want to make the process as seamless as possible for you so I'm explaining it as thoroughly as I can.

Ahhhhh!! That's perfect!! Ubuntu reads NTFS just fine! I use Ubuntu Live when my install of Windows 2000 goes south and is completely unbootable, and I have to evacuate data from the main drive to my external drive. But the drive noise....that's not good.... Either which way, hook it up to Linux and give it a shot. At this point, you literally have nothing to lose.

Actually, it shouldn't have taken the hard drive down with it. Here's what I do when it comes to IDE. Instead of messing with the whole Master/Slave effect, I set both to cable select which seems to work out quite nicely. But if you put it into your computer, see if the BIOS recognizes both hard drives. If the BIOS doesn't, then of course Windows won't either. But I don't think it would've hurt the drive unless some strange anomaly happened with the power and it zapped the drive, but I highly doubt it because I was able to salvage all the parts out of my Optiplex that did this and everything worked just fine, even the CPU I salvaged works just fine. So try the cable select settings if you can and report back with your findings. Even as of right now, you can see if the BIOS recognizes both drives. But I do recommend using the CS setting, unless someone else can say why not otherwise. You can always switch back later. Edit: Does the drive at least spin up? Feel the drive when you power it on and see if it vibrates at all. If it gets power, that's the first good sign. Let me know if I'm telling you to do anything you already tried. I just want to make sure I exhaust every possibility before we dig even further down into the situation.