upgrading from 98 to 98SE

[herbalist]

Old HP? Must be if BIOS limit is still 8GB HDD even after flash (boo!).

I didn't find out that the BIOS flash hadn't addressed that 8GB limit until some time later. At the time, my largest drive was a 5.1GB. I'd picked up a 10GB drive out of a dead PC and wanted to see if it was still good. The BIOS gave me 2 different sizes for it, 10,005 vs 8455. The drive seems to work decently anyway. Windows detects it properly, as does DOS. I partitioned it and cloned my existing 98FE system to it last week and have been using it since with no problems. I've decided not to try a BIOS upgrade from anywhere else. I don't have a spare and other than drive size limitations, it works quite well.

I picked up DOS USB drivers some time ago for my external drive, which work very well. The drive works well with 98FE in spite of the Western Digitals claim that 98SE or newer is needed. The drivers for the external drive were bundled with their software in one installer. Once I got the drivers separated out and installed, the external drive ran decently, but slow.

I installed a better USB card as the built in USB was very slow and only had 2 ports. The USB card came with 2.0 drivers, which also claimed to require 98SE or newer. I figured that the newer hardware would improve USB performance even if the 2.0 drivers didn't work, which it did. The big suprise came when I tried to install the drivers. The install appeared to work and the external drive became almost as fast as the internal ones.

The key factor/module that segregates Retail vs OEM vs Upgrade vs MSDN vs Select vs Update (yes, Upgrade and Update are different beasts; Update is a StepUp-Only) is SETUPX.DLL, not SETUP.EXE. I can't/won't tell you how to get around this (sorry...), but you can find out on your own elsewhere.

I've probably got the wrong disk for trying to upgrade. Instead of trying to figure out what type disk I need, I'll start with a new system. It might take a little longer but it also saves me a lot of uninstalling of older versions. It'll also give me a chance to try out a few other ideas that would be hard to implement on an existing system. This way, I can work on it whenever I feel like it and keep using my existing system until it's finished.

Rick

[Atmosphere XG]

Your going to find out (If you haven't already) that Windows 98 FE is not very popular around here so, you will need to experiment on your own a lot, and research old google groups pages to find answers.

Also, many are using more up to date computers so, it doesn't make things easier on your part.

I can say 90% of the software I installed on Windows 98FE worked even though it wasn't marketed for 98 FE. So don't believe everything based on system requirements. Many assume no one is using Windows 98 any more so, they don't even bother listing it.

The most you can do is research your HP model number and save as much information as possible if you are planning to use that computer in the future years to come.

While I've switched to Windows 2000 completely, I'm still using the same PC for Internet use (AMD K6 400 MHZ). So, I understand the difficulty you are having finding answers to your problems. Which is why I suggested Ebay for any extra parts. For, you will not find parts for your computer in retail stores anymore.

BTW. My original hard drive is a Western Digital 10 GB that came pre installed with Windows 98 First Edition.

So, I don't know who told you at Western Digital that you can't use Windows FE on their drive.

Good Luck!

[herbalist]

So, I don't know who told you at Western Digital that you can't use Windows FE on their drive.

It was on the box and in the manual.

System Requirements

Windows 98SE/Me/2000/XP Mac OS v9.2.2 or Mac OS X v10.2.8+

Unless it's the software that was bundled with the USB drivers that isn't 98FE compatible, I don't see why they specified 98SE. The CD wants to install some hard drive backup software I didn't need plus an old version of Adobe Acrobat. The external drive itself works great with just the drivers. Had no trouble repartitioning it in a DOS window.

I can say 90% of the software I installed on Windows 98FE worked even though it wasn't marketed for 98 FE. So don't believe everything based on system requirements.

I've noticed that too with both software and hardware. Ran into the same thing with a USB modem, a webcam, and the previous DSL modem my ISP supplied. Supposedly, the USB drivers weren't compatible. Been seeing the same kind of thing with the performance specs. I've got a couple of apps that supposedly need a minimum 550mhz processor or at least 128MB RAM but ran fine on 366mhz and 64MB RAM.

Many assume no one is using Windows 98 any more so, they don't even bother listing it.

If 98 wasn't mentioned at all, I'd accept it as an oversight or omission. When they specifically list 98SE instead of just 98, which would cover both, IMO it's an attempt to coerce people into replacing their system by making it appear more obsolete than it actually is.

Your going to find out (If you haven't already) that Windows 98 FE is not very popular around here so, you will need to experiment on your own a lot, and research old google groups pages to find answers.

I pretty much expect that SE/ME will get most of the attention. Even so, 98FE isn't that different and much of what applies to one works with the others. Actually, this is one of very few places I've found that has a separate 9X section that isn't completely dead or full of problems caused by dead hardware or corrupted files. The material here I can use. I'd love to learn to do some of this stuff, like modifying system files. This old box sees a lot of experimenting, most of it privacy and security oriented. Projects like the kernel upgrade and defeating the 2GB copy limit and the 137GB hard drive limit, that's the stuff that's fascinating.

Hopefully this weekend I'll get the basic 98SE system done. Having both systems available and accessible on the same box will make things much easier. After that, the hardest part will be figuring out what I want to try first. Not enough time in a day.

Rick