Bob said:
Another poster stated that this machine can't run XP. I believe that's
not strictly true. (It might not be a good idea to run XP on it with a
Celeron 366 as the CPU, but it will work if there's enough RAM - 256
MB might be adequate.)
There are beta XP drivers available for the HPT366:
ftp://geerynet.d2g.com/Highpoint/366_xp_beta.zip
However, what the XP compatibility checker is complaining about is
that it's finding the ME drivers for the HPT366. I did un upgrade
install of XP over Win98 gold on a similar board (Soyo 6BA+IV), and I
had to do the following:
Move all the drives to the 440BX IDE controller (leave nothing on the
Highpoint controller).
Boot in DOS mode.
Manually remove the HPT366 drivers. (I believe that their filenames
will all include "366".)
I hope that I remember the detail correctly, as it's been a while.
It might ultimately be better to do a clean install of XP. You won't
need the Highpoint drivers unless you're installing XP on a drive
that's attached to the Highpoint controller.
I'm not sure that its worthwhile to install XP on your machine, but it
ought to be possible. If you search the newsgroups (Google groups),
you'll find a lot more postings about installing XP on a BE6 than
you'll care to read.
I didn't say "can't" run XP, but I strongly suggested that it will be a
mistake. Even with more RAM, XP is going to run like a dog on that
system. And Pam may not find the right drivers for her older hardware.
Your information about the Highpoint drivers was very interesting,
though. Thanks for that.
I do think that it is a good idea to choose an operating system that
fits the hardware. I like older machines and still have a little
Satellite running DOS, a Win95 box, and several Win98 machines. It's
just that a machine that worked well using Win9x isn't really going to
perform nicely with an operating system that requires a lot beefier
hardware. Of course there is nothing preventing Pam from installing XP
on her machine; I just think it isn't the optimal choice.
Malke
