Win2000 on this machine?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ed
  • Start date Start date
E

Ed

I recently acquired a new-to-me Compaq Presario with an AMD 533MHz processor
and 192M RAM. It currently has Win98SE. Would Win2000 work well on this
machine? Or should I stick with Win98?

Ed
 
Windows 2000 will work well on the CPU/Memory class. Only advice is that I
would head out to Compaq/HP and see what they have in hardware drivers
before taking the plunge.
 
Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure I completely understand what your driver
concerns are because my computer "expertise" is limited to using programs.
Should I be concerned that Win2000 will not contain all the necessary
drivers for the computer hardware that's now running with Win98? Or that
Win2000 may conflict with the Compaq/AMD configuration and prevent some
things from running?

Ed
 
Basically my comment is that you should go out to Compaq/HP and see if they
offer any drivers that are specific for the hardware platform you where
given. Having the right hardware drivers for the platform can make the
difference of a stable operating system vs. something that just frustrates
you to no end. Going out to Compaq/HP first means that you should get a
good feel if the hardware will support Windows 2000 because if it does, they
will offer drivers for what components shipped with the PC.
 
Understand now. Thank you.

neo said:
Basically my comment is that you should go out to Compaq/HP and see if they
offer any drivers that are specific for the hardware platform you where
given. Having the right hardware drivers for the platform can make the
difference of a stable operating system vs. something that just frustrates
you to no end. Going out to Compaq/HP first means that you should get a
good feel if the hardware will support Windows 2000 because if it does, they
will offer drivers for what components shipped with the PC.
Click to expand...
 
The Compaq/HP website support is a nightmare and does not help if you
installed any OS other than what was originally shipped.

The only way win 2K will work is if you either dual(duel!) install on the
same drive with win 98 or install a 2nd drive for win 2k.

But, once you install 2k, don't expect ANY driver/software/hardware download
support whatsoever from the Compaq/HP website.

And whatever you do, DO NOT reformat your hard drive! Compaq or HP will not
boot to a hard drive without their protected area partitions created from
their original installation or a reinstall to original ship condition CD.

It will work, but make sure you update all of the Win '98 patches and
updates from both compaq and windows before installing Win 2k.

And also make sure you have all new software for any DVD or CDR/RW drives.
None of the original software will install to win2k.
 
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