Windows 98 to 98SE upgrade!

OK_Sauce

My kid's PCs (cast offs of mine) are old and slow and both run off Windows 98. I want to make them both wireless to tie in with my wireless network for internet access and printing, but it seems the minimum spec OS required is Windows 98 second edition. I would therefore like an upgrade. This is so 'old technogy' now I'm thinking there must be a place to get the upgrade disc for next to nothing now. Am I barkin' up the wrong tree here?

electron_3

Ebay me thinks... :think:

OK_Sauce

Does seem the way to go unless there's a more practical 'techie' solution.

albertross_2

The SE business is related to a change in the way drivers are written (WDM) from 98SE onwards. You can get lots of hardware to work, even though it says 98SE only..Manufacturers just won't guarantee it.

I'd patch windows98 at https://www.windowsupdate.com, and try your wireless card out, before wiping the HD, and putting SE on.

You may only be able to use WEP encryption though, as opposed to the more secure WPA.


They will all work wired, with a wireless router if you have one.

rdwarr

Any chance they would run Windows 2000?

djohn2002uk

If it's any help to you, I have a copy of Windows 98SE complete with user guide which you can have if you can pick it up or for the cost of postage + a jiffy bag. Might have a second somewhere. I had 2 PCs running 98SE but both on XPPro now.

Edit: I'd better add that they are not upgrades. You would need to format the HDD and install from scratch.

marka87uk

Yea I'd say go for Windows 2000, uses about the same resources as 98 I think but has better security etc.

ManAtHome

Win ME (despite the slagging in some areas) is a better option than Win98SE, although Win2K gives you a better choice of recent hardware and software.

OK_Sauce

Thanks chaps for your suggestions. Thanks djohn2002uk for your kind offer. Not sure I have the ability to start from scratch tho'! Reformatting hard drive etc sound a bit scary TBH. Kinda thought an upgrade disk would be the easiest option? I haven't bought the wireless cards yet maybe I'll get one and see what happens. If not I'll try the patch as suggested. I never thought of upgrading to Windows 2000 or ME, maybe they are a better idea. I'll keep you posted!

electron_3

A little walkthrough I did a while back

Reinstalling win98

First thing to do is to backup any important documents or files
by saving them to CD or floppy disc.
Secondly, find out what drivers you have got for, Audio, Display
Modem, etc etc, you can find this out by entering device manager

Microsoft Windows 95, 98, and ME users enter the Windows device
manager by clicking Start, Settings, Control Panel, System icon,
and finally clicking the Device Manager tab.
Or use PC Wizard on a operational PC http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php

If you have no Antivirus I recommend downloading AVG free,
and for a firewall I recommend SYGATE, download these
files and also save to disk. for later installation
If you have found the names of the drivers and manufactures
go to https://www.driverguide.com and get them there it is free to register.
and save the drivers to disk.

So now you need a win 98-boot disk so insert one floppy disk.
You can make a boot disk in Windows 95 or 98 by going to Control Panel
Add/Remove Programs, Start-up Disk and clicking the Create Disk button.

So make sure you also have a full version of win98 in the CDtray
and the boot disk in the floppy slot.

Now restart your PC, you will be asked If you wish to start the machine with CD support
click yes to this, Now wait until everything has loaded from the floppy and
until you have A:\ on the screen when you get to this point type in format c:/s
so it looks like this on screen A:\format c:/s

And then you will be asked if you want to do this, so just hit Yes or OK
just follow the onscreen instructions, once done the PC will be fully formatted
now when this is 100% done restart the machine, by turning off the power
for 2mins then back on again.

Now with the Floppy still in the drive and the Win98CD still in the CDrom drive
start the PC up again, and as before choose Start PC with CD support.

Ok when all the drivers are loaded from the floppy and you see A:\ on screen
type \ if D is the drive letter of your CD rom which it usually is.

Now with \ on screen type setup.exe so the screen looks like \setup.exe
and you will be prompted to run windows click yes, and your install will now begin.

OK_Sauce

Good instructions, thanks. I'm going to try at the weekend. A mate has got Windows ME. I've heard this isn't the most stable OS but I'll give it a go!