Which windows to run?

wrote:
On Aug 15, 10:47 pm, Grinder wrote:
Mac Cool wrote:
14 hours to be exact.
Did you check the drive for errors? If it gets errors, replace the drive.
If no errors, replace the cable.
Honestly I would throw the machine away. In my area, you can buy a fairly
modern machine for less than $200 and something much better than that old
turd for less than a $75.
A data point for the OP:

My local mom and pop pc repair place as a Pentium 4 1.5GHz with Windows
XP on consignment for $125, which means they would probably take $100.
17" CRT monitor for $40 (haggle for $25.)

That's right on the edge where it COULD be one of those oddball socket
423 p4s. It would explain the price.

It's an Intel D845HV mainboard -- a 478 socket -- PRICED TO MOVE, MOVE,
MOVE!!

On Aug 15, 11:50 pm, wrote:
My grandma has an old computer that she is wanting to use as a word
processor. The system is a Dell Optiplex, 300 Mhz Pentium 2, with 192
MB of ram. I installed Win98 on there, and it took FOREVER. 14 hours
to be exact.

Now that it is installed, it runs horrible, and every single click or
action takes forever. The box meets the minimum system requirements,
but I still can't get it to run right.

Should I buy a copy of Win95 instead? Is it possible that would run
better, or is it more likely the box just has a hardware issue?

Thanks!

That is very strange. When I bought a P120 (Pentium 1, 120) in around
1995. It ran windows 98.

It went very slow only after lots and lots of use. HDD filled up with
stuff. When it got very slow, people couldn't believe it was a P120.

A friend had a P100 that was fast enough for Win95 or Win 98. He
watched ' movies ' on there.

I suggest some troubleshooting - if you have the time and the parts.

Rather than saying try everything, I think an easy thing to check is
the IDE cable. Maybe the CDROM and HDD are both on the same bad
cable. I've never seen that('cos possibly due to a fact or myth,
people avoid it), and i've never seen a bad IDE cable cause slowness.
But anyhow. Another thing to check is the Hard Drive, 'cos if that's
messed up somehow, then that could explain how it's all slow -
installing windows, running windows).

With any troubleshooting, you can either swap a part, or move the part
into a similar machine. (this can save people the hassle of swapping
the MBRD). You prob don't have a similar machine.. But rather than
immediately intalling windows fresh on a new hard drive. You should
know that win98 has the advantage over WinNT(e.g. xp), in that a HDD
running win98 can be moved from one machine to another and still run.
So, if you were to put that HDD into some newer machine like a P4, and
still found it ran like your grandma, then you know the HDD is bad -
prob solved. If it runs ok, then , you don't know one way or the
other, so try the test of installing windows 98 on a new tested
working hdd in your messed up machine.

You could install windows 3.1 or 3.11. Windows Write was pretty good.
Alot of people preferred it to Wordpad (introduced with win95).

On Sun, 19 Aug 2007 08:20:27 -0700,
"
wrote:

On Aug 15, 11:50 pm, wrote:
My grandma has an old computer that she is wanting to use as a word
processor. The system is a Dell Optiplex, 300 Mhz Pentium 2, with 192
MB of ram. I installed Win98 on there, and it took FOREVER. 14 hours
to be exact.

Now that it is installed, it runs horrible, and every single click or
action takes forever. The box meets the minimum system requirements,
but I still can't get it to run right.

Should I buy a copy of Win95 instead? Is it possible that would run
better, or is it more likely the box just has a hardware issue?

Thanks!

That is very strange. When I bought a P120 (Pentium 1, 120) in around
1995. It ran windows 98.

It went very slow only after lots and lots of use. HDD filled up with
stuff. When it got very slow, people couldn't believe it was a P120.

A friend had a P100 that was fast enough for Win95 or Win 98. He
watched ' movies ' on there.

I've set up Win98 on 486 systems years ago and (as far as
basic GUI and old applications/small jobs) it ran fine, a
little sluggish but tolerable providing there was plenty of
memory. I suggest about 32MB is a minimum for win98 unless
it's 98lite modified, then maybe only 24MB would be an
acceptible minimum.

wrote:

My grandma has an old computer that she is wanting to use as a word
processor. The system is a Dell Optiplex, 300 Mhz Pentium 2, with 192
MB of ram. I installed Win98 on there, and it took FOREVER. 14 hours
to be exact.

That's way too long, even with 192 ram and a P2. Something else is
wrong. eg perhaps the hard drive is on its way out.

Now that it is installed, it runs horrible, and every single click or
action takes forever. The box meets the minimum system requirements,
but I still can't get it to run right.

Should I buy a copy of Win95 instead? Is it possible that would run
better, or is it more likely the box just has a hardware issue?

Thanks!

--
http://www.bootdisk.com/

wrote:
On Aug 15, 11:50 pm, wrote:
My grandma has an old computer that she is wanting to use as a word
processor. The system is a Dell Optiplex, 300 Mhz Pentium 2, with 192
MB of ram. I installed Win98 on there, and it took FOREVER. 14 hours
to be exact.

Now that it is installed, it runs horrible, and every single click or
action takes forever. The box meets the minimum system requirements,
but I still can't get it to run right.

Should I buy a copy of Win95 instead? Is it possible that would run
better, or is it more likely the box just has a hardware issue?

Thanks!

That is very strange. When I bought a P120 (Pentium 1, 120) in around
1995. It ran windows 98.

It went very slow only after lots and lots of use. HDD filled up with
stuff. When it got very slow, people couldn't believe it was a P120.

A friend had a P100 that was fast enough for Win95 or Win 98. He
watched ' movies ' on there.

I suggest some troubleshooting - if you have the time and the parts.

Rather than saying try everything, I think an easy thing to check is
the IDE cable. Maybe the CDROM and HDD are both on the same bad
cable. I've never seen that('cos possibly due to a fact or myth,
people avoid it), and i've never seen a bad IDE cable cause slowness.
But anyhow. Another thing to check is the Hard Drive, 'cos if that's
messed up somehow, then that could explain how it's all slow -
installing windows, running windows).

With any troubleshooting, you can either swap a part, or move the part
into a similar machine. (this can save people the hassle of swapping
the MBRD). You prob don't have a similar machine.. But rather than
immediately intalling windows fresh on a new hard drive. You should
know that win98 has the advantage over WinNT(e.g. xp), in that a HDD
running win98 can be moved from one machine to another and still run.
So, if you were to put that HDD into some newer machine like a P4, and
still found it ran like your grandma, then you know the HDD is bad -
prob solved. If it runs ok, then , you don't know one way or the
other, so try the test of installing windows 98 on a new tested
working hdd in your messed up machine.

You could install windows 3.1 or 3.11. Windows Write was pretty good.
Alot of people preferred it to Wordpad (introduced with win95).





It doesn't sound like the operating system. Did you start with a format
of the hard drive. If not you should have because there could be all
sorts of things in files that could slow it down. Maybe it would be
worth it to get a new hard drive. Since it is for word processing it
could be the cheapest one available. There is nothing that should have
slowed a computer down that much. If you formatted a new hard drive and
put Windows 98 on it there should be no problems with it running that
slow. It just doesn't make any sense.

On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:04:37 -0600, ProfGene
wrote:

wrote:
On Aug 15, 11:50 pm, wrote:
My grandma has an old computer that she is wanting to use as a word
processor. The system is a Dell Optiplex, 300 Mhz Pentium 2, with 192
MB of ram. I installed Win98 on there, and it took FOREVER. 14 hours
to be exact.

Something was already horribly wrong. At that point a good
test might've been memtest86+, to visually check dust levels
and fan operation, to measure voltages, run a hard drive
manufacturer's diagnostic, and try different drive cables.




Now that it is installed, it runs horrible, and every single click or
action takes forever. The box meets the minimum system requirements,
but I still can't get it to run right.

I would first suspect a bad drive or bad drive data cable.


Should I buy a copy of Win95 instead? Is it possible that would run
better, or is it more likely the box just has a hardware issue?

Win95 is faster than 98 but no it is not the solution as the
added *bloat* (features) of Win98 are not the cause of the
problem. A Pentium2 system with 192MB can even run Win2k,
barely WinXP ok for basic tasks. It is a hardware issue and
if Win98's features and (in general, ignoring the problems
on this system) lesser stability than Win2k or XP are
acceptible, then Win98 is a good choice for that system.


That is very strange. When I bought a P120 (Pentium 1, 120) in around
1995. It ran windows 98.

No, in '95 Win98 hadn't been released yet, only a very odd
combination of very old parts would have been used at the
point when Win98 was released, because by that point even
the low-end cheap stuff used a K6-2or -3 if budget was the
factor.

On the other hand, a P120 can run win98 better than OP's
grandmother's system was doing so, providing it had enough
memory (at least 32MB was a ballpark figure with the next
32MB+ added being a significant performance increase).


It went very slow only after lots and lots of use. HDD filled up with
stuff. When it got very slow, people couldn't believe it was a P120.

Delete the unneeded files to free up space and then see if
it still is slow.

Since there was a problem right at the start installing
win98, taking so long, investigate that first. If it
weren't for that I would've suspected a virus or malware,
though these could also be present.


A friend had a P100 that was fast enough for Win95 or Win 98. He
watched ' movies ' on there.

I suggest some troubleshooting - if you have the time and the parts.

Rather than saying try everything, I think an easy thing to check is
the IDE cable. Maybe the CDROM and HDD are both on the same bad
cable. I've never seen that('cos possibly due to a fact or myth,
people avoid it), and i've never seen a bad IDE cable cause slowness.

It depends on when it's slow, a bad cable can interfere with
I/O so much that it is perpetually sluggish every time I/O
is attempted. Also check Device Manager to see if the drive
is operating in DMA mode as it should be, or PIO mode which
it should not (unless the drive were PIO-mode capable only,
which would make the drive significantly older than the
system itself as all P2-300 era drives were DMA capable).

Lastly, if the system is going to continue to be used, check
on a bios update that would support larger drives, but don't
flash it yet until you know the system is stable (I suggest
running Memtest86+ for several hours to see if there are
errors or crashes first). Also check that the floppy drive
reads well as you don't want a read error during flashing.

After you have a bios update (or not and you either put a
PCI IDE controller card in to increase HDD capacity support
or just use the largest drive supported even if it means
using a drive capacity limiting jumper), consider replacing
the hard drive because new drives are so much faster, and
that drive is old enough it could fail at any time (and
might already be failing).


You could install windows 3.1 or 3.11. Windows Write was pretty good.
Alot of people preferred it to Wordpad (introduced with win95).

There is no reason to install 3.1 or 3.11 on a P2 w/192MB
memory just to solve an OS overhead issue. Win98 runs very
well on a P2 w/192MB memory until it comes time to do
something really demanding outside of basic GUI functions or
office, like video compression, gaming, etc.



It doesn't sound like the operating system. Did you start with a format
of the hard drive. If not you should have because there could be all
sorts of things in files that could slow it down. Maybe it would be
worth it to get a new hard drive. Since it is for word processing it
could be the cheapest one available. There is nothing that should have
slowed a computer down that much. If you formatted a new hard drive and
put Windows 98 on it there should be no problems with it running that
slow. It just doesn't make any sense.


Lots of things could have gone wrong on a system that old.
It might have bad caps, residue on connectors, bad drive
cables, a PSU barely working, etc, etc.

At some point one has to accept that nothing lasts forever
and the system was reasonably good to last the 10 years or
so it did. It might be time to just replace it with a
something modern... to get a long forward-looking lifespan
if nothing else, it need not be an expensive system, I
suggest looking at something from Dell or HP that can be
bought with WinXP instead of Vista.

If you just need a word processer dos 4 is good if you have an old word
processing programe in a box.
"kony" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:04:37 -0600, ProfGene
wrote:

wrote:
On Aug 15, 11:50 pm, wrote:
My grandma has an old computer that she is wanting to use as a word
processor. The system is a Dell Optiplex, 300 Mhz Pentium 2, with 192
MB of ram. I installed Win98 on there, and it took FOREVER. 14 hours
to be exact.

Something was already horribly wrong. At that point a good
test might've been memtest86+, to visually check dust levels
and fan operation, to measure voltages, run a hard drive
manufacturer's diagnostic, and try different drive cables.




Now that it is installed, it runs horrible, and every single click or
action takes forever. The box meets the minimum system requirements,
but I still can't get it to run right.

I would first suspect a bad drive or bad drive data cable.


Should I buy a copy of Win95 instead? Is it possible that would run
better, or is it more likely the box just has a hardware issue?

Win95 is faster than 98 but no it is not the solution as the
added *bloat* (features) of Win98 are not the cause of the
problem. A Pentium2 system with 192MB can even run Win2k,
barely WinXP ok for basic tasks. It is a hardware issue and
if Win98's features and (in general, ignoring the problems
on this system) lesser stability than Win2k or XP are
acceptible, then Win98 is a good choice for that system.


That is very strange. When I bought a P120 (Pentium 1, 120) in around
1995. It ran windows 98.

No, in '95 Win98 hadn't been released yet, only a very odd
combination of very old parts would have been used at the
point when Win98 was released, because by that point even
the low-end cheap stuff used a K6-2or -3 if budget was the
factor.

On the other hand, a P120 can run win98 better than OP's
grandmother's system was doing so, providing it had enough
memory (at least 32MB was a ballpark figure with the next
32MB+ added being a significant performance increase).


It went very slow only after lots and lots of use. HDD filled up with
stuff. When it got very slow, people couldn't believe it was a P120.

Delete the unneeded files to free up space and then see if
it still is slow.

Since there was a problem right at the start installing
win98, taking so long, investigate that first. If it
weren't for that I would've suspected a virus or malware,
though these could also be present.


A friend had a P100 that was fast enough for Win95 or Win 98. He
watched ' movies ' on there.

I suggest some troubleshooting - if you have the time and the parts.

Rather than saying try everything, I think an easy thing to check is
the IDE cable. Maybe the CDROM and HDD are both on the same bad
cable. I've never seen that('cos possibly due to a fact or myth,
people avoid it), and i've never seen a bad IDE cable cause slowness.

It depends on when it's slow, a bad cable can interfere with
I/O so much that it is perpetually sluggish every time I/O
is attempted. Also check Device Manager to see if the drive
is operating in DMA mode as it should be, or PIO mode which
it should not (unless the drive were PIO-mode capable only,
which would make the drive significantly older than the
system itself as all P2-300 era drives were DMA capable).

Lastly, if the system is going to continue to be used, check
on a bios update that would support larger drives, but don't
flash it yet until you know the system is stable (I suggest
running Memtest86+ for several hours to see if there are
errors or crashes first). Also check that the floppy drive
reads well as you don't want a read error during flashing.

After you have a bios update (or not and you either put a
PCI IDE controller card in to increase HDD capacity support
or just use the largest drive supported even if it means
using a drive capacity limiting jumper), consider replacing
the hard drive because new drives are so much faster, and
that drive is old enough it could fail at any time (and
might already be failing).


You could install windows 3.1 or 3.11. Windows Write was pretty good.
Alot of people preferred it to Wordpad (introduced with win95).

There is no reason to install 3.1 or 3.11 on a P2 w/192MB
memory just to solve an OS overhead issue. Win98 runs very
well on a P2 w/192MB memory until it comes time to do
something really demanding outside of basic GUI functions or
office, like video compression, gaming, etc.



It doesn't sound like the operating system. Did you start with a format
of the hard drive. If not you should have because there could be all
sorts of things in files that could slow it down. Maybe it would be
worth it to get a new hard drive. Since it is for word processing it
could be the cheapest one available. There is nothing that should have
slowed a computer down that much. If you formatted a new hard drive and
put Windows 98 on it there should be no problems with it running that
slow. It just doesn't make any sense.


Lots of things could have gone wrong on a system that old.
It might have bad caps, residue on connectors, bad drive
cables, a PSU barely working, etc, etc.

At some point one has to accept that nothing lasts forever
and the system was reasonably good to last the 10 years or
so it did. It might be time to just replace it with a
something modern... to get a long forward-looking lifespan
if nothing else, it need not be an expensive system, I
suggest looking at something from Dell or HP that can be
bought with WinXP instead of Vista.