Resurrecting a Legacy X86 PC..

[Vipersan]

I hate wasted space ..and there is enough space for a 3rd NTFS based OS on the 2nd drive ..
No idea if this mobo and cpu will support win7 ..but I'm giving it a go ..
Basically cos I have installation iso ..and genuine key ..
I honestly thought I had the same for vista ...but after much searching ...drew a blank.
I do expect this win7 install to struggle ..but gotta try ...
I _just_hate wasted space ..
I even considered Windows Whistler or Windows Neptune ..
Ever heard of 'em ?
Betas or f0rerunners to XP apparently..
rgds
VS

 

[Archive-8]

I hate wasted space ..and there is enough space for a 3rd NTFS based OS on the 2nd drive ..
No idea if this mobo and cpu will support win7 ..but I'm giving it a go ..
Basically cos I have installation iso ..and genuine key ..
I honestly thought I had the same for vista ...but after much searching ...drew a blank.
I do expect this win7 install to struggle ..but gotta try ...
I _just_hate wasted space ..
I even considered Windows Whistler or Windows Neptune ..
Ever heard of 'em ?
Betas or f0rerunners to XP apparently..
rgds
VS

What speed is the cpu?

Windows 10, only needs a 1 ghz cpu and 1 gb of memory, for the X86 & x64.

 

[Vipersan]

What speed is the cpu?

Windows 10, only needs a 1 ghz cpu and 1 gb of memory, for the X86 & x64.

I suspect win10 is definately out of range Chris ..
Got windows 7 in Chameleon ..
CD driver disc refuses to run on compatibility grounds ..
Nor does the graphics card driver disc ..
So not sure even Vista would run ..
I guess the upper limit of this build is XP ..
No surprise really...and I never intended it to support recent OS any-hoo.
rgds
VS

 

[Archive-8]

I suspect win10 is definately out of range Chris ..
Got windows 7 in Chameleon ..
CD driver disc refuses to run on compatibility grounds ..
Nor does the graphics card driver disc ..
So not sure even Vista would run ..
I guess the upper limit of this build is XP ..
No surprise really...and I never intended it to support recent OS any-hoo.
rgds
VS

Just a thought, as I have an old x86 Athlon 1.2ghz ish and 1.5 gb ram.

And just for a punt one day I stuck the 32bit version on with my Lenovo windows 8.0 key and it activated and runs ok.

So never say never!

I now have a machine in Sherborne, not had that for a very very long time.

It's your fault I went digging in my spare room over there

 

[Vipersan]

Just a thought, as I have an old x86 Athlon 1.2ghz ish and 1.5 gb ram.

And just for a punt one day I stuck the 32bit version on with my Lenovo windows 8.0 key and it activated and runs ok.

So never say never!

I now have a machine in Sherborne, not had that for a very very long time.

It's your fault I went digging in my spare room over there

Ahh but when win7 installed it didn't even install generic graphics card drivers ..never mind sound ..cos they dont exist in the windows data base ..for a creative/voodoo circa mid 90s .
So ..although Win7 runs ..it only runs in 8 colour VGA mode ..
Naaa ..this is not gonna work ..and will be dumped in favour of ...errr ...something else ? ..but what ..?
Linux of course ..but that will have its own drive .
I cant believe I face the opposite of 'running out of space '
lol

 

[Terryl]

Your gonna totally confuse the heck outta that thing, it may develop it's own intelligence and try to take over the work bench, then we are all in trouble, I vote to totally isolate Vipersan's work bench from the rest of this universe. (#24, out of 30 to the 300th power)

This way we all don't get sucked down a white hole.........It would be a bad day......for most.......as I have total universal insurance......With State Universe.........They cover most everything.....Except Vipersans work bench....Unless he paid the premiums.


And with that it's back to the Scotch......

 

[Vipersan]

So ..just for fun ..and out of curiosity ..I'm trying A limited time trial version of Microsoft LONGHORN (beta)
One that died before it ever became a retail product ..but in fact was the platform on which Vista was based ..
But like win 7 it cannot install graphics drivers so is running in 16 colour VGA mode during the install ..
I suspect this will not be viable ..and has an expiry date anyhow.
I really must be going mad to even try ..
lol

 

[Vipersan]

More trouble than it was worth on account it didn't recognise my graphics card ..and required a bios reset of the RTC (real time clock)
but this is what it should have looked like..

 

[Captain Jack]

Vs, just put p0rn on free space....

I remember Whistler - have been using it for a bit before the final XP release. Nice OS.

 

[Vipersan]

So ..I finally found something to fill the space on the hard drive..
I have a copy of XP based Windows Media Centre 2005 ..
Tis genuine ..and has the key which was accepted during the build ..
so far so good..
It readily accepted the system drivers ..and graphics card drivers ..
and eved the x card drivers ..
so all good ..
..or is it ?
Every now and again a nagg pops up saying I have 30 days to activate ...
No probs I thought..
its genuine so activate away ..
BUT ..activation refused as there is no response from the activation server..
I get it ..
It's old tech ...but it was bought and paid for ...so activate it Microsoft ..ya money grabbing motherfkkrs ..
I'm not expecting support ..
I'm not expecting updates ..
but I am expecting what I paid for ..not to switch off in 30 days ..
Any way round this ?
Anyone ?

 

[Terryl]

MS is not supporting anything to do with any program related to XP, so trying to activate that program may be a bit of a job. (I tried to activate a new install of XP, did not work out sdo good)

I think there is a way to activate it in the registry, you just have to find the right key to change.

 

[Archive-8]

So ..I finally found something to fill the space on the hard drive..
I have a copy of XP based Windows Media Centre 2005 ..
Tis genuine ..and has the key which was accepted during the build ..
so far so good..
It readily accepted the system drivers ..and graphics card drivers ..
and eved the x card drivers ..
so all good ..
..or is it ?
Every now and again a nagg pops up saying I have 30 days to activate ...
No probs I thought..
its genuine so activate away ..
BUT ..activation refused as there is no response from the activation server..
I get it ..
It's old tech ...but it was bought and paid for ...so activate it Microsoft ..ya money grabbing motherfkkrs ..
I'm not expecting support ..
I'm not expecting updates ..
but I am expecting what I paid for ..not to switch off in 30 days ..
Any way round this ?
Anyone ?

You could try the telephone activation, it may not work, but worth a try.

 

[Vipersan]

I'm happy to make registry changes ..if anyone knows WHAT to change ?

 

[Archive-8]

I'm happy to make registry changes ..if anyone knows WHAT to change ?

This might help

An Easy Guide to Updating Your Product Key in Windows XP

It's dated 2015.

 

[Vipersan]

So ..just spent the last 10 mins on the phone to the UK Toll Free number ...
But ..nothing doing ..
The guy at the other end could not help ..and was hard to understand because of his accent ..
So I guess this is totally abandoned ..
Registry or patch mods appear to me only option now..

 

[Llew]

Didn't have a problem registering my XP (changed mobo from the original, dead mobo) via 'phone last week. Robot woman's voice led me through after adding original Product ID that came with the old PC.

 

[Vipersan]

Didn't have a problem registrating my XP (changed mobo from the original, dead mobo) via 'phone last week. Robot woman's voice led me through after adding original Product ID that came with the old PC.

I can understand that Llew ..
but there is no original PC/Mobo here ..
These 2 installation discs are OEM bought for building an HTPC back in the day..
So I'm not sure there is a way round this...but for now I keep looking .
Not sure they were ever used ..but might have been once..
certainly whatever I bought them for no longer exists.
cest la vie

 

[Llew]

Ah, I see. An interesting thread VS. Readthrough may help me when I get an old Advent mobo working again to take my Win95/98 upgrade disks ( CPU FETs not firing up to supply DC to core). Want to use my Matrox Marvel outrigger again for old time's sake ;)

 

[Vipersan]

Well fwiw ..I found an interesting article on youtube ...and by pausing frequently I was able to follow the registry procedure ..
Now I'm not advocating theft ...
afterall ..I bought a genuine product complete with hollograms etc ..and a genuine key ..
but since MS couldn't or wouldn't assist ..
I registered it myself ..
or at least it claims it is ?
..I suspect this may be a fudge ..extending the 30 day trial period to infinity..
but it appears to work.

 

[Vipersan]

Almost ready to complete this build now ..
Chameleon specs are ..
An MSI KT4V motherboard with 2gb ram and an Athlon 1.2ghzCPU ...
onboard USB2 / AC97 audio/ Via RhineII Lan

An IDE three way switch to select boot at startup between 3 hard drive ..
Hard Drive 1 > GAG multiboot Win95C / Win98SE / WinME (200gb IDE)..the FAT32 drive
Hard Drive 2 > GAG multiboot WIN2000 / XPpro / XP MCE 2005 (500gb IDE)..the NTFS drive
Hard Drive 3 > Linux Mint 15 (320gb IDE)

OS on Win95 98 ME all tweaked to limit the RAM to 128MB
OS Win 95 patched to support fast cpu
2x SCSI cards Avansys narrow scsi ...Adaptec Wide scsi
1x IDE CD/PD drive only Win XP can used the PD on account I suspect I need drivers for earlier OS ...no I can't find 'em (Matsushita Lf-1195A)...maybe they never existed ?
If I ever get another SCSI version of a CD/PD (only really appear in the USA on ebay) then ALL OS will have access .

1x Creative/Voodo Graphics card
1x Sigma Designs Hardware Graphics Accelerator /mpeg video decoder

1x SDT-10000 tape drive ..
All windows OS can use this (the benefits of wide scsi)

1x CD/DVD RW multidrive (all OS can use this)
1x 1.44gb Floppy drive
1x 400 watt psu

One helluva build ..and judging by what single os 98 legacy pcs sell for on fleabay ..I'd guess this would sell for at least £500

Sadly couldn't include Win 3.1 ...FAT16 is incompatible with ..well...everything..

..and well worthy of the name CHAMELEON

rgds
VS

Software I'd like to install on windows OS ..
I shall start a list ..but winamp is up there ...
item 1