Friend upgraded, problems galore

[Coherence]

A friend of mine intended to upgrade her old HP Pavilion, but really built a new system with:
new case (Asus desktop case),
Asus P4B mobo,
P4 1.6Ghz,
256 MB RAM,
GeForce MX 420

reusing from the HP:
11GB HD,
CD-RW,
modem/sound combo card,
ethernet card,
monitor,
speakers,
multimedia keyboard.

Here is the list of problems she's having:

1. On-board sound not working properly.
- The speakers have to be turned up full blast to hear even a whisper. (They are not powered speakers; perhaps the on-board sound requires powered speakers?)

2. Video is messed up after installing the on-board sound drivers.
- Will try to reinstall video drivers to see if that helps. Since installing the on-board sound drivers, the screen no longer changes resolutions properly, images in 640x480 appear in the upper left corner instead of being resized to fill the screen. (Odd that the sound drivers would affect video.)

3. A number of registry errors appear during startup, related to the network card (no on-board NIC).
- Not knowing the exact HP ethernet card used in the original system, we took a guess and eventually got it to work, but can't get rid of the registry error boot messages. I've had this problem before, where adding a network card asks for the original W98 CD, it says it can't find the drivers, but eventually works anyway. /shrug

Anyone experience similar problems? Is it a mobo issue? Or a bad combo of OEM parts with the HP parts?

 

[hungrypete]

youre using the windows 98 cd drivers? this is a clean os install or you are trying to use the 'hp' windows disk?

 

[RSMemphis]

Originally posted by: Coherence
1. On-board sound not working properly.
- The speakers have to be turned up full blast to hear even a whisper. (They are not powered speakers; perhaps the on-board sound requires powered speakers?)

Yes, indeed they do... Headphones sorta work when on full blast, but forget about unpowered speakers

2. Video is messed up after installing the on-board sound drivers.
- Will try to reinstall video drivers to see if that helps. Since installing the on-board sound drivers, the screen no longer changes resolutions properly, images in 640x480 appear in the upper left corner instead of being resized to fill the screen. (Odd that the sound drivers would affect video.)
3. A number of registry errors appear during startup, related to the network card (no on-board NIC).
- Not knowing the exact HP ethernet card used in the original system, we took a guess and eventually got it to work, but can't get rid of the registry error boot messages. I've had this problem before, where adding a network card asks for the original W98 CD, it says it can't find the drivers, but eventually works anyway.

Okay, since this is Windows 98 - go into the Safe Mode, and then remove every driver from the old system. When in doubt, remove more than less, most of it will be installed again next time you boot up.
When "upgrading" a system like this, a new install is always better, but I guess that is not an option here.
Also, check if there is a c:\opt, or c:\windows\opt directory. OEMs normally have such a directory that has all the drivers in it, so that you don't have to use a CD. If so, point it there when it asks for the W98 CD

 

[chizow]

Wow! I'm surprised the HP OEM version of Win98 even allows you to install on a non-HP mobo. I tried installing the Win98SE that came with an old Compaq that I cannibalized into a Web/Tivo server and it wouldn't do it 🙁 Gave me a nasty blue screen with a message saying: THIS IS NOT A COMQRAP PC.

Anyways, I don't know if you can or not, but it might be worth it to see if you qualify for the upgrade price to WinXP for ~$150.

Chiz

 

[Coherence]

youre using the windows 98 cd drivers? this is a clean os install or you are trying to use the 'hp' windows disk?

The HP Restore CD would not run, so we used a Win98SE CD, freshly formatted HD, clean install. (I still found it odd that the install process did not recognize and ask to load the drivers during setup.)

Wow! I'm surprised the HP OEM version of Win98 even allows you to install on a non-HP mobo. I tried installing the Win98SE that came with an old Compaq that I cannibalized into a Web/Tivo server and it wouldn't do it Gave me a nasty blue screen with a message saying: THIS IS NOT A COMQRAP PC.

Actually, we used my Win98SE CD, but she still has her manual and CD key from her original, so I guess it's all still legal. 😉 It was just the Restore CD that would not run with the new parts.

After talking to her, the video problem seems to have fixed itself. /shrug

She has already removed the HP sound/modem card. I'll give her my old powered speakers to use with the on-board sound.

The registry errors sound like the only remaining problem. It basically pops up 4 of these errors (3 in "dos" while starting up, and one Windows dialog after the desktop appears), and she just hits Enter with each one and all is well (still annoying, though).