Need help with compaq motherboard

[johndoe52]

Okay, here's what I did. I tried installing win 98se. I think the problem is that i'm not using the setup disks that come will all compaq systems but I don't want to use those. It puts on all sorts of stuff that i don't want(and besides those disks are at home and i'm at school). The first problem is that the onboard graphic won't work right. I can't get over 640x480 and only 16 colors. I figured if i could get my network card to work that i would be able to update drivers and such but I can't get that to work either. Any ideas or should I just buy a new motherboard to build the system?

btw...all it has is a 500 celeron, 15 gig hd and a 200w ps. It's an old compaq system that i stripped and now i'm trying to use what's left to build my sis a computer.

 

[sohcrates]

i've installed fresh win98 on lots of compaq systems. it's a pain in the but because compaq doesn't like you doing it, and sometimes doesn't even have drivers for your stuff. what kind of network card do you have? you shouldn't have trouble getting that working if you can get drivers for it.

as far as everything else, you most likely need to look at the video chipset to see what kind it is, and then find drivers from that manufacturers site. your gonna have to do some scrounging to make it work, but my success rate is pretty high...just don't think compaq's site is gonna have all the drivers your're looking for.

 

[Buz2b]

I agree, you can get it done. Just get that NIC working or get a cheap 56K modem and start looking for the other drivers using the model number in your search. I have done this a few times. You could always install a seperate video card. If it doesn't have an AGP slot, just use an inexpensive PCI card. I did this on the last one; picked one up for under $25 on eBay. You can disable the onboard stuff if you decide to keep the added video card and Modem.