I'm in BIG trouble now...

[Mr. M]

I'm in a lot of trouble now. My neighbor's PC was acting really really slow, couldn't open this and that and AV had conflict, etc. So I volunteered myself to be Mr. Fix-it and took the PC home, wiped the drive, and starting to reinstall everything.

After installing a known good version of Win98 SE (for 800MHz machine with 128MB RAM), it has ? with the onboard Ethernet, video and audio, won't find the proper drivers from the Win98 CD, nor the ATI driver CD in the video's case. Now I have no internet connection, graphics run at 16 colors, and no sound. And I have to face my neighbors. :(

Yes I formated the drive with format c: /s, fdisk-ed it first, no errors.

PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Thong_Ispector]

Start with Everest from lavalys to identify what hardware you have.
(Free for non-business user)

Ask your neighbor for any driver discs that came with his PC...
Specifically one for the motherboard...

Start searching the internet for any drivers that you dont have...

You will probably also need to have direct X available...
(Also a free download)

Many, many people have done what you have when trying to help a neighbor...

Good Luck...

[Mr. M]

Thanks for your help. I've already searched through their big box of CDs for drivers, since they don't know what they have, and there is no motherboard driver CD. It's a secondhand Dell box, so they don't even have specs or original Dell CDs.

For a second I considered it might be a hardware thing, but it worked, however slowly it might be, just before I formatted it. So I'm sure it's the drivers.

[Catweazle]

Then you need to identify precisely what model Dell it is and download device drivers from Dell's website.

[Mr. M]

Then you need to identify precisely what model Dell it is and download device drivers from Dell's website.

That's another dumb thing about the Dell site I don't understand. The box comes with a Service Tag number, and theoretically I punch it in on the site and they should know exactly what I have in the box, assuming it's all still factory. But it only gives me a list of categories, and under each category there are tons of choices of video cards, for example.

Shouldn't it KNOW what they shipped?

[Catweazle]

Isn't there a model name and number on the computer case?

[Mr. M]

Isn't there a model name and number on the computer case?

Yes, it's Dimension 8100.

[Catweazle]

Download the chipset driver from here.

Install it on that Dell. Then download and install Everest Home Edition on it and generate a report to identify which of the other device drivers on that download page you need!

Let us know if you have any trouble identifying specific devices from Everest's report.

[Mr. M]

That Everest software is amazing!!

My 3 major problems:
1. Network card: 3Com 3C920 Integrated Fast Ethernet COntroller
2. Audio: Creative SB PCI128
3. Video: nVidia RIVA TNT2 M64

On with the hunting of drivers!

[Mr. M]

Got the nvidia and SB drivers!

Still having trouble getting the 3Com 3C920 driver. Seems that it's for Win2K not Win98. Hmmmmm......

[Mr. M]

All Done!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks For Your Help!!!!!!!!!!!!!