Old OLD PC

Gordon Freeman

Hope someone can help here, have a old gateway PC still working perfectly, 7 Years old (Apart from the odd W98 crash!)want to set it up via a wireless link to Broadband router in another part of house. Have installed a wireless USB Network adaptor but the PC does not see the new hardware when I plug it in. Is this because the old PC uses USB 1?

Ruu_Old

Windows 98 can be picky with USB devices. Is the device compatible with Windows 98 even? Have you got a driver disc for it?

Anti

iirc correctly, there are hacked drivers for win98 that allow the use of certain usb devices that are not normally seen. Check google. And check the manufactures site for compatible drivers if they have any.

If not install linux, and do it that way.

Gordon Freeman

Ruu wrote:

Windows 98 can be picky with USB devices. Is the device compatible with Windows 98 even? Have you got a driver disc for it?

The wireless device in question is a Belkin G USB Network Adaptor and is supposed to be W98 compatible. I have the driver as supplied with it and have loaded this. In the "device hardware manage", W98 indicates that there is a problem with this device.
Incidentally, the PC in question is a Gateway G6 400/ P2. Damm thing just wont die! Hate to throw it out. Thought the kids mignt stay away from main PC if the old one could be used for BeBo/ MSN etc.
Do you reckon I'm right on the USB 1 question?

Cuddlesworth

Makes me wish I had the slightest clue about windows 98.

SeanW

krazy_8s wrote:

Makes me wish I had the slightest clue about windows 98.

Count yourself lucky that you don't. :mad: Trust me.

Gurgle

Gordon Freeman wrote:

The wireless device in question is a Belkin G USB Network Adaptor

They're the things that look like a USB pen drive?

I have never seen one of those things work with any PC, and I spent some time trying.

gamer

YOU need to download win98 usb update ,file ,google it ,download it onto your pc, i think 98se has usb support ,win98 doesnt.dl it to a usb if you dont have net acess at the present.if you r in a hurry you can buy 20ft rj45 cable to connect pc to router ,15euro in maplins or peats.LOOK at usbfiles.com,win 98 1 doesnt connect to usb, look at control panel, hardware ,device manager,expand ,if it sees usb,you,ll see usb connections at the bottom of the device list,view devices by connection.YOU could download upfdate,copy it to a cdr disk,burnit to cdr,or copy to floppy,if its less than 1.44megabyte.

I_Mr_Euphony

gamer wrote:

YOU need to download win98 usb update ,file ,google it ,download it onto your pc, i think 98se has usb support ,win98 doesnt.dl it to a usb if you dont have net acess at the present.if you r in a hurry you can buy 20ft rj45 cable to connect pc to router ,15euro in maplins or peats.LOOK at usbfiles.com,win 98 1 doesnt connect to usb, look at control panel, hardware ,device manager,expand ,if it sees usb,you,ll see usb connections at the bottom of the device list,view devices by connection.YOU could download upfdate,copy it to a cdr disk,burnit to cdr,or copy to floppy,if its less than 1.44megabyte.

@GAMER: Good advice but a bit less punctuation might have been nice
Did you write it with out line breaks for a reason? To signify a new sentence you wrote the first word in CAPS. Very weird....

@GORDON FREEMAN: Any way, yeah that should work with Windows98. Win98 originally had no/rubbish USB support, but then Win98 SecondEdition(SE) came with better support. Which do you have? (Start->Settings->Control Panel->System)

Gordon Freeman wrote:

Do you reckon I'm right on the USB 1 question?

No, USB 2 devices will happily run at USB1 speeds, whether your happy or not

yours
euph

Gordon Freeman

gamer wrote:

YOU need to download win98 usb update ,file ,google it ,download it onto your pc, i think 98se has usb support ,win98 doesnt.dl it to a usb if you dont have net acess at the present.if you r in a hurry you can buy 20ft rj45 cable to connect pc to router ,15euro in maplins or peats.LOOK at usbfiles.com,win 98 1 doesnt connect to usb, look at control panel, hardware ,device manager,expand ,if it sees usb,you,ll see usb connections at the bottom of the device list,view devices by connection.YOU could download upfdate,copy it to a cdr disk,burnit to cdr,or copy to floppy,if its less than 1.44megabyte.

Thanks Gamer, Have found updates here [HTML]http://www.usbman.com/win98seusbguide.htm[/HTML]Plus a lot of other info on USB problems with W98.
I'm trying to avoid the cable route as I would need a lot more that 20ft!
Will let you know how it works out.

gamer

look for/google Diskonkey Win98 Driver Installer.exe .Its size 1,416kb.it allows you to acess any usbdrive on win98 pcs,even nonwin98se pcs.If you pm me your email i,ll email it to you,it may help you to connect other usb devices on win98pc too.

po0k

Install Ubuntu with XFCE if you have 128MB+ ram.

Capt'n Midnight

Ruu wrote:

Windows 98 can be picky with USB devices. Is the device compatible with Windows 98 even? Have you got a driver disc for it?

When it comes to USB windows 98 comes in two flavours

Windows 98 ( basic USB support )
Windows 98 SE "Second Edition" - any device that specifically says 98 SE probably won't ever work in the first release of 98

It's generally up to the manufacturer to provide the device specific drivers, so while keyboards, floppies and mice generally work, USB fash memory is VERY hit and miss in 98 and then only when you have the right drivers. And USB flash memory is a fairly standard interface that works on just about every current OS out there. I had a USB key that actually had drivers for windows 95 that worked, with a floppy - must try to find it again.
Anyway considering the hassle of USB memory , if you can't find a driver on their web site for the Wireless USB device it ain't going to work. Check the Beklin site, then check for linux drivers, sometimes they give clues if the product has been rebadged to other drivers that might work, sometimes that involves editing the inf file so it isn't rejected because it's got a different brand (lots of hard work with very little chance of success and many of those who would bother are into *NIX )

PS. Mr Google thought this might help
http://www.belkin.com/support/download.asp?download=F5D7050&lang=1&mode

gamer

pm your email,and i,ll email you the diskonkey file, driver for win98, enables any usb,flashdrive to work on win98 pc.theres sites like driverfiles thathelp you to find drivers.

DublinEvents

Gordon Freeman wrote:

Thought the kids mignt stay away from main PC if the old one could be used for BeBo/ MSN etc.

There's a much better solution you know. Just install BeTwin and use the keyboard and mouse from your old pc and your kids can use your PC at the same time as you so you don't need to run two different PC's. Heck, you can run EIGHT different stations from your PC with that software. Check out www.thinsoftinc.com for the software.

Conar

DublinEvents wrote:

There's a much better solution you know. Just install BeTwin and use the keyboard and mouse from your old pc and your kids can use your PC at the same time as you so you don't need to run two different PC's. Heck, you can run EIGHT different stations from your PC with that software. Check out www.thinsoftinc.com for the software.

He'd need to get a new video card and share desk space with the other keyboard, mouse and monitor.
I wouldn't see that as a great solution to the problem.

DublinEvents

How about the two desks located back to back with each other? But that would be a problem if the OP wants to keep an eye on his kids and monitor their PC usage.

Capt'n Midnight

DublinEvents wrote:

How about the two desks located back to back with each other? But that would be a problem if the OP wants to keep an eye on his kids and monitor their PC usage.

You could use a high tech device called a mirror !

or vnc in view only mode.


Actually you could use VNC on the second video card/desktop space - hey you can use it on most modern laptops and it's totally free unlike http://www.thinsoftinc.com - which only supports 4 PC clients, as long as you have 4 extra video cars.

The linux clients stuff is a bit of a red herring for home users since most if not all the functionality is already built into the OS. And do you really need a video card for each Xserver client ??