Possible to convert new HP Pavilion to WinMe?

[Centerline]

A client's "HP Pavilion a250n" system, running XP has been trashed by a boot sector virus. The restore partition has been lost, and the OS has been derailed. The client, a fairly novice user, hates XP and wants to go back to WinMe or even Win98SE, which she is familiar and comfortable with.
As I see it, I have two choices; order a restore CD from HP, or attempt the conversion. The later choice is fraught with problems, however.
HP has deliberately gone so proprietory that it's almost impossible to identify components in order to download proper WinMe/98 drivers. The BIOS seems to be married to the file system (and HP's proprietory version XP), and although BIOS properly recognizes the HD parameters, and WinMe will install fine, the OS reports the 120 GB drive as 24 GB (total).
Using "Drivestar" I have set an active FAT32 partition of 5 GB, with an extended partition consisting of the balance. Thus far, I've set up the entire extended partition as one large logical FAT32 drive.
WinMe correctly reads the active drive, but it's furballs on the "D" drive.
Has anyone successfully done what I'm attempting? If I restore HP's bloated package, it's back to the packaged spam, army of upgrade agents, and various other annoyances ...such as disgruntled clients and intermittent NIC issues. IMHO, the system just tries to do too much, and falls down somewhat on it's primary job, which is supposed to be running apps reliably. HP has turned their systems into baby-sitters (again, IMHO).
I can disable the onboard sound, the network interface, etc, and install cards (that should thrill the client no end). But issues remain with the chipset, card readers and the priggish BIOS. Is WinMe/98SE even feasible on this system?
Thanks in advance for any input/feedback. I have about three days to sort this mess out, before the client goes ballistica!

 

[dkdude]

Here's what I would do to get the drivers for Win98SE (forget about WinME!):

Run the recovery XP-CD. Complete the install.

Go to system property : hold down the Win-key (the one with the flag) and press pause/break. Go to the hardware folder and click device manager. Print the list of hardware.

Goto

http://www.driversguide.com

and find the Win98SE drivers. They require you to sign up, but it's free.

Boot from a diskette with FDISK on it. Erase all partitions. Create (one ore more) partition(s). Boot.

Run the Win98SE installation and feed the PC with the drivers you found at

http://www.driversguide.com.

By the way -XP is far more stable than any previous versions of Windows...

Also, I suggest that you make an image of the HD when OS, drivers and commenly used programs are installed. You'll need that when (not if) 98 crashes (happens for me within 4-6 months). You can make an image with Norton's Ghost.

Good Luck §;O)


Jakob

 

[edfair]

I agree about the ME.
Whether you can do it will be determined by the availability of drivers. HP may have some, you may get some from driversguide, you may have to go the the chip manufacturer's site to get some, and there may be hardware installed that you won't be able to implement.
I would also suggest that you get one of the hardware identifying programs to assist you. Belarc advisor, Aida32, or SysoftSandra.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[diogenes10]

I dont know if this has any bearing on your situation, but thought Id post it for you in case it did.
thread615-453711

 

[Centerline]

Sounds like a good plan... ok, we'll throw WinMe under the bus, and work with 98SE (client's OEM). Staying with XP would result in this machine sailing through a third story window in the near future. I might be so lucky as to rate the front door. <g> Let's go for plan B, since it apparently is feasible.
HP didn't include recovery CD's, which I have ordered from them. I'm idling until Friday, when it should arrive. A lesson I've learned the hard way---> upon setting up a new system that lacks recovery disks, burn a set immediately. (duh) That oversight just cost me $37.00 for express service. Never again. It's now on my checklist, right behind &quot;boot floppy&quot;.
The machine functioned flawlessly online upon initialization (last week), and worked fine for one day. We were never able to get a peep out of it after that. The meepin' cable provider claims that there are DNS issues with this particular MB. I can disable the onboard interface and quietly spring for a third party NIC, and resolve that issue. Device Manager and third party diagnostics report that the MB is fine, and that the interface is functioning properly. I mention this because it was the real genesis of this pre-Thanksgiving headache.
DKDude's solution sounds excellent. Hopefully, it will resolve the HD dilemma, which is why this thread is in this forum to begin with.
Diogene10's thread link addressed an issue that has been in the back of my mind... do I need to perform a low level format on this drive, and is the BIOS going to accept all this reverse-engineering?
Edfair, thank you. I just purchased SysoftSandra. All I need now is the restore CD.

--Ken

 

[edfair]

Not a low level, but a high level is a definite recommedation and a fdisk/remove and fdisk/create would probably be in order.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[dkdude]

Like edfair said -no low level format needed!

Another way would be to have a look at the ICs on the boards themselves. The ICs should have a brand and model ID you can use to search the web for drivers. -it's not likely that HP made the adaptors/chips... so that's another way around it.

Still -following my recommendation on having XP tell you what it is may be easier §;O)


Jakob

 

[diogenes10]

If you read steve's post carefully you'll see that he was using &quot;low level&quot; format to apply to the process of writing zeros and he felt like that could be a necessary step in situations like this.

 

[edfair]

But would only be called for if he was having some disk read errors. Nothing in the post would indicate there were any of those. And if you low level and recover something that is flaky it can come back to bite you later. That is the downside to low level.
Until you've wiped out a day's worth of work with a bad cluster you reclaimed you can't really understand my reluctance to do one on a good drive.
Kinda like jumping out of a perfectly good (at least flying) airplane to test the competence of the guy that packed the parachute.

Ed Fair
Give the wrong symptoms, get the wrong solutions.

 

[diogenes10]

I admit Im not very knowledgeable here, but I thought this was a special situation-and the only reason I posted the ref in the first place, that even though the drive itself may be sound, the zero fill MIGHT be necessary to remove the &quot;proprietary&quot; hp tatoos and restore partition so that an install of a generic win98se will work.

 

[Centerline]

Diogenes10, my point exactly in even raising the issue. I would not be even a bit surprised if HP has &quot;landmined&quot; that drive. They do not want third-party techs re-engineering their new systems. This was confirmed yesterday for me by an active HP engineer. &quot;It will possibly void the warranty, in some jurisdictions... if the act can be construed to constitute decompilation or decryption&quot;, I was informed. I was further told that the package extended to the BIOS.
I have performed four low-level formats in the past twelve years. Three went well, and the fourth resulted in a dead drive. So I share the concerns of the group, and will not be going that radical, unless forced to by tatoos. A new 120 GB drive is a terrible thing to waste, as is $220.00 of my money for an exact OEM replacement.
Once again, I am vaguely troubled by the spectre of the BIOS, and wondering about a generic flash being an eventual necessity... once I get a bit deeper into this, there'll be no turning back.
Ed Fair, I also went online, and downloaded the new AIDA32.
Free licensing is very good, and I like that it can be run directly from a CD with no installation required. Makes it an excellent tech tool for on the road.

You people are the best!!!

--Ken

 

[Sival]

Has your client tried using XP in classic mode to make her feel more comfortable with XP? Win98SE is definitely better than ME, but as dkdude stated, XP is much more stable than either. It would ultimately be in her best interest to use XP. But then again, it is her computer, not mine.

 

[Centerline]

Show and Tell Time...

The only way to accomplish what the client wanted turned out to involve voiding the warranty on a brand new machine. I considered the matter, met with the clients, and came away with the concensus that the cost was not worth the gain, since ultimately the tradeoff was for a less stable OS.
The hard drive is definitely a proprietory model, tattooed by HP, and integral to a safeguarded system. A low-level format was unavoidable, and would have rendered the machine crippled at the BIOS level, which will only properly accept NTFS. All of the other issues were surmountable (cards, drivers, etc.), but the BIOS misreports the Boot Sector data to the OS if FAT32 is detected. 100 gigs of storage lost is a terrible waste...


Therefore, I have come to agree with Sival's advice. I tweaked and set up the XP system to be as close to what she was familiar with as possible, and called it a solution.

She is satisfied, and enjoying her new system.

I am not altogether pleased with this outcome, mostly on ethical grounds. HP should warn their prospective buyers of the &quot;My way or the highway&quot; configuration. IMHO, an owner of a machine should be able to install and run any legitimate OS on that system, provided that the proper drivers are available and installed. HP has adopted a very self-serving policy, aimed primarily at preventing third party modifications to their decent but unspectacular machines. Others are certain to emulate this policy. The Justice Department went after Microsoft for such strongarm tactics.

I graciously thank all of the participants in this thread. To address the original thread subject line, yes, it is possible to convert the machine to Win98/Me, but in the end, not very feasible.

Warmest regards to the forum,

--Ken

 

[PhilEvelyn]

I would add that the moral of the story is

1. don't buy home systems and expect to be able to do what you can do with a business system
2. don't expect to be able to get hold of drivers for a system that Microsoft is stopping support for on 1st Jan 2004
3. don't buy computers that say HP on them unless they were made by Compaq!

Phil

 

[multarnc]

Why not load Win2k? Stable, and the interface is a lot closer to Win98.