Need Expert Advice on Device Drivers (Windows98)

I'm having major problems with this computer that was given to us (not this
one I'm typing on). When we first got it from a friend, it worked fine; it
was slow but back then Windows98 was like that.

My nephew decides to mess around with the Device Manager and install a whole
bunch of extra Hard Disk Controllers I know that wasn't there when I looked
at it.

Now the computer runs extra extra slow.

When we received the computer, we didn't get the Installation disks that
would normally come up so I can't reinstall Windows98.

I guess my question is does anyone know what is suppose to
displayed/installed for this type of computer running Windows98? The
computer that's giving us all these problems now is a HP Pavilion 7410P
(Windows98).

This is what's under the GENERAL tab in the system properties...

System:
Microsoft Windows 98
Second Edition
4.10.111.A

Registered to:
THE FOLKS WE OBTAINED IT FROM
Self
50807-015-1726847-08561

Hewlett-Packard
Pavilion
GenuineIntel
Pentium(r) Processor
64.0MB RAM

If someone can help me or point me in the right direction, I would
appreciate it!

Thanks again for your help!

Leonard W. Peacock

 

I'll bite;

Why did you post this in a Windows Vista newsgroup?

 

His Subject line told ya! He conciders us as EXPERTS or we wouldn't be
posting in an as yet unreleased OS group!

If you have stuff loaded in the device mgr. that you don't actually have
in the machine, delete it. For instance: if your device mgr. shows a maxtor
hard drive loaded and you don't have a maxtor drive in the machine-feel free
to delete it from device mgr.

Barefoot

 

If you can find the original manufacture of the hard drive, there should be
a download available.

If not, go back to System Properties, click the device manager tab. expand
the hard disk controllers type, select the first one, and click properties.
click the driver tab, and click update driver. click next, make sure the top
option is selected, and click next. make sure Microsoft Windows Update is
checked, then click next again. A security warning will pop up, click yes.
windows will tell you if the driver is current or not, and should give you
an option to upgrade if it isn't. repeat for each controller.

sorry about the length
in short, update the drivers via MS update through the device manger
also, lack of RAM affects speed. if you go to system properties again and
click the performance tab, you can view the percent of free system resources
you computer has. If it's too low, you have a ram problem.

 

The only drivers HP offer are at
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...=us&extcat=ironons&product=59921&dlc=en&os=20
so any drivers you need for the basic 7410P model must be in the basic
Windows 98 driver set. But we don't know if any add-in cards have been
installed.

You should be safe uninstalling all the controllers, but might need to
reboot several times to get it all working again. If prompted for the
original Windows 98 disk you will have to search the hard disk for the
required components.

With only 64MB, and the model could only take 128MB, you are short of memory
by today's standards.
Has your nephew installed software which loads memory resident components?
If so, this is why the machine is running slow and removing these memory
hogs would speed the machine up.

 

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.windows.win98.performance
also know that Win98 is no longer officially supported by Microsoft.
--
Peter
Toronto, Canada
XP Pro SP2 x 2 + Vista Beta
P4 D865GBF HT @ 3.0ghz 2.0gb DDR 450gb HD
ATI Radeon 9550 Graphics
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 4 Audio

 

Ooops..the link should read:

news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.win98.performance



--
Peter
Toronto, Canada
XP Pro SP2 x 2 + Vista Beta
P4 D865GBF HT @ 3.0ghz 2.0gb DDR 450gb HD
ATI Radeon 9550 Graphics
Creative Soundblaster Audigy 4 Audio