w98 compatibility question

I have a spare box in my network which currently runs W98 and is a printer server as my Epson color 800 doesn't have available drivers for XP. Have gotten Win ME and wonder if it is 'totally' compatible with W98 so that anything which runs on that box now, esp. the printer and my 6 yr old version of Quickbooks (not Quicken) will continue to work if I upgrade the OS.

Marty

 

Yes it would seem your printer will be ok in ME. Here's the link to the driver if needed:

http://tech.epson.com.au/downloads/product.asp?id=stylusC800&platform=winme&submit=Search+>>

It will now only depend on your other hardware, like motherboard, sound, video card etc, and if it is compatible with ME. Check each component's manufacturer's website and see if they have a driver for ME, if so, it will be ok, and if not look further for any FAQs or info on ME compatibility.

If you can get your hands on a seperate spare hard disk drive, Swap it for your original, and install ME and the printer onto it, keeping your original drive intact, and if it works, great, and if not you can reconnect your old drive and forget it.

 

Marty,

I had success with both 98 and Me. However, I wouldn't advise upgrading unless Me has anything useful to add to whatever you need the computer to do for you. Are you upgrading just for the fun of it to see what Me is like? Well, it's like 98 but with more services running to use up the limited resources available to a 9x system.

System Restore is nice, but 98 has scanreg/restore at boot up if you need to restore to a time when stuff worked. For the more fanatical who need to restore every file on the system if something goes wrong, there is Symantec's Norton GoBack.

If you're an audio enthusiast, Me has better support for WDM audio card drivers but the Microsoft WDM update for 98 solves most of the problems.

The advertised features at the time of release like Windows Media Player 7, Internet Explorer 5.5, etc. have long since been improved upon with free updates.

You also lose direct access to MS-DOS Mode, though you can make a boot disc to use that.

I don't know. I liked Me, but if your getting done what you need done I wouldn't advise the upgrade.

That's just my opinion.

 

True, i wouldnt upgrade unless you have to, not just for the sake of it.

Windows ME from experience is a dodgey OS and many people had many problems with it. By "had" i mean most have moved on to 2000 or went back to 98 as ME had many bugs. The most popluar thing ME does is freeze a lot.

If i had 98, i would skip ME and go to 2000. 2000 will run on many older machines as well, and isnt as hungry for PC power as XP. A pentium 2 300 with 128 MB RAM will run 2000 ok. For best performance 256 MB RAM and 500 or more Mhz is best.

To highlight how good ME was for many people, Microsoft discontinued selling it although you can still buy 98 new. I can buy as an OEM, Windows 98, 2000 and up, but nobody can sell me ME. Not that i would really want it anyway.

 

I agree with both Eck & Dez Bradley. ME is the ONE and ONLY OS I ever had problems with. If an upgrade was needed I would suggest 98SE. Or go all the way to XP PRO

BillyBob

 

I got rid of the doubles for you, BillyBob.
To add to this. I recently did an experimental run with ME on a spare drive.. It ended up as a wrestling match getting rid of the 'extras' I ended up with on a custom clean install. I used the dos disk for some help on getting rid of them.
There were some problems getting the correct drivers to install for the USB 2.0 root hub. My mobo CD has 98, ME, 2K, and XP drivers and does have a install program that works well, but didn't for ME.
It did seem to run stable, but did notice a clunkiness about it.
After using it a bit, I wasn't impressed by it. I removed the drive, and went back to my 98SE/XP drive.

 

Hmm, now that I see all the problems with ME wonder if that's related to the device mgr problem I'm experiencing on this box.

Got a yellow ! for a PCI mass storage controller and wonder if

- that's my SCSI drive
- has put all my hd partitions into ms-dos compat mode

Any chance if I go back to W98 these errors will dissapear?

Could it really be that easy? If it's worth a shot, do you think I should reformat and do a clean? Is it even possible to install W98 over ME otherwise?

Marty

 

Thanks markp62

In this case I would highly recommend that.

I would not even dare think about doing that. Going forward is one thing . But going backwards ????????????

Plus going either way with an already troubled system is not recommended anyway.

BillyBob

 

I tried a clean Win 98 install on that box and it failed as well. So I've switched it over to XP, putting ME on a different box on my office network which took to it just fine.

Thanks for all the help folks.

Marty