legacy computer for donation

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someone2 20 years ago

On occasion I am offered legacy computers which I setup for donation.

The most recent incoming desktop is a NEC age ~1996. The desktop arrived with Win '95 and a failing hdd. I replaced the hdd and installed a licensed copy of Win '98.

Now the problem is the very common issue with windows '98 and the video. The monitor only recognizes 16 colors at the lowest resolution. I have performed the usual video troubleshooting steps without success.

Naturally there is nothing on either the NEC web site or Sony (monitor) re the issue of 16 colors vs. 256 colors re an old computer. Sony tech support referred to a laptop issue in response to an email?? Obviously given the age of the components no company is going to provide quality FREE support. Using Google and other SE's has produced limited solutions and none that have worked.

I know there will be some members of this NG who will simply suggest trashing the desktop and monitor. But, will that solution help teach a gradeschooler how to keyboard or to surf the web ....? Besides, simply trashing workable computers is quickly filling our landfills with hazardous waste.

Any suggestions re having the video recognize 256 colors and higher resolution would be appreciated.

someone2

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Ken Weitzel 20 years ago

Hi Someone...

I'm going to stick my neck out and suggest that neither the computer nor the monitor is your bottleneck here...

Suggest you try another video card; one with more on-board memory.

Take care.

Ken

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James Sweet 20 years ago

quickly

\

What type of video card is in it? You'll have to install the correct driver for that, if you can't find one for the specific card you should be able to find one for the chip it uses.

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James Sweet 20 years ago

Definitly *not* the monitor, VGA monitors are analog, they'll display anything the computer sends them.

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rantonrave 20 years ago

If the monitor is also ~1996, then it's way too new to be limited to 16 colors, regardless of resolution. But at 640x480 resolution, standard VGA adapters are, so see if the video processor chip supports better.

formatting link

has much useful information on vintage hardware, and driver software isn't that hard to find.

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Bart Bervoets 20 years ago

Run a program called everest home, it will tell you exactly which chips are inside and you will then be able to find a suitable driver. Google for everest home, it's free. Yours

Bart Bervoets

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me 20 years ago

Get a different video card, something that did not come with at best a 75-

100 MHz pentium. (although even they should handle what you want to do with proper drivers)

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formatting link

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Dave Plowman (News) 20 years ago

Are you using the correct driver (MDF) for the monitor?

*If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate * Dave Plowman dave@davenoise.co.uk London SW To e-mail, change noise into sound.

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Tom MacIntyre 20 years ago

Don't use Windows drivers, us the ones from the manufacturer of the video card chipset.

Tom

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Franc Zabkar 20 years ago

On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 19:50:21 -0400, "someone2" put finger to keyboard and composed:

As others have said, you need to install a different video driver. You can identify the graphics chipset by looking at the card. Otherwise, including those cases where the graphics is integrated into the motherboard, you can watch the POST screen for the info just prior to boot. Or you can query the BIOS using DOS Debug, as follows:

formatting link

- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.

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someone2 20 years ago

I appreciate all the informative input.

I will work on the video problem this week.

someone2

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Jim Adney 20 years ago

It's just a matter of determining what make and model of video card it has, and then installing the correct drivers for that card. You can get the Win98 driver for that car at the video card maker's web site.

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----------------------------------------------- Jim Adney snipped-for-privacy@vwtype3.org Madison, WI 53711 USA

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James Sweet 20 years ago

And if you can't find the driver I probably have a few crappy old cards with win9x drivers lying around, I could send one for the cost of postage.

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Heavy G 20 years ago

There is your problem, you installed windows on it.

a computer that old is probably not suited for 98. maybe thats why it had 95 on it. if you want to get better use of the computer.. boot it up to win 98, douse it in gasoline and then throw a match on it. that will fix everything

:)

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James Sweet 20 years ago

95

98,

everything

95 and 98 have similar hardware requirements, if it's at least a P100 with 16 MB then either should be fine, not that either is a particularly great OS but you don't have a lot of options that will be useful to the average person.

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