How To Go About Upgrading to 95??

[DaniD]

Any Advice??? I was recently Given a PC running Win 3.1. Of course, I have to upgrade it to even give it to the kids. I bought Win 95 w/ USB support (don't know which ver.-is there some way to tell by the packaging) and Office 95 Pro. I understand that I have to make a bootdisk (Bootdisk.com), but do I need to find a way to backup the dos, or what? Also, what about my device drivers? Bootdisk says that they include CD drivers, but what about sound card, modem, and all that other stuff. Is that included in WIN?

Also, how do I know how to set the partitions and all that. I think the pc has like 500M +, and maybe twice that--but I can't tell, everytime I use a DOS command to look, the different cmds give me different awnsers.

I would appreciate any info--I don't want to screw it up if I don't have to.

[renegade600]

It all depends upon your computer. Give more info... Try typing msd at dos prompt then enter. If msd does not work then your computer info should be given at startup.

Most of the drivers should be included with win95 or you can find them at the manufacturers website.

[GretaP]

Hi DaniD,
The fact that the version of WIN95 that you purchased is w/USB support indicates that it is either version B or C, as the first iteration of 95 did not include USB support.

The bootdisk includes the generic DOS CDROM drivers, which will enable CDROM support when you boot into DOS via the bootdisk in order to install the operating system. As for other device drivers, WIN95 may include the drivers for sound card and modem, but if I were you, I'd check out the make/model and go to the manufacturer's website to see if they have d/loadable drivers for WIN95 available. You could d/load the driver installation files and hopefully they would fit on floppy disk, or you could burn them to a CD if you have a computer with a CD writer.

Before launching into how to set the partitions and all that, I have to ask if what you are planning is a "clean install" of WIN95 versus an upgrade install.......a clean install (partitioning, formatting, etc.) would wipe out any of the current data on the drive, whereas an upgrade should retain all current data (saved documents and programs, etc.) and just replace the operating system files.

[DaniD]

Ok, ran msd again and this is what I got:

CPU Award Bios date 12-2-03 (thats what it says) 486 DX
Bios ver 4.50 twa ver. 3.03G

DOS 6.22

A: Floppy
C: Fixed 93M free 511 total
D: CD
I: Fixed 164M free 503 total

share installed
MSCDEX v. 2.23 inst.

Mem
Conv 639K total 414K av.
Extended 11264 Total
XMS v. 3.0
driver ver 3.10

I'm planning on a clean install. This PC was free at the end of a yardsale and whoever had it, has it full of like 4 copies of AOL and IE, plus all kinds of shareware and even the Bible on CD ROM. Not what my kids want, although maybe they could use it :)

Oh yeah, I also bought Microsoft Plus! (its supposed to have some little features, but mostly I got it coz it said that it had some kind of file compression technology or something like that).
Thanks for the help! I feel like the village idiot around here. I didn't think that it would be too hard to do this--what was I thinking??? I realize now that I don't have a clue.

Its better to ask a stupid question than to stay that way.

[smurfy]

Hi DaniD (Welcome to CyberTechHelp BTW).
Sounds like you really want to clean Win3.1 off and start from scratch.

Couple of points
- the BIOS date is probably not Y2K (geeez, how long has it been since I had to say that?) compliant. This should not matter as you probably wont be running any date critical software on this machine once you have Win95 on it.
- Memory. Looks like you have 12MB installed. Win95 will work on a minimum of 8Mb RAM so you pass the minimum but this will be VERY SLOW. You should llok into getting more RAM before you install 95.
Hopefully this machine will take 72Pin SIMMS, not be restricted to even older 30PIN SIMMS.
- Device drivers for other hardware - being a 486DX, you should be OK. What I would look at doing though is downloading AIDA16 and running it on that PC and that will clearly identify all your hardware (including the RAM type you will need to look for)
- "Plus" File compression. Don't bother! Honestly, DriveSpace is a waste of time. You have almost 1Gb of combined hard disk space there. Software that runs on a 486 doesn't hog disk space like modern software. You shouldn't run short of disk space too quickly. Plus does have some other features (like Desktop themes) that your kids will get a kick out of though.

Now as to HOW to do it all. The following CTH tutorials should get you moving in the right direction.
Note: You will want to delete partitions on both fixed disks.
http://www.cybertechhelp.com/html/tutorials/tutorial.php/id/36
http://www.cybertechhelp.com/html/tutorials/tutorial.php/id/37
http://www.cybertechhelp.com/html/tutorials/tutorial.php/id/38
http://www.cybertechhelp.com/html/tutorials/tutorial.php/id/39

Post back if you get stuck on anything.

[DaniD]

Do you know where I might find AIDA 16? I have searched several places (including here) and could find AIDA 32, or can I use that. Also, alot of the sites seem to be in French, do I need to look for one that is at an English site?

Could you explain, what are these 72 & 30PIN SIMMS?

And realistically, given the age of this pc, do you think its worth investing into hardware upgrades. It has to be getting near the end of its life. Or would it be economically worth it to use it as a learning experience. I do have another basket case pc that my other daughter is getting, that has some problem with the memory or something (every so often it reboots and goes to DOS like it's dead, then after some time, it comes back to life. So I guess I'm just beginning my education.

Thanks for the info you have allready given me.

[smurfy]

Oops, sorry...

Memory Types explained
http://home.cfl.rr.com/eaa/MemoryTypes.htm

Aida16
http://www.aida32.hu/aida16.php

Personally, I believe there is no better way to learn about PCs that ripping into an old throwaway machien and making it work.
It's like cars, you want to learn how engines work, you don't open the hood on your 2003 Ford, you buy a 1985 Dodge from a wrecker and tinker around.

[DaniD]

Here's an update...

I tried AIDA16 and it would just flash some kind of fatal error msg and go away. Then the Win95 cd came and I decided that I'd give it a shot, and I could add memory later. I fdisk-ed, I formatted. I screwed the whole thing up.

I now only have 504M on my C drive. I have A (diskette), and I have a B drive that asks for a diskette, but there are no other floppy drives. Know any way I can get the rest back? Oh yeah--I can't find a driver that will work for the CD ROM (now I realize that regardless of what msd said, the door says its a Creative PC2, but it is a little broke and doesn't match the rest of the case-I don't know if it's the whole CDROM, or just the door).

The one on the bootdisk won't work (no device found). I have gone through the entire alphabet, and its not there. But the light on the front of cd is on. Go figure. Oh, and I can't get into setup because there's a password on it. I've tried like 15 or 20 drivers I even tried CDGod, but can't figure out how to make it a system disk so it won't start. (my good pc is XP, and the 98 won't do anything again.)

I posted another thread and was instructed to maybe just buy a new cdrom.

On the up side--maybe. The win95 came with 2 memory cards (both 72pin)-really got my $12 worth on ebay. The guy says he's pretty sure that they work, that he took them out during upgrades.

I'm lost. I guess my new hobby is tearing pc's apart. Know any good websites or books that will walk me through whats what?

[DaniD]

Here's an update...

I tried AIDA16 and it would just flash some kind of fatal error msg and go away. Then the Win95 cd came and I decided that I'd give it a shot, and I could add memory later. I fdisk-ed, I formatted. I screwed the whole thing up.

I now only have 504M on my C drive. I have A (diskette), and I have a B drive that asks for a diskette, but there are no other floppy drives. Know any way I can get the rest back? Oh yeah--I can't find a driver that will work for the CD ROM (now I realize that regardless of what msd said, the door says its a Creative PC2, but it is a little broke and doesn't match the rest of the case-I don't know if it's the whole CDROM, or just the door).

The one on the bootdisk won't work (no device found). I have gone through the entire alphabet, and its not there. But the light on the front of cd is on. Go figure. Oh, and I can't get into setup because there's a password on it. I've tried like 15 or 20 drivers I even tried CDGod, but can't figure out how to make it a system disk so it won't start. (my good pc is XP, and the 98 won't do anything again.)

I posted another thread and was instructed to maybe just buy a new cdrom.

On the up side--maybe. The win95 came with 2 memory cards (both 72pin)-really got my $12 worth on ebay. The guy says he's pretty sure that they work, that he took them out during upgrades.

I'm lost. I guess my new hobby is tearing pc's apart. Know any good websites or books that will walk me through whats what?