Hi all,

I know that this may be a question that some may think strange but here it goes, does anyone know where I can find an old windows 95 computer. I had an old computer that I played a lot of my old games on but it died on me. I have been to Ebay and found a few W98SE but I am not sure they will play my old games such as Noir A Showdy Thriller.

I found some on ebay...

http://www.ebay.com/bhp/windows-95-computer

If you can link to the ones you were looking at, we may be able to tell you.

Some of those on eBay don't have hard drives -- or have the hard drive wiped. Would you be able to install a hard drive and install Windows on it or do you need a computer all set up and ready to go? Do you have a Windows 95 or 98 install CD?

Those prices are crazy.The same thing happened when we tried to replace a 95 computer on an old machine at work. We found the prices absurd and felt like we were being taken.

I found that most of my Win95 games played alright on Win98SE, when I upgraded the OS from 95 to 98.
[In fact I'm still able to play them on that machine.]

So IF you can find a good Win98SE machine, you might be fine.

It's finding one at a non-ridiculous price !!

Thanks everyone for your input. I will keep searching. I do so enjoy replaying some of my old games. I will post when my search produces positive results

Hi all.

Quick up date to my search. I found one on Ebay. The price was reasonable and the seller assured me I should be able to play my older games. He further assured me if it does not work I can return it,at my cost of course, but could not give me any assurance that Noir A Shadowy Thriller would play as he NEVER heard of the game. I will keep you posted.

Do you have a link to the auction?

I not very good at links but I will try, back soon.

ORDER SHIPPED: Compaq DeskPro EN SF...

Since it's already shipped we'll have to see how well it plays your games once it arrives. Good luck.

I probably know the answer but let me put it to you. This computer already comes with W98se installed, can I install W95 on the hard drive?

You can probably install Windows 95 on it
(as long as you have the boot floppy and Windows 95 CD).

The problem will be finding drivers for Windows 95.

There are many models of Compaq Deskpro with different video, sound, processor, etc. Maybe when the computer arrives you can check it for a more specific model number.

Would it not be sensible to see if your games will play in the Win98SE system you say is already running - before you try changing it ??

Just a thought

That's what I was thinking, Mad. Switching to Windows 95 may well prove not to be necessary, so why not test out all the games you wish to play first before thinking about changing the operating system.

Not being a techie, I don't know whether all Win98SE machines offer DOS 6.2, but mine does, so I can still even play some DOS game on it

Any problems running DOS games on the DOS version under Windows 98 are most likely due to something other than Windows 98, like drivers or sound card incompatibility or excess processor speed.

Most of the Compaq Deskpros I see on eBay are Pentium III models without any ISA slots on the motherboard and wouldn't make great DOS game machines. I also can't find any indication there were sound drivers for DOS using the default onboard sound. You might be able to find a PCI sound card that had DOS drivers, install that, and disable the onboard sound.

+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

I haven't found working links for driver downloads from the web archive of the Compaq website, but I've found lists of drivers (Compaq included them in what they called "Softpaqs") and descriptions of different Deskpro computers.

***Compaq Deskpro EN small form factor (SFF) series from 2000***

***Compaq Deskpro EN small form factor from 2001***

***List of Softpaqs from 2000***

***List of Softpaqs from 2001***

***List of Softpaqs from 2002***

Since none of the driver links on those webpages work, these lists only describe what model Deskpros the drivers were for, which might help identify the name to search for using Google. You might find downloads for them at driverguide or somewhere. Some Softpaq descriptions say they're for Windows 95, but I haven't seen any DOS drivers for sound listed.

A Compaq Deskpro EN SFF might work with early Windows games. If the game is speed-sensitive and the processor is too fast, you could try using a PC-slowdown program like Turbo or MoSlo.

If the computer has USB ports and you want to use them, you're better off with Windows 98. Though there were USB drivers made for Windows 95, many people had problems with them and USB support is better in Windows 98.

You're more likely to find a game that's incompatible with a newer DirectX version than find a Windows 95 game that won't work with Windows 98. For example, Armed and Delirious wanted DirectX 5 and wouldn't work with DirectX 7. I don't know if it worked with DirectX 6.

Anyway, locating Windows 95 drivers for a Compaq Deskpro EN SFF would be a challenge, even for someone who used to service them back in the early 2000's. You could probably install Windows 95 on it, but you'd be left with 16-color graphics in 640x480 and no sound unless you could find the right drivers for your model. It's not a challenge I would want to take on.

There are older Compaq Deskpros that could be made to work with Windows 95 -- for example the Deskpro 6266 that was renovated in this thread
https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=56785
You can read about some of the hurdles he had to overcome to get his Deskpro 6266 working, though in the end he was able to get it the way he wanted and was satisfied with the result.

But I'm not finding anything called "Compaq Deskpro EN SFF" that isn't a Pentium III with the "challenges" I've described above.

If you decide you want to try putting Windows 95 on it anyway, I'd suggest swapping out the hard drive with an empty hard drive first -- so you don't overwrite a working configuration, and can put the original hard drive back in if you can't get Windows 95 with necessary drivers installed.

My Win98SE machine was originally a Win95 machine which eventually got updated to Win98 and then, later still, to Win98SE.
So I have no idea whether, if it broke down, it could ever be got back up and running

[ I know that over the years my Son in Law has made all sorts of back-up disks and stuff for it - but I've no idea precisely "what" ]

Still, seeing as the machine is now 20+ years old, every time GOG or Humble release an oldie tweaked to run on modern machines, if I don't already own it, I BUY it !!

There's nothing like an old computer for early Windows games -- especially those games that use QuickTime. Hopefully this Compaq Deskpro will work for those.

DOS compatibility is less important because DOSBox works acceptably with most DOS games. Though there are some Windows 3.1/95 games that work with Windows 3.1 installed inside of DOSBox, there are many that don't. Those are the games that you need an old computer for.

Unlike DOSBox, virtual machine software like VMware and VirtualBox isn't made with old games in mind. They don't slow the processor the way DOSBox does, and I get errors in games when using Windows 95 and 98 on virtual machines that I never got on the actual 1990's computers.

So if 1990's Windows adventure games are your preference, getting a good Pentium or Pentium II or AMD K6 computer is preferable to waiting for games to be re-released on GOG when it may never happen. And some people have luck using a slightly faster computer, like a Pentium III.

I have tried using DOSBox but could never cope with it - and if I wanted to use any kind of "virtual" I would certainly have to get my Son in Law to see to it !!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Just for any interest .... I looked at my Win98SE machine specs and they are :

MODEL : Dan Xplora Plus

AC IN : 110-120v/6A/60Hz 220-240v/3A/50Hz
AC OUT : 110-120v/2A/60Hz 220-240v/1A/50Hz

Intel Pentium II MMX ~350MHz

320MB RAM

Nvidia Gainward GeForce 2 Ti/450 TV 4.5ns 64DDR MB [Golden Sample.]

Sound Blaster AWE64

DirectX 8.1

My W98se arrived and everything was working great until I made a change. I was playing Noir and really enjoying it to the max and then I said let me see if Lighthouse will install. It asked for a new driver and I tried and changed my display screen to 16 bit color and can not find a way to restore it to the 32 bit true color it had previously. I do not have a start up disk he just sold the system. Since it is not connected to the internet I can not download any fixes. I was looking for a restore point of a previous day on the system but could not find one. Any and all thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

I will take my system to my local go to repair guy. He says that W98 is old but he will see if he can get to the source of the problem. I will certainly be more careful in the future. Stay tuned.

If you just changed it shouldn't you be able to go into display property settings and change it back?

EDIT

how to

I agree with Winfrey.
Changing resolution and color depth should be easy in Windows 98.
Check Winfrey's link.

Or you can also

Right-click the Desktop where there is no shortcut.
Choose Properties
Choose Settings tab
Use the color palette dropdown to choose 16-bit, 32-bit, or 256 colors (whichever you want)
OK the changes and exit.

I don't see why Lighthouse would need a "new driver"
However Lighthouse had a lot of game patches you might want to look for. Even if you have Version 2 of the game, you'll need the Lighthouse 2.0a patch.
http://www.sierrahelp.com/Patches-Updates/Patches-Updates-Games/LighthouseUpdates.html#litept2a

If you have the GOG version, that won't work on Windows 98.

EDIT....
+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+_+

I just remembered how some Sierra games had this test of your computer to make sure it met system requirements. This test was worse than useless for most computers, and was sadly out of date within a couple of years after the game's release. Running the test could even prevent a game from playing if the computer "failed" the test by being too new. If that happened, there was a file you had to remove.

I'm thinking mbday360 may have run the test, and that may have been what told her she needed a "new" driver.

I found this older thread from 2003 about Lighthouse
http://www.gameboomers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/135555/Lighthouse

There is a description by EdA in that thread of how to remove the bad file that causes the game not to run (if you mistakenly run the computer test).

Thank you, both for your input I will keep you informed of my success.