armada 1520dm bios

[apu95]

i wanna give this really old pc win2k for stability. the problem is i cant get into its bios to enable the boot from cd option. is there anyway to get in this compaq bios? if not, how can i install win2k over my existing 98 installation?

thx,
Apu

 

[LeeJend]

You don't need to boot from cd to install the win2k over 98.

Put the win2k cd in and double click setup (or maybe it's install) in the win2k cd's root directory. Then follow the prompts. It will even ask you if you want to save the windows 98 install so you can go back to it. (This takes about a gig of HD space.)

You can make a start up floppy disk for win2k after you install it on the HD and that will let you do a clean install if you ever decide to. The procedure then will be boot from the win2k floppy and it will insatll cdrom support so you can install off the CD.

Now for all the people who are going to SCREAM that you should never install over and old operating system. BS! I've done it several times. You may have problems or it may go smooth as silk. But once you get win2k on the HD you can make the boot floppy and reinstall if you feel it necessary.

Now for my usual "you poor Dell user". I have had friends who could not install a non-dell version of win2k or winxp on a dell computrer. I think they stash some code in the bios to check if it's a "dell" branded copy of windows. OEM's can customize bios and windows to lock their users into buying from them.

Check around to see if there is an issue. If the win2k came from Dell there is no risk. Maybe call Dell and ask them if there is a special version of windows for your PC. Check the Dell FAQ section too.

PS The upgrade is worth the effort I got a 25% increase in benchmarks and FPS.