Working on a PC

[Ded Morozh]

Trying to fix a PC that was given away to a friend for free...Random Gateway box, Win98. 2 primary issues, hdd seems to have a couple bad clusters on it (running a scan now) and the craptastic compaq Ij600 printer doesn't want to work. I know the printer itself is alright, I hooked it up to my win98 box and it worked immediately. But, when screwed into the back of his computer...nada. Toying with the idea of loading Win2K because I hate Win98, and I think it'll pretty much run all the hardware with generic drivers just fine.

Oh well, not really asking for help. Just nothing to do while scanning. I think I might watch Chasing Amy while I muck about.

 

[Ded Morozh]

I lied, watching Dogma...the commentary, because i am the biggest geek...evar

 

[dreamliner77]

Dogma was weak

 

[Ded Morozh]

meh, i like it. it's original. and there's a sh** demon. what more do you want

 

[Xie]

I also enjoyed dogma 🙂 Also how was the printer connected to his machine? perhaps something needs to be changed in bios? Also make sure he has all updates as if it is USB there were a few USB updates for win98 if I remember correctly.

 

[dreamliner77]

1) make sure the LPT1 port is active in bios.
2) I think that is actually a Canon printer(I may be wrong). Try those drivers

 

[Ded Morozh]

I Am a Golden God

Got it.

Did all the critical updates via windows update, after copying the damn nic driver to a CD!!!(hello, Intel? generic drivers should fit on a floppy. 1.48M is infuriatingly so close. I zipped the damn .exe and it was 1.45M. You do not need a True Colour splash screen for a nic driver install.) Then I got the compaq printer driver from Driverguide.com. Uninstalled the printer, disconnected it, rebooted and installed the driver. Reconnected and it works just fine. Now I need to dummy proof a Win98 box. On Winxp I'd set the firewall and AV to run as services and somehow rig Adaware and Spybot to run on a schedule, along with Desk Defrag. But...seeing as the guy is actually paying me I'll just load them normally and maybe he gets crafty and shuts them off, gets fubar'ed and has too come back...repeat business couldn't be bad. FYI, it's an old gateway, tried looking at the bios when i first laid hands on it...all you can set is the time/date.

Also, his hdd is making with some rather bad spinnups, so a new one is on his short list.

 

[gonaads]

Ya better upgrade that HDD now or it won't last a month. You can always search around at some used computer place and find a cheap one, 'cause if he starts installin stuff it's gonna go poof. I picked up a used 20 Gig Maxtor for like $20.00 and it still has warranty up until Nov. of this year. Otherwise all that installing is goin out da windows.

Errrrrrrrr, no pun intended.