Wierd Harold, SOmebody....HELP.....installing

[lost5pints]

Okay this may sound crazy but I am trying to make a multiple operating system PC to use some vintage games and hardware...... unfortunatly when i go to set up windows 3.1 using factory sealed software never opened..... I type in setup in MS dos and get ......NOTHING....absolute total freeze up.....any ideas.... ANy help will be greatly greatly appreciated......thank you.....L5P's

 

[TBKahuna123]

Are y ou using a DOS boot disk, or trying to launch a dos window from Windows? Also, you need a true DOS boot disk. Using a windows boot disk or restarting in DOS mode from windows won't work. 3.11 is very sticky about needing to run on a TRUE DOS environment.

I would look around for some DOS emulators. There has to be a better way to run these games than loading Windows 3.11.

 

[INeedLove]

I lurv our resident computer geeks!

 

[Weird Harold]

Okay this may sound crazy but I am trying to make a multiple operating system PC to use some vintage games and hardware...... unfortunatly when i go to set up windows 3.1 using factory sealed software never opened..... I type in setup in MS dos and get ......NOTHING....absolute total freeze up.....any ideas.... ANy help will be greatly greatly appreciated......thank you.....L5P's

Do you have MSDOS 6.0 installed when you're trying to install windows 3.11?

Windows 3.xx won't install or run under any version of DOS later than version 6 because with Win 95 and later (DOS v7.x) Windows is an integral part of the operating system.

Another problem you're going to run into is that DOS 6/Win 3.xx dont' have the necessary drivers for modern monitors and high capacity drives. IIRC, DOS 6/Win 3.11 is limited to 4 GB drives maximum and can't read FAT16 or NTFS drives.

 

[lost5pints]

Do you have MSDOS 6.0 installed when you're trying to install windows 3.11?

Windows 3.xx won't install or run under any version of DOS later than version 6 because with Win 95 and later (DOS v7.x) Windows is an integral part of the operating system.

Another problem you're going to run into is that DOS 6/Win 3.xx dont' have the necessary drivers for modern monitors and high capacity drives. IIRC, DOS 6/Win 3.11 is limited to 4 GB drives maximum and can't read FAT16 or NTFS drives.

Ok i guess my computer is a bit much for the software than.....I was trying to load windows 3.1 on a comp with dos 6.22.....and have way more than 4gb.....so iwill wait till i get my win 95......it should be able to run all the things i need.....

 

[ShinigamiSama]

why not look on the microsoft site for virtual PC?

or better yet use VMWare, you just need to register and you can have your games going and have XP or what ever going at the same time

and VMware has better support as well

both are pretty easy to set up

or if you wanna just play games like scorched earth just look for dosbox, theres also a GUI for it thats pretty easy to use

 

[Weird Harold]

Ok i guess my computer is a bit much for the software than.....I was trying to load windows 3.1 on a comp with dos 6.22.....and have way more than 4gb.....so iwill wait till i get my win 95......it should be able to run all the things i need.....

You might be able to "dumb down" your computer to something DOS 6/Win 3.xx can handle by adding a small HD that you can boot from for your older applications, but I suspect that you're going to run into other problems because newer Plug-N-Play devices don't always use the old "standard" interrupt and port assignments.

A trip to a second hand store to pick up an older (486-class) computer that is more compatible with DOS 6/Win 3.xx might be your best option.

 

[ShinigamiSama]

thats a good idea
the buy/sell usualy has them on for like 100$ OBO
so you could probly hand them 60 and take it home

 

[Weird Harold]

thats a good idea
the buy/sell usualy has them on for like 100$ OBO
so you could probly hand them 60 and take it home

The thrift shop just down the road from me has a much better del on old computers than that -- I bought a pair of "Dead Computers" for the power supply fans and found that one of them was a fully functional Pentium II/350 MHZ machine (the equal of my primary computer) that only required a little tinkering and reformatting to be ready to give to my younger daughter along with my old monitor and a second-hand keyboard. Total cost was $7.95 and about two hours of loading Windows 95.

The same shop has "Functional Computer Systems" -- with monitor and keyboard -- for as low as $20. The "functional computer systems" are obselete systems that aren't capable of even internet browsing on most modern webpages because they won't support the latest browsers or shockwave versions, but they're great for playing obselete games or simple word-processing.

 

[lost5pints]

I wouldlove to go pawn shopping for a nice old desktop but alas here there is no such thing. I depend on e-bay and other online merchants for most of my computer needs as the exchange sells stuff for alot more than i am willing to pay and does not carry old stuff at all.

 

[ShinigamiSama]

I wouldlove to go pawn shopping for a nice old desktop but alas here there is no such thing. I depend on e-bay and other online merchants for most of my computer needs as the exchange sells stuff for alot more than i am willing to pay and does not carry old stuff at all.

haggle
you'd supprised at how low people will go - because chances are it'll cost them more to 'properly' dispose of them($15+ for a 15" CRT) than it is to pwn it off to you

 

[Weird Harold]

I wouldlove to go pawn shopping for a nice old desktop but alas here there is no such thing.

I'm lucky enoughto be in a place where there are a lot of pawnshops, a lot of thrift-shops and a lot of second hand stores. I often find the best deals in Thrift shops and second hand stores -- Pawnshops are too aware of the value of what they accept for pawn and need to make a profit on what they sell.

The thrift shop where I bought the computer I gave to my daughter doesn't have anyone who really knows much about computers so if it doesn't boot up when they plug it in, they class it as a "Dead Computer" and sell it "as is" for far less than it's worth.

Bigger Thrift-Shop operations like Deseret Industries, Catholic Charities, Slavation Army, or St Vincent Depaul have a bit better handle on what old computers are worth, but they're still much cheaper than pawn shops. I think it's St Vincent De Paul that actually has a few used computer/electronics stores where they collect all of that type of donations and acually do a bit of refurbishment and repair of donated items before selling them.

There may not be any pawn shops near you, but I'll bet there is at least a couple of thrift-shops run by charities at least as close as the nearest (new) computer store.

 

[lost5pints]

unfortunatly we don't being in gtmo we have no access to the area outside the fence so only the Base Exchange is available. I am gonna wait till i see if this hardware i have will run with win 95 when it gets here. If that fails i am gonna buy or build something vintage to use. it will help pass the time.

 

[Weird Harold]

unfortunately we don't being in gtmo we have no access to the area outside the fence so only the Base Exchange is available.

No NCO Wives Club or MWR "Closet" for second-hand donations?

Is there any way for you to post a "Want Ad" in the base paper or unit bulletin board to find one of the old computers that must be floating around the base somewhere?

Another possibility for obtaining old equipment on a military base is the supply unit's condemned and excess equipment disposal section -- are there any auctions of condemned/excess equipment on-base or do they ship everything home for disposal?

 

[Davross]

Look around your neighborhood in the spring. We have a garbage cleanup week here where people throw out all their old junk on the curb. Usually about 10% of what I throw out makes it to the junk yard. Tell you the truth I have thrown out computers up to PIII800's just because they don't have the power to keep up to what I need to do. And I know quite a few others who have thrown most that kind of stuff out as well. Good luck. Rule of thumb, if a computer is more than 2 years old it's value is a little less than $0.00 (it costs money to throw old hardware out).