Old laptop

[[email protected]]

I have inheirited an old Compaq PRESARIO 1200 laptop. The Stickers on the machine indicate that it originally had Win ME on board, but it has been loaded with Win 98, (not even W98SE). But it runs pretty well, no crashes at all (which cannot be said for my new XP running desktop!)

It has built in speakers, but no sounds are to be heard. I am informed that it used to play music using Wmplayer.

So, what should I do to try to restore sound? I have already run it on Driver Headquarter's driver detective, but it says the audio drivers are Ok, or so it seems.

All advice welcome.

 

[crjdriver]

Have you checked device manager to see if there are any yellow marks next to the sound device?

 

[[email protected]]

Yes, sorry, I should have sent a bit more info.

No yellow exclamation marks (those are beside the modem enumerator, whatever that is)

control panel / system / device manager / devices by type/ sound, video and games:

2 icons, one without any descriptors, and one which says VIA PCI Audio controller

/ devices by connection gives us one icon which says unknown device. Properties reveals that the device thinks it is working properly; manufacturer unknown, hardware version unknown. No drivers are loaded.

 

[crjdriver]

It sounds like you have one or more devices that do not have drivers loaded. I am guessing that this is an amd chip using a via chipset. Have you checked compaq's site for drivers for this model. They "may" have win98 drivers listed.

 

[[email protected]]

I did as you suggested, and they still have old W98 drivers; it worked and I have sound. Thankyou. Should have thought of it myself.

 

[crjdriver]

You are welcome.

 

[[email protected]]

Now, what should I do about the dodgy modem?

 

[crjdriver]

If there are no drivers available for it, you may need to buy a card modem. I ran into this problem a few months ago. I installed win2k on a laptop for a friend; there were no modem drivers available. He had to go and buy a new card modem.

 

[[email protected]]

I feared that might be the case...
Cheers.

 

[JohnWill]

I've tried upgrading several W98 laptops to 2K or XP, and in each case, the modem was one piece of equipment that I had to replace with a PCMCIA card...

 

[pabailie]

I was eventually able to find some drivers for the modem, and I'll be trying it out soon. I shall let you know.

Johnwill, perhaps you could comment on the desirability of upgrading from W98 to W2K. The laptop in question has 60MB RAM.

 

[crjdriver]

System requirements for win2k. You will need to install more ram. The min I install for win2k is 256 meg.

 

[JohnWill]

I've run 2K on 128mb, but it's not pretty. I would use W98 on that laptop, since it runs decently in that amount of RAM, and certainly better than ME or 2K.

 

[pabailie]

I have never attempted to upgrade RAM in a laptop. what are the pitfalls?

I would have to say that this particular computer is pretty sluggish with 60MB RAM.

 

[crjdriver]

1 It costs more money
2 Most likely you have only one additional ram slot.

I would go to crucial's site and input the make and model of laptop. It will show all of the chips that will work in the system along with prices.