Re: W98 to W2K upgrades -- PCTECH

If you go into safe mode with networking, you should be able to sign
onto the update site, but I also agree with Adam. I almost NEVER do an
upgrade with Windows. Since normally it is so cluttered anyway I just
format and start from scratch. Of course you back everything up first
;-).

On Sun, 29 Aug 2004 16:42:30 -0700, Tom Liotta <qsrvbas@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Though I'll accept all suggestions, this is more a rant than a request
> for help.
> 
> My wife has used a PC we've had for some 6 years. She's no computer
> person by any means, but has gotten well into e-mail, browsing and
> similar PC functions. Spends nearly as much time as I do at her keyboard.
> 
> Nothing fancy... 333Mhz, 256MB. Upgraded from the original W95 to W98 SE
> a couple years ago when I had a spare license. Another spare license
> brought the attempt to upgrade to W2K this weekend. Upgrades were
> motivated by desires for more stability.
> 
> Start the upgrades by general cleanup -- everything from running a
> couple rounds of RegClean to removing unused programs and apps to disk
> defrag. Common stuff. The primary concern was to make the newly upgraded
> PC look as similar to the previous version as possible while getting the
> benefits of an OS upgrade. She has the apps she uses and knows; they do
> exactly what she wants them to do and there's zero need for new bells
> and whistles. (An ideal 'user'.)
> 
> Now the rant...
> 
> The W2K upgrade does _not_ like the ATI 3D RAGE PRO AGP display adapter.
> I have no idea why not. When it boots, the logon window appears; and
> approx one minute later, the system crashes hard with a
> DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL error in AtiBt829.sys, does a memory dump
> and reboots.
> 
> Shouldn't be a big deal. Search for info in various forums, search for
> W2K drivers, etc. I found a few, downloaded, transferred on floppy, used
> Safe Mode to work some replacements, but clearly not to the point of
> making a difference. Go to microsoft.com for Hardware Compatibilty List
> issues or driver updates. But...
> 
> Though there seem to be a few issues with AtiBt829.sys and W2K upgrades,
> there are apparently _zero_ sets of suggestions on exactly what to do.
> No info anywhere on how to actually update the drivers.
> 
> Microsoft Windows Update is the real knee-slapper in this case. Of
> course, there's no way to connect to Windows Update with the PC in
> question; I need to connect with a different PC in order to download
> what Microsoft recommends in this case... and there does seem to be a
> recommended fix, there are references on microsoft.com and links to
> follow that lead to Windows Update for the fix.
> 
> [THE rant:] But when I connect with another PC -- which has a different
> display adapter and therefore has no need for no stinkin' AtiBt829.sys
> update --  Windows Update provides no way that I can find to get to the
> recommended fix. Aaaaggghhhh. All links go to Windows Update.
> 
> Meanwhile, there's Mrs. Me tapping her foot in the background... "When
> can I have my computer back?"
> 
> Fortunately, Safe Mode shows that all the e-mail archives and documents
> and photos and everything else are still intact.
> 
> Sigh.
> 
> Tom Liotta
> 
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-- 
Mike Wills
iSeries Programmer/Lawson Administrator
koldark@xxxxxxxxx
http://www.koldark.net
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