A new G40

[bluetomgold]

Just arrived in the post... Love it! Specs: 15" screen 2.6Ghz P4 1Gb Ram 160Gb HDD. Has an onboard floppy and CDR/DVD. No battery but othewise all seems well so far.

I was looking for something with an onboard floppy and a parallel port for running some old music software. Hopefully I'll be able to get it to work with my Midiman Portman midi interface. Anyway the G40 seems ideal, in fact I wasn't counting on finding anything quite so nice. Hopefully I'll be able to get it to work with my Midiman Portman midi interface...

First issue is a missing key. Any idea where to get a replacement?

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/VhyiD ... 51-h938-no

I'm currently attempting to install XP and 98SE as a dual boot. I'm thinking that XP will be able to read NTFS drives and go online occasionally, whereas most of the work will be done in 98... which will remain offline. Sound sensible? Seems that drivers are available for both machines. Have got a bit nervous about XP having have a read up on the status of support (all my other machines are on 7) but I guess it'll be fine for occasional use.

Also I realised that much of the software I want to use is from the 95 era (some even before). Any reason why it should't work on 98se? My assumption is that it's the better OS, but should be mostly compatible. I wonder...

Admin warning: Google pictures hardly ever work, except for their owner.
My advice: use the likes of Imgur instead and only post a link to the picture[s] (unless they are less than 50KB).

[Shredder11]

I have two G40 and one G41 which is probably too many! So I had been thinking of selling one, particularly one that I have removed the heatsink and fan from to use in my G41. It is a fully working machine and I can have a look tomorrow evening, and then maybe take a few good photos to upload links to here. I'm in the UK up in West Yorkshire, so not that far away.

Regards using Win 95 software in 98, that should be fine and I remember using both operating systems back in the day for music sequencing with Cubase VST.

[bluetomgold]

Thanks for the response. Apologies for the photo no show - I usually use Flickr but am having problems with my account...

Anyway, so far I've managed to install XP but not yet got the proper drivers, so no networking. I have failed to install 98se so far... I had forgotten that my old discs aren't bootable. Ah, memories.

I am actually having a few issues with the machine so quite tempted by yours...although at this stage I'm already slightly wondering whether an old PC is a good idea at all... in addition to the missing "S" key, the colon does not work, and neither does one of the ALT keys... which is a bit of a pain at the old DOS prompt, especially as the machine lacks proper numeric keys. Entering ALT codes is particularly boring, although I suppose it has a certain nostalgic charm.

I see that new keyboards are apparently available e.g. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-For-IBM- ... 2527823901 - any thoughts on these?

Other issues are an intermittent crackle from the speaker, and possibly slightly iffy drives. The optical drive wouldn't initially read discs but it seems OK now. I'm not entirely convinced by the floppy drive - none of my old boot discs would work, although some of my old discs seem to read OK. I'm unsure whether the issue is the discs or the drive... A bit frustrating really but I suppose it's all par for the course! I did attempt to clean it with a cleaning disc, but maybe it's worthwhile opening it up and using a cotton bud.

Have just got hold of what is hopefully a bootable version of 98 so fingers crossed...

[bluetomgold]

Have just got hold of what is hopefully a bootable version of 98 so fingers crossed...

It worked! That was quick. So far running 98 this feels like the fastest PC I've ever owned.

[theterminator93]

I'm wondering if these machines use the same (known flawed) audio chip/design as the A31/p machines. They are rather infamous (aside from the other well known problem with the GPUs on that model) for failing to provide audio out to the speakers and/or headphones jack after a time.

I have a fine G41 myself. It's quite a beast! Very different from all the other models. I don't have the recovery disks for it but I was able to use the A31/p recovery set and it (to my recollection) installed most of the drivers.

[Shredder11]

I've not had any problems or issues with sound, floppy or optical drives on any of my G series laptops. Infact the optical drive is able to read discs that even the original Pioneer burner on my desktop can no longer read. I've never installed Win98SE on them though, only XP / Vista / Win 7 so far. Networking with Win98 is a pain in the [censored] full stop, no matter what computer you use. I've only ever done networking on Win98 with a crossover cable, and that was actually very easy to do. Proper networking I have done on XP onwards and also Linux.

The Ebay keyboard you linked to I have no idea about. It looks like a Chinese copy of an IBM model, so no way of knowing what the quality is like. However the G series laptops were actually manufactured by Acer! This was the only model I think that IBM approached someone else to make, and I can see the keyboard resembles looks and feels like the one on my sister's Acer 2005 laptop. So I suppose grabbing the Ebay China one may well be no different in quality, seeing as the original was not really IBM anyway.

Apologies for not getting some photos up of the G40 I mentioned before. I had to drop my sister off for her night out and then I came home, and realised that our gas boiler has packed in yet again; it does this every few years and usually the same reason, e.g. PCB malfunctioning or just plain broken.

[bluetomgold]

Sorry to hear about your boiler. It seems everything is breaking here, too...

Having got Win98SE installed I decided to install the unofficial service pack. At this stage the CD drive was getting rather cranky, sometimes it would read fine, sometimes not at all. I couldn't get a USB thumb drive to work so was stuck on installing stuff from CDRs. I burned two copies of the service pack, one on my Dell desktop, then another on my W520. By coincidence the burner on my desktop then decided to pack up, and (joy of joys) I noticed that the W520 had run out of space on its internal HD and was not surprisingly acting a little cranky.

Unfortunately the service pack completely broke the nice clean Windows installation. There were error messages during installation, and once finished Windows explorer no longer worked, failing to display any files after changing folders or drives.

No problem, I thought, I'll just reinstall. But by then the optical drive had (almost) completely packed up. It's refusing to read CDRs - so the burned bootable Win98SE isn't recognised either in Windows or at boot. It does recognise some manufactured CDs including an OEM copy of Windows 95 I have but all of the useful stuff I have is on CDR or DVD-R. It won't read my XP CD either.

I'm a little lost now, welcome any bright ideas but basically as far as I can see until I sort the optical drive this machine is not going to be doing anything. Not sure whether its worth persevering with...

[RealBlackStuff]

AFAIK Acer built G40, G41, G50, R30, R31, R32, R40 and possibly one or two others.
On average they were all rubbish.

[Shredder11]

AFAIK Acer built G40, G41, G50, R30, R31, R32, R40 and possibly one or two others.
On average they were all rubbish.

I have a soft spot for the G range though , and I promise I did not have a bang on the head prior to acquiring them! Funny thing is the G41 I have went from being an overheating nightmare when I got it, to then being one of the coolest running Thinkpads I own, once I had swapped the heatsink / fan for another type. It's not a bad performer at all and the best example of a Pentium 4 machine I have owned. Granted the build quality is not up to the usual Thinkpad specifications, but otherwise it is a nice laptop. I'm loving my T43p at the moment, which is another quirky model going by the forum posts.

[TPFanatic]

Do the G series use different Pentium 4s than desktops? Could a Hyperthreading Pentium 4 be used in a G? Or Pentium Dual Core?

[ajkula66]

Do the G series use different Pentium 4s than desktops? Could a Hyperthreading Pentium 4 be used in a G? Or Pentium Dual Core?

G series use desktop CPUs to begin with, and higher-end G41 models were offered with HT processors going up to 3.8Ghz I believe, although I've never personally owned anything faster than a 3.33Ghz with HT.

[theterminator93]

Actually the G41 uses a mobile CPU, despite it sharing socket 478 with its desktop counterparts. I'm not sure if a desktop CPU will work in it. The fastest it will support is the P4-M HT 3.46, Prescott core. The fastest desktop variant of the socket 478 CPU was a 3.4, in both Prescott and Northwood flavors. The higher clocked variants were LGA 775 only.

[ac12]

I love my G40, but it has become an "orphan."
It is not able to run Win7, primarily because it is limited to 2GB of RAM, so it is stuck at XP.
Upgrading from a Celeron to a Pentium CPU, and maxing the RAM to 2GB made a BIG difference.

If you are brave enough to open the computer, you can replace the CD with a DVD drive, which I did.

You can also upgrade the HD. Though PATA drives are getting harder to find.
An option is a mSATA SSD in a mSATA to PATA adapter. But warning, XP does not have the native ability to manage a SSD, so you are reliant on the firmware of the SSD to do that for you. You are still speed limited by the PATA interface, but you pick up in access speed.

I replace the keyboard on my G40, but I forget where I got it. Probably off eBay, where I get most of these old parts.

In the end, you need to really think, "is it worth putting more money into the old computer?"
For me because it was deadended at XP, I decided to stop sinking money into it, and put my $ into my T61 which at least runs Win7 with 6GB of RAM.

[bluetomgold]

My main wish is to run Windows 98 on it! No networking.

I would have thought Windows 7 would run OK with 2GB. In fact when I bought mine it had 7 installed with just 1GB. Seemed to run OK. Thinking about it I have a little Medion netbook which runs 7 OK with 2GB. It's not exactly blisteringly fast though. I'm actually wondering whether I need to pull some RAM out of mine to ensure compatibility with Windows 98! Seems that 512MB is safer.

Re replacing the drive etc, given that mine needs a keyboard and a CD drive (and has no battery) I'm inclined to think it might be easier (and possibly even cheaper) to get another fully working machine, and possibly keep mine for spares. The hard drive on mine is more than big and fast enough for my needs...

I do have a USB CD drive, I wonder if it's possible to reinstall Windows from that? Might have another go this evening...

[dr_st]

Actually the G41 uses a mobile CPU, despite it sharing socket 478 with its desktop counterparts. I'm not sure if a desktop CPU will work in it. The fastest it will support is the P4-M HT 3.46, Prescott core. The fastest desktop variant of the socket 478 CPU was a 3.4, in both Prescott and Northwood flavors. The higher clocked variants were LGA 775 only.

It gets more confusing. Those Mobile P4-HTs are not P4-M. P4-M was a different sub-class, with only 400MHz FSBs, and 35W TDP. The Mobile P4s seem to be really just desktop variants, with Speedstep added, and limited to 533MHz FSB to curb the TDP a bit. It's still insanely high compared to a P4-M (up to 76W for Northwood, 88W for Prescott), but the desktop 800MHz FSB ones went even higher than that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_I ... processors

[bluetomgold]

I do have a USB CD drive, I wonder if it's possible to reinstall Windows from that? Might have another go this evening...

Well... I managed to get it to boot from the USB CD, although it didn't actually show up in the boot list. I took a gamble and selected the 4th option, which was some sort of interface which I didn't recognise - network boot? Anyway although the chosen option failed it then proceeded to boot from the USB CD drive!

Only downside was that Windows 98 then reported "files not found" at which point it dumped me out at an "A:\" DOS prompt. I think it's labeling the USB CD drive as A: and the install program is looking somewhere else (D: ?) for the installation files.

On the plus side I am now reinstalling XP - that seems to be working OK - so it has a hope in hell of being a half useful machine. Maybe I'll see if the software I had in mind runs under XP. Of course I may not get XP to work anyway...

On a side note the little generic drive in the USB housing looks very similar to the optical drive in the G40. Seems the identical size. What are the chances that I could just swap it in to the G40?

Tempted to get the screwdrivers out...

[bluetomgold]

On a side note the little generic drive in the USB housing looks very similar to the optical drive in the G40. Seems the identical size. What are the chances that I could just swap it in to the G40?

Tempted to get the screwdrivers out...

Ha! Guess what?

It fitted!


It works!


Only trouble is the bezel, which is a slightly different shape on the original. If I trim a bit off of the new one it will work. For the time being I'm going ghetto style. No bezel.


...having had a look inside though it (the G40) looks like it's been left out in the rain. The screws were rusty! It's amazing it works at all. Any sane person would give up now...


OK, I'm having another crack at installing the operating system.

[bluetomgold]

Since replacing the optical drive I have manged to install a dual boot of 98se and XP and all seems well. I trimmed the drawer bezel with a hacksaw and now it fits fine! I had to pull half of the RAM as 1GB was causing issues with 98. I've got the sound and graphics working under 98 and have even managed to install some old music software... so far it feels really slick and powerful - it's well above typical Windows 98 spec. It's quite a novelty to watch such an old machine cruise along...

I haven't bothered installing LAN or wireless drivers as I'm not going to use it networked, so there are a few "unknown devices" etc. showing up in Device Manager. I'm inclined to just leave them as they don't seem to be causing any issues, although the more OCD parts of my personality are nagging me to sort them out... But I think I'll just deal with them if and when problems appear.

Next job is to see if I can get it working with my MIDI interface and a PCMCIA audio interface. As I'm not networking it, it would also be good to get Windows 98 to recognise a USB flash drive to ease transferring drivers etc... Or maybe I'll set up the XP partition for networking and transfer drivers and stuff that way... Decisions, decisions.

Oh yeah, and it needs a new clock battery too.

[Pokrzept]

Since replacing the optical drive I have manged to install a dual boot of 98se and XP and all seems well. I trimmed the drawer bezel with a hacksaw and now it fits fine! I had to pull half of the RAM as 1GB was causing issues with 98. I've got the sound and graphics working under 98 and have even managed to install some old music software... so far it feels really slick and powerful - it's well above typical Windows 98 spec. It's quite a novelty to watch such an old machine cruise along...

I haven't bothered installing LAN or wireless drivers as I'm not going to use it networked, so there are a few "unknown devices" etc. showing up in Device Manager. I'm inclined to just leave them as they don't seem to be causing any issues, although the more OCD parts of my personality are nagging me to sort them out... But I think I'll just deal with them if and when problems appear.

Next job is to see if I can get it working with my MIDI interface and a PCMCIA audio interface. As I'm not networking it, it would also be good to get Windows 98 to recognise a USB flash drive to ease transferring drivers etc... Or maybe I'll set up the XP partition for networking and transfer drivers and stuff that way... Decisions, decisions.

Oh yeah, and it needs a new clock battery too.

If you want to use USB flash drives and hard drives you have to install Windows 98 Mass Storage Driver. You shall find it easly over Google but be aware, there are 2 different version of this driver, one for Win 98 and another one for Win 98SE.

[bluetomgold]

Since replacing the optical drive I have manged to install a dual boot of 98se and XP and all seems well. I trimmed the drawer bezel with a hacksaw and now it fits fine! I had to pull half of the RAM as 1GB was causing issues with 98. I've got the sound and graphics working under 98 and have even managed to install some old music software... so far it feels really slick and powerful - it's well above typical Windows 98 spec. It's quite a novelty to watch such an old machine cruise along...

I haven't bothered installing LAN or wireless drivers as I'm not going to use it networked, so there are a few "unknown devices" etc. showing up in Device Manager. I'm inclined to just leave them as they don't seem to be causing any issues, although the more OCD parts of my personality are nagging me to sort them out... But I think I'll just deal with them if and when problems appear.

Next job is to see if I can get it working with my MIDI interface and a PCMCIA audio interface. As I'm not networking it, it would also be good to get Windows 98 to recognise a USB flash drive to ease transferring drivers etc... Or maybe I'll set up the XP partition for networking and transfer drivers and stuff that way... Decisions, decisions.

Oh yeah, and it needs a new clock battery too.

If you want to use USB flash drives and hard drives you have to install Windows 98 Mass Storage Driver. You shall find it easly over Google but be aware, there are 2 different version of this driver, one for Win 98 and another one for Win 98SE.

Thanks! I think I downloaded the right driver last night, although I will have to double check that I have got the right version. A quick google tells me it should be "nusb33.exe".

I have had trouble getting XP to connect to my wireless router, drivers are installed and it can see the router, but won't connect. I think maybe it's related to my router settings, which isn't much help because my router won't let me change the settings for some reason... I think maybe it's time for a new router (and ISP for that matter) but that's another story...

Anyway I got it online in the end last night with an ethernet cable and have been using it to download drivers etc. onto the Win98 partition, but with 512MB and bloaty antivirus it is painfully slow... massive contrast to 98se.

[bluetomgold]

Just installed nusb36.exe as that's what I had downloaded. Works perfectly with my TDK flash drive.

[beko1987]

Cracking thread, sounds like you're having fun with it all! Your messing about is much the same as I'm doing with my older 240, although I don't have an end goal with it like you seem to. I feel your pain with the USB drivers, had to remove my hard drive and put it in a USB caddy, drop the files in from windows 10 then re-fit it, then find the files and install, then I could use a pen drive (mine doesn't have an optical drive at all)

[bluetomgold]

Cracking thread, sounds like you're having fun with it all! Your messing about is much the same as I'm doing with my older 240, although I don't have an end goal with it like you seem to. I feel your pain with the USB drivers, had to remove my hard drive and put it in a USB caddy, drop the files in from windows 10 then re-fit it, then find the files and install, then I could use a pen drive (mine doesn't have an optical drive at all)

I'm glad to be providing some entertainment.

Sadly though I've failed to get it to work with my parallel port MIDI interface. Actually in the first place the reason I bought this was because I wanted to avoid USB for MIDI... It seems Midiman don't provide the right driver for the Portman 2x4 that I have, and so far googling has turned up nothing.

Oh well. I'll admit that I have been having fun, but these little projects are all the more satisfying if they end in a practical machine... we'll see!

[Shredder11]

The Edirol (Roland) UA-25 performs perfectly, has clean preamps and MIDI and if you want to use Windows 98, it has drivers for that too. The similar UA-4FX I have does more but drivers start at XP onwards.

https://www.roland.com/global/products/ ... lang=en-JM - This typically goes for £30 on Ebay, providing you ignore the overpriced ones.

[bluetomgold]

The Edirol (Roland) UA-25 performs perfectly, has clean preamps and MIDI and if you want to use Windows 98, it has drivers for that too. The similar UA-4FX I have does more but drivers start at XP onwards.

https://www.roland.com/global/products/ ... lang=en-JM - This typically goes for £30 on Ebay, providing you ignore the overpriced ones.

Thanks... Have given up on the Midiman, so I picked up an Edirol UM-2. I've got a Digigram PCMCIA interface for audio, although I'm yet to get it working...

Have also ordered one of the replacement keyboards I linked to earlier.

[bluetomgold]

New keyboard arrived, fitted, and works a treat. It's becoming a rather nice machine.

Only real issue now is one channel of audio missing. I'm fairly convinced there's a bad connection at fault, does anyone have any idea what I have to take apart to get to the soundcard?

Not essential if I can get the Digigram to work, but it might be handy to be able to plug a pair of headphones into it occasionally...