T23 with Win98SE recovery CDs

[cadillacmike68]

Hello,

I see in the excellent IBM reference book that several T23 models came with Win98 SE. So what you may say. Well, I have some old DOS wargames that are very high real mode memory intensitive (they are more math intensive than graphically oriented), to the extent they need 615,000 bytes or more available at the command line. Plus there are some that just don't like XP. That's what I keep my T22s around for.

Well I went ahead and bought a couple T23s. One has the wireless built in (yippee!!!) so I wouldn't use that (I'll put an XP build on that one), but I have a nice 1.13GHZ model that I'd like to load with Win98SE.

Problem is I never bought a T23 new and don't have the recovery CDs for W98SE. I have them for XP but that won't help here.

Can I boot a W98 HDD for a T22 box on a T23 without it locking up or trashing the original T22 disk's files? I'll use a cloned disk to try it out - so even if it trashes the files, it won't matter.

Does someone have a set of T23 W98SE recovery CDs that i can buy or otherwise obtain?

Thanks in advance.

[RealBlackStuff]

The hardware between T22 and T23 is close enough, that you can install W98 on the T23 from a T22 CD.
Have never seen restore CDs for W98/T23.

[Majestic]

Yes, swapping in a Win98 hard drive can be done. In the past I have moved a hard drive containing Win98 as one of the operating systems between various desktops that I had and Win98 adapted fairly well with the swap. When the hard drive is installed on the different desktop Win98 booted right up and then went on with the process of installing or trying to install drivers for the new found hardware. For what hardware Windows couldn't install, I was able to get the correct drivers at the PC makers website.

[cadillacmike68]

I think I'll boot a clone of my T22 HDD and see where that leads! I have plenty of disks...

[skou]

Mike, it's been a while since I've played with 98SE, but it wouldn't hurt to try. I also think it would work.

I do know, that with XP or anything newer, it won't work, though. There is enough difference that XP doesn't like it.

I keep an extra HDD with XP on it, and use it to check out new (to me) T23s.

Mike, have you tried 2000? It isn't as memory hungry as XP, but newer than 98. (But, you aren't going to be able to run updates on either.)

steve

[Majestic]

On a side note, I had an occasion last week where a customer wanted to replace his dying e-machine with a newer Dell model. I swapped the hard drive containing XP into the Dell and then did a repair using the Windows install CD. The repair process replaced the e-machine configuration with the Dell's information. On reboot I installed the Dell drivers and reactivated using the Dell's COA key. Although all the Windows updates had to be redone, the repair process kept all the User accounts, files and installed programs intact which saved a lot of time.

[cadillacmike68]

Skou,

I have T23 XP recovery CDs so i can use that route to create a working T23 with XPP. I could also try a T30 XPP disk, but I'm sure it will blow up in my face

I'm staying away from W2000 because it has the same problem as XP - can't get enough DOS command line real mode memory for these old games. Plus 2000 has no more updates (as you mentioned)

My T22s will be strictly W98, the T23s will be W98 or XPP depending on whether or not they have internal wireless, and the T30s will be XPP only. T23s are a bridge machine to me; I only recently got a few and will see how they work out. I managed to get one with SXGA+ screen, WIFI (with the Actiontec Modem / WiFi still in it) and 1.2GHz. The others are no internal WIFI capability 1.13GHz and regular XGA screens.

I have yet to try booting one of the T23s with a HDD in it. Maybe tonight. BIOS updates, memory checking, HDD testing, the T22 that does not like the internal FDD, and the T30 that just doesn't like HAL.DLL are all still driving me nuts!