Can i install a normal OS onto a lap top?

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Thread: Can i install a normal OS onto a lap top?

  1. #1
    Mako Shark Mancora's Avatar
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    Can i install a normal OS onto a lap top?

    Our lap top crashed and the recovery CDs arent working, and we are not using the battery. Is the version of Win98 on there somewhat different from the normal version?

    I tend to think to think its the normal version with some extra programs installed afterwards, but we dont need those.

  2. #2
    Hammerhead Shark toastbim's Avatar
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    ya you can, as long as you can download the drivers.

  3. #3
    Mako Shark Mancora's Avatar
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    Specifically what type of drivers are you talking about?

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    Mako Shark
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    Originally posted by Mancora
    Specifically what type of drivers are you talking about?
    All of them. You will need to go to the laptop manufacturer's website and at the very least get video drivers. You may also need motherboard, sound, touchpad, etc.
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  5. #5
    Reef Shark qweryujo's Avatar
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    Yeah, you shouldn't have a problem. Just get the drivers like ^they said.

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  6. #6
    Hammerhead Shark toastbim's Avatar
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    laptops needs all sorta drivers, there aint no generic devices, like kb, mouse, modem etc, its not like you can peripheral manufacturers website and download the drivers (in case of desktop pcs).
    you have to go to your laptop vendor's website and download the drivers (all of them). make sure you do that before you re-install your os.
    and store them on a backup drive or something.

    wishh u luck

  7. #7
    Crash Test Dummy SkyDog's Avatar
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    On most laptops, there are plenty of generic devices. Keyboards, pointing devices, hardware abstraction layers... When comparing laptops and desktops, there are actually a lot more similarities than differences.

    Just like you would need to do for a desktop machine, you will need to get drivers for your hardware if they're not included with the OS: video, modem, network card, sound, etc. And newer versions of Windows are actually starting to be pretty good when it comes to including laptop hardware drivers. In addition to drivers, there may be some additional software to configure your laptop depending on who made it and what options it came with.

    Personally, the only drivers I usually bother with getting onto floppy or CD are the network card drivers. Once the laptop's network card is working, you can download any other drivers you need.

  8. #8
    Mako Shark
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    Originally posted by SkyDog
    Personally, the only drivers I usually bother with getting onto floppy or CD are the network card drivers. Once the laptop's network card is working, you can download any other drivers you need.
    Assuming of course that he has a decent net connection.
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  9. #9
    Reef Shark rw96823's Avatar
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    Re: Can i install a normal OS onto a lap top?

    Originally posted by Mancora
    Our lap top crashed and the recovery CDs arent working, and we are not using the battery. Is the version of Win98 on there somewhat different from the normal version?

    I tend to think to think its the normal version with some extra programs installed afterwards, but we dont need those.
    Depends on the laptop brand also.....
    I've reloaded O/S on COMPAQ, IBM, TOSHIBA, and PANASONIC and the drivers are specific to the manufacturers (if you want to use the laptop to its fullest).

    If you can't find a driver you need on the manufacturer's website, try Driver Guide (www.driverguide.com) and register yourself to get downloads.


  10. #10
    Reef Shark
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    I have a high end laptiop and XP takes care of everything but the GF4 drivers, I got them right from Nvidea.
    I would recomend a Huge-Bee unit to anyone who is thinking of a Laptop!!
    I went through pleanty of laptops before getting this one and the fastest I could get any of the other 'high end' machines was a 1780 on the 2001se bench, this one does 4450!! and I use it for LAN paries all the time.
    Take a look at www.internetishop.com they Rock!!
    OC`ing Something....

  11. #11
    Hammerhead Shark
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    You never said what laptop you were trying to install on, however if it's a pentium laptop older than 1998, of a major brand, and you are trying to install W98SE then it should get you up and running driver wise. However the main thing that many older laptops lack is a "boot from cdrom" option. This can be a bit of a hassle if you have to format the HDD. It means you will need MSCDEX to set up your CDROM in DOS before you can run the W98SE disk. This generaly just requires you to copy the CDROM's DOS driver (as russ said get it from the laptop mfg site) to the boot disk and then edit the Config.sys and Autoexec.bat file to use it. Sometimes touchpads don't work by default and need proper drivers and you can get around that with an external ps2 mouse till you get the drivers.

    On hardware that is closer the release date of w98SE (or newer than it or just obscure) you may find 98SE doesn't support the video chip properly, sound, all sorts of stuff. Getting all the neccessary drivers from the mfg ahead of time can save you a lot of headache.

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