Hi there,

I have a Dell Optiplex GX150 with no OS or CD/Hard drive. I found a hard drive with an installation of win98 on it that I tried to install on my p4 machine for dual booting. It wouldnt have it and couldnt handle the memory. So, I plugged it in to my Dell. To my suprise, it booted with no errors! What are the odds?

2 things are a bit wierd though;

1) There is no USB support. I plug in the USB whatever it is, and nothing happens. I think this is because the machine that I installed had USB 2, and this has 1.1. I have no idea what i need to remedy this, probably some file on the win98 CD (which i have) but it would need to be small enough to fit on a floppy, as the CD drive doesnt work and nor do USB sticks (duh!)

2) It cant display more than 16 colours and only supports a res of 640x480. I think this has something to do with the monitor I used during installation, and the monitor I used with another win98 machine with no problems was only plugged in today. This is not as URGENT as the first problem.
Drivers for every Dell ever made can be found on their site:

http://support.dell.com/


If onboard graphics, this is it:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/download.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen&releaseid=R18328&SystemID=PLX_PNT_P3C_GX150&os=W98&osl=en&deviceid=671&devlib=0&typecnt=1&vercnt=1&formatcnt=1&libid=6&fileid=18034

You can run Add New Hardware in Control Panel and see if that works. Dell MB's frequently have chipset drivers that should be installed for best PERFORMANCE:

http://support.dell.com/

Of course a fresh install is best....  
I cant do a fresh install; No CD drive
I cant find a generic USB driver, nothing happens with anything I plug in. I think this is windows itself. I cant us the onboard graphics driver, its too large for a floppy disk

Unless I can find a new laptop/external CD drive (not an option at the moment) I'm stuck.Oh, it's one of those miniature ones?  

You can't download directly to it? Or across a network? Those have built in NIC's.

With the combination of the right chipset drivers, the USB may start to work.lol, I cant download directly to it, I only noticed when I tried to install my wireless adapter driver from a memory stick that I noticed.

A network sounds PROMISING, except i have no idea what to do. Or what cables. Or how GOOD win98 is for networkingActually I just found a cable wich fits into the NIC's of both my computers.

Now how do I connect them?To connect directly from computer to computer you cannnot use a standard ethernnet cable, which is probably what you have. You need a crossover cable, AVAILABLE at computer stores, Radio Shack, etc., about $5. Win98 does just fine with networking. You just have to set it up.Windoze98fe had a few problems with usb. There may be patches at microsoft. networking shouldnt be a problem.

Check the plugs side by side on the network cable. If theyre exactly the same its a straight thru cable but if a pair of wires goes to diffrent pins its a xover and just what you need.

http://neptune.netcomp.monash.edu.au/cpe5013/Tutorial/Protocols/RJ45wiring.gif