Need to build a NEW PC compatible with Windows ME

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frk

Honorable
Jun 28, 2013
10
0
10,510
Hi to everybody. First, excuse my english, it's not my native language.

I need to build a new machine capable of running Windows ME as operating system (not virtualized). I know most of the limitations of WinME in terms of hardware support but maybe i missed some that could be crucial, so i'm asking your help.

This is what i know:

- missing SATA support, so i have to find a motherboard with IDE controller
- missing PCI-express support, so i have to find a mobo with AGP 8x (and an AGP graphic card, of course)
- partial support to 48-bit LBA so i have to install the O.S. on a partition <137GB
- native limit of 512MB RAM, upgradable to 1,5 GB after installation

The main question is: although is still possible to find a new motherboard with IDE and AGP controller, how about chipset/CPU or other issues? Are there incompatibilities i don't know?

Actually i have Windows ME perfectly running on Asus A7N8X-X (socket A), Athlon XP2600+, 512MB DDR, GeForce 6600 GT (AGP 8x). I wrote only as reference, i know are totally outdated components with no equals on actual market.

I found several new mobo with IDE and AGP, but with AM2 or other chipset, and i don't know if this could be a problem for WinME.

Please, don't tell me to upgrade O.S., i also have a machine with XP and another with Seven, i need to run Windows ME for personal reasons.

Thank you.
 
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F

frk

Honorable
Jun 28, 2013
10
0
10,510
Thanks Capt. So it could be useful for me to visit the constructor's site of every mobos i could find to see if there are Win9x/ME drivers. This is a suseful input, thank you.

...waiting for any other suggestion ;-)
 
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F

frk

Honorable
Jun 28, 2013
10
0
10,510
Thanks, i know you're probably right, but i still hope to find something newer (5/6 years) with compatible drivers.

This is probably a stupid question, but how about "generic" drivers? I mean, i have a lot of old versions of nVidia "detonators", for example, could they work with relatively recent geforce? (and the same for via/nvidia mobo chipset)
 
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ex_bubblehead

ex_bubblehead

Titan
Moderator
Aug 24, 2012
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Not likely.


Not gonna happen. The older drivers you are referring to don't know anything about the newer GPU's and therefore won't even install.
 
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F

frk

Honorable
Jun 28, 2013
10
0
10,510
As i am obstinate i searched the web and found several new (not used) motherboards with socket A (462), like these:

Asus A7S8X-MX
Asus A7V266-MX
Asus A7V400-MX
AsRock K7S41GX2
PC Chips M811
PC Chips M848A
PC Chips M851

Looking on producers' websites i found Windows 98/ME drivers for all of them! :)

This encouraged me a little, and i found on PC Chips website also an AM2 mobo with WinME drivers support. It looks like there are genuine nVidia nForce 3 drivers for Win ME...

Could this mean that i will have good possibilities to run Windows ME on almost any nForce3 mobo i could find?

How can i know wich is the most recent chipset with Windows ME drivers?
 
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N

nss000

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Apr 18, 2008
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Woo Hooo congrats on your excellent WinME retro system and best of luck. The AMD2600 was a fine CPU! Until a few years ago I ran a similar system with a Gigabyte mobo supporting Nikons CoolScan 35-mm digitizer; to Nikon engineers shock, WinME would run Win95 drivers for that puppy.

WinME: (still) ROCK SOLID four (4) hours at a time.




 
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