Windows NT 5.0 Installation Problem

[Eviltaco64]

I've recently received a copy of Windows NT 5 (Early Windows 2000 Beta). I wanted to try it on an IBM Thinkpad T21 for testing purposes, but it crashes.

I'm sure this is a question that no one on this forum can answer. But there's no harm in asking around.

Does anyone (and by anyone, I mean a Windows 2000 Beta Tester) have a solution?

Cheers,
Eviltaco64DD

[jamotto]

When does it crash? During installation? What error message do you get if you get one?

[bah]

What's the purpose of using it over 2k sp2 or Windows fundamentals for legacy PCs? Just to see what it was like?
Googling the main parts of the error message would probably be the best bet.

[Eviltaco64]

What's the purpose of using it over 2k sp2 or Windows fundamentals for legacy PCs? Just to see what it was like?
Googling the main parts of the error message would probably be the best bet.

Well, for TESTING purposes as I said above and that I love messing around with old software.
Hell, if I found some old DOS 3.0 5 1/4 floppy disks, I'd have myself a fully functional IBM PC Jr. xD

When does it crash? During installation? What error message do you get if you get one?

It will get to the screen before the actual setup.

It will display this: Windows NT 5 (Build 1531 or something along the lines of that.)

It will begin setup, and pretty much crash the same way that a computer would with the blue screen of death. Maybe it was an upgrade only for NT 4.0/Windows 95...

[quzar]

Odds are it'll never work. It's hard enough to get a retail/final version of most OSs to function properly on older laptops without it being tailored with the special drivers.

[Axelius]

Hmm, I had a similar problem with the installation of Win 95 ()
Well, after some tries it worked! Perhaps older installations are just not as stable as for today's OSs...

From the fact that I recently installed Windows95, you can see that I'm interested in that special retro-flair too. But since I don't have a spare PC, I had to install it in a virtual PC, and that is only half as cool...

[the_eternal_dark]

That is why Damn Small Linux, Puppy Linux, and DeLi Linux are the winners for most old hardware.

If you want full use out of that old hardware, use one of those 3 linux distros mentioned or an older Windows version (or one with drivers available for it, like Win2k).

But if you must use NT5, it sounds like a driver or chipset detection issue, most likely for the motherboard chipset. Also, due to its beta classification, you may get more out of an install of 2000, rather than your version of NT5.

Let us know what you decide to run on it.

[Eviltaco64]

Odds are it'll never work. It's hard enough to get a retail/final version of most OSs to function properly on older laptops without it being tailored with the special drivers.

Thinkpad T21s have high-end Pentium 3s and 256 MB ram. That's definitely enough to run a Windows 2000 Beta from 10 years ago.

Anyway, I gave up on the whole thing. I did, however, manage to find DirectX 5 for Windows NT 4 online, which, even though is a joke now, is still pretty good to have for NT 4 users (more games in LUSH 3D!! lol)

I just ended up installing Windows XP with Longhorn Transformation pack 10.5 installed on top of it.

Thanks for all your help anyway
- Eviltaco64.

[jamotto]

Thinkpad T21s have high-end Pentium 3s and 256 MB ram. That's definitely enough to run a Windows 2000 Beta from 10 years ago.

Anyway, I gave up on the whole thing. I did, however, manage to find DirectX 5 for Windows NT 4 online, which, even though is a joke now, is still pretty good to have for NT 4 users (more games in LUSH 3D!! lol)

I just ended up installing Windows XP with Longhorn Transformation pack 10.5 installed on top of it.

Thanks for all your help anyway
- Eviltaco64.

Shame you couldn't get it working. I would have turned off ACPI in the bios if you had that option. XP is probably better anyways.

[quzar]

Thinkpad T21s have high-end Pentium 3s and 256 MB ram. That's definitely enough to run a Windows 2000 Beta from 10 years ago.

Yes, I did not mean to imply it would not be powerful enough, but that the hardware it was is made of was designed/released after the software was written. As such, it would not have the drivers required to work with it. Not only that but older laptops are notorious for not working out of the box with windows. My sister's laptop recently had a problem. She had lost the recovery CD, which has all the drivers added into the windows install, and instead used the windows install from her old broken desktop. Simply wouldn't work.

It's a common story, and the fact that you were trying to use a beta makes it even more likely that it simply wouldn't work.