Mystery Manor Adventure Forum

Along with the house, I inherited an old Windows 98 desktop. How easy would it be to convert it to XP, assuming I can find the CDs for this software??

It will depend on whether there are XP drivers for the motherboard components such as the sound and video card. I know you asked me about the XP upgrade I have here. It's from when I upgraded my mom's old 98 computer to XP. When I rebuilt her computer with a new motherboard and processor, I installed Windows 7 on a new hard drive.

However, when I upgraded the 98 OS to XP, I was able to go to the original manufacturer's website (Gateway) and download all the XP drivers. So, do a little digging to see if those are available or it won't work.

I dont know if this old PC is even connected to the internet, Drac

It won't be connected if you are wireless. You would have to connect it to a router with an ethernet cable - assuming it even has an ethernet connection. But you don't need the computer itself to be connected. Assuming it is a brand name computer, just go to the manufacturer's website and see if they have XP drivers for it on your laptop.

It is a Time PC - but how on earth do I find out what model it is??

Why do you want to convert it? If it's an old computer from back when they came with Windows 98, it will probably be sluggish running XP. It might be a better idea to reinstall Windows 98 on it.

Also, with XP, you'd have to "activate" it after installing, meaning you may have to purchase an XP license -- unless you already have an XP CD with activations left on it.

Windows 98 doesn't require activations, but with XP, you only get 3 activations on a new retail XP disc.

Now I am really confused.......why reinstall Windows 98?

A fresh install of Windows 98 will seem much perkier than an old one.

middletoe is correct in that XP may not even run well on it, if at all. You would need to know how much RAM is in it for one thing. Companies like HP and Dell were selling computers in the early 2000's with only 128 MB of RAM in them. I've worked on many of them and they were a misery to put it mildly. There are other issues you would have to resolve too. I went to the only website I could find for Time computers and I didn't see any links for Support.

I think you are stuck with this old computer "as-is."

But that's ok, if all I want to do is run the old games??

Drac, what was the name of the game that you told me not to play on Windows 98 cos it might blow the PC to smithereens LOL?

I have just found the Time Systems & Driver CD in a manual next to the PC - Would I use this to reinstall Windows 98?

The only game on the original CDs that I know of that had blown up in newer and faster optical drives was Sanitarium. If you have a GOG version, you're OK. And if you have an old and slow optical (CD) drive, you're OK.

Why don't you boot up the computer and see how it works before you undergo a reinstall of 98. The driver CDs is great, but is the actual CD that contains Windows 98 there?

No, I cant see a separate Windows 98 CD anywhere here at the moment.

If you can't find it along with the activation code, then you are stuck with what you have.

oh well, not to worry - thanks for your help anyway!

It's actually better if the games are old enough that they were originally made for Windows 95/98.


The version of Windows wouldn't make any difference to the speed of the CD drive. The early version of Sanitarium had the problem with CD's shattering, but not the republished version.


If you decide you want to reinstall Windows 98, Windows 98 is about the cost of a game on eBay. Windows 98 should come with a code that you type in at the end of the installation, but there is no online activation. As Draclvr says, you might want to see how well the computer runs before reinstalling anyway. While you have it booted up, you can run dxdiag and check its specs.