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DLeonR
08-19-2008, 09:56 AM
I just got a computer tower with a ATX AL9 MS-5169 (an old board) with a AMD-K6(tm) 3D processor. The person would like me to install windows XP on it. Is this possible? It also has 576 OMB Ram. Running windows ME.
Your answer will be greatly appriciated.
Thanks
123456
08-19-2008, 10:44 AM
Well, the RAM would not be a problem. Could you tell us the processor speed? If it's below 500MHz, XP wouldn't be a good idea.
mjc
08-19-2008, 11:11 AM
I wouldn't...that board is pushing eight years old, at the least. It is a Socket 7 board, so Pentium (no numbers...original), K6 and Cyrix...most of which were less that 500 MHz.

It may handle 2K...but ME is about its limit. That is a late Win95/early 98 era board.
DLeonR
08-19-2008, 01:04 PM
I realy don't know the processor speed and I am not sure how to find it without opening the case. So I will just let the people know that it is not a good idea.
Thanks for all your replies.
Lostatsea3
08-19-2008, 06:57 PM
go to start > run > type "dxdiag"

I hope that works on older Windows... if not, sorry!
mjc
08-19-2008, 07:12 PM
It's a Socket 7 board...500 or 600 MHz is pretty much its max. It is also going to have IDE drive limitations...possibly even stuck at the 32 GB one. BIOS updates ARE not available...in fact when I looked up the board at the MSI site, there were no downloads at all for it.

Actually, with ME on there, more than 512 MB of RAM is a problem...none of 9x(ME included) series dealt well with more than 512 MB. It was a design flaw of the memory manager.

It just isn't worth trying to run XP on it...besides, the chance of anything other than 'native' XP drivers for it is slim to none.

Now, a nice light distro of Linux...yeah, that would work. 2k would also probably work well on it.
DLeonR
08-20-2008, 05:31 PM
Well, thanks again for all these great replies. I will just let the folks know, they have to upgrade the motherboard if they want windows xp installed. How is Linux, I read about this all the time from you guys with the know how. Is it an easy program? I have never even seen it on a computer. Maybe I should try it. On my computer I have drive selector with three HHDs in it perhaps I should thry Linux on one of the drives.
Thanks again.