I am running Windows 2000 without a problem on a 486 DX4 100Mhz. Same amount of RAM and its surprisingly usable with a CF card as the boot device. I usually kick start the installation from DOS, just boot off of the Windows 98 startup disk. Run winnt.exe in the i386 directory. You can also use it to make a set of boot disks with the "/ox" switch.

NJRoadfan wrote:

I am running Windows 2000 without a problem on a 486 DX4 100Mhz. Same amount of RAM and its surprisingly usable with a CF card as the boot device. I usually kick start the installation from DOS, just boot off of the Windows 98 startup disk. Run winnt.exe in the i386 directory. You can also use it to make a set of boot disks with the "/ox" switch.

I did that and it spends a LONG time copying files (1 1/2 hours!) and then it took me right back to that blue screen where it says Setup is starting Windows 2000 and then BSoD

--edit---
I disabled L2 and it is working

I got it working. I had to disable the L2 Cache during the install.
It took a LONG time to install without L2 (>5 hours)
but once installed I reenabled L2 and it is working ok.

A big more sluggish than 98 but quite usable.

I suspect your L2 timings are too tight for stable operation. Try using the same L2 cache settings, but bring the FSB down to 33 MHz. If W2K installs, then I suspect your L2 cache timings. Set the FSB back to 40 MHz and reinstall W2K with the slowest L2 timings. If W2K installs, speed up your L2 timings until you find the fastest stable setting.

You might want to try an nLited stripped-down install with that amount of RAM. Should ease the paging pressure a bit. (Perhaps less noticeable on a CF card)

I suspect your L2 timings are too tight for stable operation. Try using the same L2 cache settings, but bring the FSB down to 33 MHz. If W2K installs, then I suspect your L2 cache timings. Set the FSB back to 40 MHz and reinstall W2K with the slowest L2 timings. If W2K installs, speed up your L2 timings until you find the fastest stable setting.

Well so far with it running, I have yet to have any random crashes in 2000 (except when something tries to execute a Pentium instruction)
But it looks like the W2K install is a good test. Maybe if I have time I will try it on a blank CF

You might want to try an nLited stripped-down install with that amount of RAM. Should ease the paging pressure a bit. (Perhaps less noticeable on a CF card)

I wouldn't know what to trim. I know that it is RAM heavy. The most annoying thing about 2000 for me is that how long it takes to be ready to go after first seeing the desktop

I am Having KMODE EXCEPTION NOT HANDLED problem in my PC.

smeezekitty wrote:

The most annoying thing about 2000 for me is that how long it takes to be ready to go after first seeing the desktop

I must say, I'm surprised that you got to it to run "quite usable" on your 486, considering that the minimum system requirements for Windows 2000 Pro (in its standard form) is a Pentium 133 MHz with 32 MB of RAM (and the recommended system requirements is a Pentium II with 128 MB of RAM).

If you do want to run a Windows NT based OS on your 486 and have more acceptable performance, perhaps try Windows NT 4.0 (or even Windows NT 3.51)?

Thread closed

Use NT4 on a 486.