VOGONS


First post, by Flakchak

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I just acquired a HP P920 Flatscreen CRT, which means I'm now required to get an HP computer to go with it.

So I'm going to be leaning towards a HP Vectra VL5 Series 5. My issue is that since HP has purged their site of anything Vectra related, I can't just download everything I would have needed for a Win 95 install. If I do a fresh install of Win 95, will I need anything special in terms of making sure everything in the device manager is taken care of and working?

I had originally wanted to go down the Packard Bell rabbit hole, and I still have a crap load of complete PC's and parts, but trying to find Packard Bell monitors that still work and haven't already been scrapped is my problem. Hence the reason for me branching out to other manufacturers.

Searching for a Packard Bell 15" CRT Monitor - 1511SL or 1512SL

Reply 1 of 6, by KCompRoom2000

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Flakchak wrote:

My issue is that since HP has purged their site of anything Vectra related, I can't just download everything I would have needed for a Win 95 install. If I do a fresh install of Win 95, will I need anything special in terms of making sure everything in the device manager is taken care of and working?

In situations like this, I usually rely on AIDA16 (a DOS hardware profiler) for identifying the computer's hardware so that I can search for drivers for the individual components through the means of online searching.

Another popular method is installing a Windows version that's newer than the computer just to see if it has built-in drivers for its components, with a newer Windows version installed, I open up Device Manager to see if any of the computer's components have been identified. For components without built-in driver support, you can usually find the PCI ID in its details page then look it up on a PCI ID lookup database. Bear in mind that some Windows versions may not have the ability to view the PCI IDs in Device Manager, in this case there are other utilities you can use to pull PCI IDs for your hardware.

Reply 2 of 6, by chinny22

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I rarely use the drivers from HP (or any other brand) as the hardware manufacturer usually has later drivers anyway, just takes a bit more work tracking them down.

KCompRoom2000's way of finding out hardware is a good advice, and HP hardware is well documented on the internet so should be easy enough to google HP Vectra VL5 quick specs or whatever

Reply 3 of 6, by oeuvre

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Some Series 5 used different components based on the processor... ensure which series 5 you have, eg. 100/133, etc.

HP Z420 Workstation Intel Xeon E5-1620, 32GB, RADEON HD7850 2GB, SSD + HD, XP/7
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Reply 5 of 6, by Intel486dx33

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I have a Vectra VL5 I think it is. loaded with hardware and WinNT2000. runs okay with pentium CPU ( 200mhz I think ).

But for a gaming computer , I would go with a IBM Aptiva with AMD k6-2 3+ CPU.
you can find these used on eBay for about $100.
Just add a Sound blaster live and Voodoo card and you are good to go.

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Reply 6 of 6, by jaZz_KCS

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I recently revived a HP Vectra VEi8. Can confirm that most Vectra driver collections can still be found online.

Although it is not always easy to spot which ones are mandatory and which are not.

You are probably best off installing Win95 and then have a look at the device manager for devices still requiring drivers. Installing only them should suffice.