Archived from groups: alt.sys.pc-clone.compaq (
More info?)
Um, the Compaq DeskPro with 440BX motherboard chipset is no different than any
other motherboard, name brand or generic. If you install Win 98 or NT, you need
to add the 440BX chipset drivers which did not exist when the software was
released. Microsoft, as a matter of policy, never (or very rarely) adds drivers
for graphics cards, motheboard chipsets, sound cards or any other hardware sold
for the first time AFTER a major version of Windows is released.
On the other hand, you can depend on Windows 2000 or XP and maybe even butt-ugly
ME to have 440BX chipset drivers for Compaq and any other motherboard with the
chipset on it.
In short, don't blame Compaq or any brand name for the absence of drivers in a
Windows release. It is inevitable, no matter what brand or white box computer
there is. Now you can blame Carly, $21 million richer in severance pay, and the
other HP people for mucking up the ex-Compaq web pages if you can't find what
you need.
As far as decent web site support (documentation and drivers), I have to rate
IBM and Dell at the top, in a dead heat. Gateway is a distant third. The
Compaq web pages are 4th. The HP web pages are about 15th, surpassed by just
about every other brand name.
I will also claim that if you inherited a generic white box computer and had to
load it up with Windows software, you would have perhaps a worse challenge than
you will have with the Compaq. Remember, a white box computer is assembled by
resellers like myself. As a reseller, I take great pains to supply driver CDs
and documentation for everything inside a computer I build. Then the computer
gets detached from all the documentation. I have been down that road
refurbishing or repairing white box computers built by others. It's no fun.
I'm not saying all this because I am pro-Compaq. I am citing all this from the
experience of working on hundreds and hundreds of computers in the last 12
years. All brands... Ben Myers
On 14 Feb 2005 17:24:32 -0800, Searcher7@mail.con2.com wrote:
>
>Ben Myers wrote:
>> Darren,
>>
>> The computer has an Intel 440BX chipset on it. Chipset drivers are
>built into
>> Win ME or later, required from www.intel.com for Win 98 or NT.
>You'll also need
>> to identify the audio, network and video drivers and possibly obtain
>drivers for
>> them as well.
>>
>> Try the HP web site for info about the drivers, many of which can be
>downloaded
>> there. HP did not trash the Compaq Deskpro driver downloads when it
>bought up
>> Compaq. HP and Carly have trashed up just about everything else tho
>in the last
>> 3+ years... Ben Myers
>
>Thanks.
>
>This will take a week, provided I have nothing else to do.
>
>(I'll definitely not buy a PC from any of the major companys after
>this).
>
>Darren Harris
>Staten Island, New York.
>
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