using 56k modem to connect to BT home hub 3

[spark72]

Hi, I have a newer computer hooked up to the BT home hub with no problems. My question concerns my older pc with a Windows 98SE OS and a 56k modem. The ethernet plug is too small to go into the BT home hub. I can get an adapter to plug the ethernet into but the adaptor would only fit into the bt phone line, not the hub. I've spoken to BT and asked them questions and they claim they can't advise me on this, and give conflicting information when they try. I just need to know whether I can get the computer hooked up to broadband if I get the appropriate adapters when the pc has a US robotics 56K modem installed, and also I've looked at adapters but am still confused. Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

No, you'd need an ethernet card. 56K modems aren't compatible with ethernet, and you need another one at the other end.

I'd strongly recommend getting a newer OS than 98, though. And you should really be considering just trashing the computer. There's very little you can do with something that old.

 

[USAFRet]

The reason the BT techs can't help you is because some of them were literally in diapers when that thing was built.

Is it theoretically possible to hook that up to a broadband connection? Yes. People have done it. As a hobby.
People have hooked an even older Commodore 64.

But to actually use? No.
Old, desperately slow, and has not had any security patches in a decade.

Time marches on. That is a 15+ year old PC. Even if you could get it connected....to render just one website would take 30 minutes.
Let it go...

 

[spark72]

Thanks for the feedback. Thing is, I need to do a few things on the windows 98 computer before I get rid of it. I need to copy some files and other info onto a flash drive to transfer onto my newer computer. To do that I need to download some software as the computer doesn't recognise a flash drive. As soon as I can get that done, I won't be using the windows 98 computer anymore. So I just need to get online for a very short time to download a couple of small programs, do what I need to do, and that's it. I've looked online for solutions but can't find any. The bt hub is compatible with windows 98SE, but when I put the BT cd in, it does not recognise the ethernet connection, which I find does actually now fit into the ethernet socket in the bt hub. But its useless as it isn't recognised. If anyone knows a way I can get online via the bt hub for a short time, I'd be really grateful.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Toss it on floppies, or pull the HDD out.

Does it have a CD burner?

 

[spark72]

Yes it does have a CD burner. It has Nero Express. My newer pc doesn't have a disk drive to save things on. So I was hoping to transfer some files from the newer pc to the older one on a flash drive and then copy onto CDs using the burner. But to get the old pc to recognize the flash drive I need to download a tiny bit of software which will enable this. Theoretically, I could download the software from my newer pc and install it on the older one instead of trying to go online, but my newer pc doesn't have a disk drive where I can save anything, just a cd player. And the Nero Express won't fit into my newer pc. If I could just solve this, I could soon do what needs to be done and then ditch the older pc that has Windows 98se.

 

[Someone Somewhere]

Even if you can't write CDs on your newer PC (which is unlikely), the CD player should be able to read them.

You might find an ISP willing to sell you a few hours of dial-up for very little, but anything else will need you to load drivers, and there probably aren't any for 98SE.

Burn it onto CD, and pick up an external drive if you have to.

 

[USAFRet]

Or, you can get a USB SATA/IDE cable or dock. Remove the drive from the 98SE machine, and connect it to the new one via USB.
Copy over whatever files you need.

 

[spark72]

Thanks for the suggestions, which I will check out. This might be the dumbest question ever, but if I installed something like Windows XP, would that enable me to connect to the internet on the older computer? Or is it the 56k modem that's the problem ?

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for the suggestions, which I will check out. This might be the dumbest question ever, but if I installed something like Windows XP, would that enable me to connect to the internet on the older computer? Or is it the 56k modem that's the problem ?

It's the modem and the rest of the hardware.
Finding an ethernet adapter that will mate with a 98SE era motherboard may be problematic/expensive.

A USB dock is much more useful...for this fix and in the future.
Pull the drive out and see what you can get from it, rather than trying to make the whole 98SE PC work with broadband.

 

[spark72]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I didn't even know about USB SATA/IDE docks but am definitely getting one. I also found a dial up internet service (http://emergencyinternet.com) which looks good so I can just see if I can download a couple of things onto the old pc. But I'll definitely be getting the USB SATA/IDE dock so I can access and copy stuff from the old pc and then I'll be getting rid of it. Thanks again.