Let's run Win10 on really really old hardware

I would be curious to see if my really old computer would work with Windows 10. It has a ASUS A7N8X Deluxe (v1.1) motherboard I bought in November 2002. I found a site that is supposed to have Windows 7/10 drivers for its nForce2 chipset. I assume I would have to use an early release for Windows 10.

BTW, even though this motherboard had 2 SATA ports they couldn't be used at first because there were no SATA drives for sale until the next year. Some of the first SATA drives were not even native SATA. They were native IDE drives with a built-in IDE to SATA bridge circuit.

Be advised that nForce chipsets are quite a PITA as far as compatibility is concerned.

eLPuSHeR said:

Be advised that nForce chipsets are quite a PITA as far as compatibility is concerned.

Installing Windows 10 on that computer was just wishful thinking on my part. Several years ago I upgraded the RAM from 1GB (2x512GB) to 2GB (2x1GB). I then installed Windows 7 on it. That worked well with it.

BTW, the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe has an Nvidia nForce2 chipset. The chipset has a dual-channel memory controller. The 1st set of RAM were single sticks of RAM while the 2nd set was a dual-channel kit. That is because back in 2002 dual-channel memory controllers were a new thing so dual-channel kits did not exist. The RAM used was:
1st set: 1GB (2 x Corsair CMX512-2700C2 512MB) $378
2nd set: 2GB (Corsair CMC2GX1M2A400C3 (2x1GB)) $61

I was lucky in that the RAM I chose worked well in dual-channel. A lot of people were not so lucky because they chose RAM that had problems with dual-channel. To address this some RAM manufacturers started to test pairs of RAM together so they knew whether they worked well in dual-channel. These pairs of RAM were the first unofficial dual-channel RAM kits. Later more RAM manufacturers followed suit and started producing official dual-channel RAM kits.

MisterEd said:

Installing Windows 10 on that computer was just wishful thinking on my part. Several years ago I upgraded the RAM from 1GB (2x512GB) to 2GB (2x1GB). I then installed Windows 7 on it. That worked well with it.

BTW, the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe has an Nvidia nForce2 chipset. The chipset has a dual-channel memory controller. The 1st set of RAM were single sticks of RAM while the 2nd set was a dual-channel kit. That is because back in 2002 dual-channel memory controllers were a new thing so dual-channel kits did not exist. The RAM used was:
1st set: 1GB (2 x Corsair CMX512-2700C2 512MB) $378
2nd set: 2GB (Corsair CMC2GX1M2A400C3 (2x1GB)) $61

I was lucky in that the RAM I chose worked well in dual-channel. A lot of people were not so lucky because they chose RAM that had problems with dual-channel. To address this some RAM manufacturers started to test pairs of RAM together so they knew whether they worked well in dual-channel. These pairs of RAM were the first unofficial dual-channel RAM kits. Later more RAM manufacturers followed suit and started producing official dual-channel RAM kits.

wow that nforce2 chipset is worse than the nforce4 based HP pavilion computer that I'm using (nForce 430 / onboard Geforce 6150SE - at least nforce4 chipsets have wddm capable graphics drivers) - running Win10 LTSC 2019 [1809] just fine and will soon upgrade to LTSC 2021 [21H2]

on the other hand, I did attempt to install x86/32bit Win10 Pro 21H2 on an old friend's eMachines T5048 media center based (2006) computer using a gateway oem version of the intel d101ggc motherboard. that turned out to be a bad idea as the onboard audio controller wouldn't work [aka. no sound] and any usb devices (external & internal, including the onboard internal card reader device) would not be recognized (and got yellow exclamation marks "!" next to the ati usb controller devices in device manager and plugging any usb flash drive to any usb port would show a popup saying "device not recognized" but those usb flash drives work fine in other pcs). looks like this is one of those few old machines that cannot handle recent Win10 versions but can work fine with Vista & Win7.

Unfortunately, to fix the audio and USB issues you must install proper chipset drivers. A quick look at nVidia's site reveals that there are only Windows XP 32-bit drivers. At least these should work in Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 32-bit. To find the download page from the main nVidia site select Drivers on the white line top right, then go to the Legacy section, nForce 1/2. If you have any issues, you can use Snappy Driver Installer or similar tool to update the drivers for you, but I would prefer the official nVidia drivers to maximize compatibility and performance.

The XP driver won't work for graphics. Use Aida64 or Speccy and post your graphics card adapter. It might be possible to install WDDM drivers for a similar desktop nVidia adapter. For example, the WDDM drivers for nVidia Geforce 6200 can also work with the intergraded nVidia GeForce 6100 if manually forced from the Device Manager. I have done it for some old laptops that the mobile driver didn't work and I forced the driver for the respective desktop model. Post details to assist you.

spapakons said:

Unfortunately, to fix the audio and USB issues you must install proper chipset drivers. A quick look at nVidia's site reveals that there are only Windows XP 32-bit drivers. At least these should work in Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10 32-bit. To find the download page from the main nVidia site select Drivers on the white line top right, then go to the Legacy section, nForce 1/2. If you have any issues, you can use Snappy Driver Installer or similar tool to update the drivers for you, but I would prefer the official nVidia drivers to maximize compatibility and performance.

no sorry spapakons

I have already installed the proper ati chipset drivers on that old emachines t5408 pc (this uses ATI chipset, not nvidia) and the usb devices still would NOT work under the Win10 21H2 32bit OS and also have tried to install the realtek audio drivers on that machine and still can't get any audio.

as I stated in my previous post

looks like this is one of those few old machines that cannot handle recent Win10 versions

you think every old machine out there can run recent or newest Win10 versions, HUH spapakons?
this particular eMachine PC can't do it - even with a CLEAN W10 OS install

I once had such a machine where the Intel USB drivers wouldn't work and could barely detect a mouse. I opened Device Manager and manually replaced any Intel USB driver with the respective generic USB driver. Not working perfectly, but a lot better. Open Device Manager, expand the USB section, then right-click on a device, select Update driver. Then select the second option and again the second option. You should see a list of drivers. Select the generic (standard) one and proceed. Do the same for all remaining USB devices. Restart the computer and see if you have any improvement.

Also, as said in an older post, I have too seen old computers that cannot install the latest Windows 10 build directly. In that case you install an older build or Windows 7 first, update all drivers, and then do an in-place upgrade to the latest Windows 10 build. In the latter make sure to disable updates during installation so your working drivers are not replaced and you reduce the chance of a BSOD. After successfully upgrading to the latest build, you can reinstall/update any driver if needed and block (hide) any driver updates using the Windows Update Show/Hide Tool.

Try3 said:

I'm sorry but that should be In some cases you can install an older build … then do an in-place upgrade to the latest Windows 10 build.

Not all old computers can be updated to the latest build at all despite being able to run older builds. One of mine was in this position [it cannot get beyond Version 1709] and there are reports of similar cases in earlier posts in this thread.

All the best,
Denis

If you had to do it again would you still upgrade the computer to Windows 10 even if it couldn't go beyond build 1709 or would have been better to stay with Windows 7?

If a person has a really old computer that they want to try and install Windows 10 on is better to start with the original build 1507 or is there some later build that is better to start with?