Hello Aptiva mavens! (Hope there are still some around!)

My friend acquired a used Aptiva 2170-22U, which at the time was running
WinXPPro (in 120MB--presumably a memory board added to the original
64MB), which was infested with viruses (AVG found 170) and spyware (boy,
that SurfSidekick is a bugger!). A day or two later it all went dark on
boot, for which I blame (on the basis of some searching) the installed
Symantec GoBack that messes up the MBR. No accompanying CDs, and IBM
customer service and the IBM/Lenovo web sites claim never to have heard
of the model--no manuals, no drivers, no help.

(The sticker tells me that the machine contains an AMD K-6 chip running
at 500 MHz. Some researches have told me that it uses an Acer V75M
mobo--sorry, "system board"--with an SiS 530 chipset. Video and sound
seem on-board.)

Anyway, no probs, I told my friend--the machine will be happier with
Win98 anyway (that's what it came with, according to the sticker on the
front), and I have a copy of OEM Win98 that's not running on any other
machine, so I'll just wipe the disk and install Win98...

Well, that went more-or-less ok, but there were a few problems:

--video limited to 800x600, 16 colours. Now, I know that the adapter
(recognized by Win98 as "Generic VGA") and monitor (recognized by Win98
as an IBM C72) can do better, because I saw at least 1024 x 768 and
16-bit colour under the WinXP installation. So: where can I find a video
driver that will tell Win98 the true capabilities of the adapter?

--System Manager puts up a couple of yellow "!"s under "Unknown
Devices," including "PCI Communications Device" and one other PCI
something that I can't remember. (Q: Anything come standard with the
machine that would need a driver?)

--The IE4.0 that comes with OEM Win98 stumbles and hangs on the
scripting on many web pages, including the MS Update pages, so I can't
even update IE to v6 so I can't run any other updates. I have the
ie6sr1 update stub and plan to run it, so I *expect* that this will
solve this problem. (I'd prefer to download and burn the complete IE
program so I can install IE6 without connecting to the internet, but I
can't find the full install--I know I once saw it...) (Q: right?)

--AVG Anti-Virus and ZoneAlarm Free won't load because they're
missing some DLLs and/or certificates. I figure that loading IE6 should
fix this (Q: right?)

I can probably get a cheap video card, but I imagine that I'd have to
disable the on-board adapter--anyone know what the jumpers for that are?

Any information about this machine and its components gratefully
received. My main concern right now (besides installing IE6, which I
think I can do) is increasing the colour depth of the video adapter.
(For now, my friend's family prefers 800x600, but more options are
always welcome.) Many thanks. --Howard (replace "nospam" in e-mail
address with "cherns")

Hi Howard,

I just reloaded Win98 on my 2153 and had the same IE problems that you
have. I was able to get Microsoft Update to run though. You just have
to keep hitting OK (or whatever it is) to get pass the error. At some
point they will stop. Otherwise, go right to this page and download IE6
Service Pack1:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...DisplayLang=en

That should get you going so that you can update Win98. Do a couple
updates at a time until you have all of them.

Next, install AVG and get it running. ZoneAlarm can be added now or
later. Update both once they are installed.

For the problems in Device Manager, try highlighting them and clicking
remove. Reboot and let the system find the hardware and install again.
If you know what the devices are, go to the manufacturer's web site
and get the latest drivers for it. That would be the best. When Win98
finds the hardware, point it to the drivers that you downloaded. There
may be a modem or NIC card installed and that's what it's picking up.

If you find another video card, you will not have to do anything with
the onboard chip. If I remember correctly, I just put a video card in
my 2176 and everything took off. No messing with jumpers or anything
else. I'm not sure the onboard can handle a larger resolution. I'll
have to look at mine later today. Then again, if the owner just uses
800 x 600, why worry about it. The video problem, to me, should be your
last concern. Get everything else running smooth and go from there.

With Microsoft ending support of Win98 on July 11 this year, you may
want to get all the updates and have them handy in case you need to do
this again. Here is a good site for collecting them and putting them on
a CD: http://www.geekgirls.com/windows_reinstall_98.htm

Lastly, I have the Hardware Maintenance Manual for several Aptiva
models, including the 2170, downloaded. If you would like a copy, I can
email that to you, or burn it to a CD and send it to you. Just email me
at the address above. Just switch nospam with minnesotamike.

I hope some of this helps a little. Let me know how it goes or if you
have any other questions.

Mike

- download IE6SETUP.EXE
- run it using the following command line options

ie6setup.exe /c:"ie6wzd.exe /d /s:""#E"

- it will download the files (without installing) in
the same directory where ie6setup.exe is
- to install, just run ie6setup.exe again (without
the above command line options, of course)

If you can't figure out what devices in the computer
(eg. what modem, NIC, video, sound, etc), maybe
try installing 2000/XP and Windows will have the
drivers built-in. Write it all down, find 98 drivers, and
reinstall.