Mostly good news, W2K laptop out in the cold: anyone connected W2K via ethernet?

windbag · 14-05-2011, 07:17

Well, the installers were able to hook me up in an hour, which was pretty good.
They didn't help with the WiFi connections to the main PC/laptops, though, which I spent much of the next day at.

The good news, is that once I'd sorted out the good WiFi adapters:

Better than the 2.6 by wires...

I've got the XP laptops going with similar results (both are Compaq Evo N600c without WiFi, so using a USB adapter),
BUT:
When I installed an identical USB WiFi adapter on my redoubtable W2K laptop (a third Compaq Evo N600c) it gave a very weird error:
''the procedure entry point wtsquery token could not be located in the dynamic lnk library WTSAPI32.DLL.''
Googling that implied I might need a W2K update.
I tried via the other PCs, but it needs something vague beyond the SP4 I have (if you're interested it's at here and beyond).
So, I thought I'd connect directly via ethernet, and let Microsoft decide what version of the "final W2K rollup" might be appropriate.

But I can't fathom how to do it.
I got the XP Compaqs to go via ethernet OK on a previous router, but the furthest I can get with the W2k gets me a connection that says I'm connected, but not to the internet.

All that is a preamble to the question:

Anyone know how to make a W2k PC see the internet using ethernet to the 10M Virgin router?
Any help appreciated.

Kymmy · 14-05-2011, 07:35

Just reinstalled the old workshop toughbook that's on W2K and that's working fine on a RA73 wifi dongle and also a PCMCIA 10/100NIC..

Sounds more than likely it's a driver issue

windbag · 14-05-2011, 08:58

Possibly, Kymmy.
But that doesn't point me how to connect the W2K laptop via ethernet, to download any better ones (apart from via another PC, which has other issues).

14-05-2011, 09:08

is there not a redist update pack for win2k you can download?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922667 sp5 is available here

http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Window...U_i386_zip.exe got this address by requesting hotfix on the site and they sent this by email. Might not be full update though and may still need net which of course wont help.

If not are all your USB dongles the same?

dave6x · 14-05-2011, 09:12

Just a thought.

USB support in Win2K is not brilliant, also your old lappy probably only supports USB 1.1. Does the USB adaptor require USB 2? If it does maybe it is not backwards compatible?

My very elderly Toshiba lappy dual boots Win2KPro and Xubuntu but I use a PCMCIA card for wireless internet, still works OK. Card cost me about Â£6 on Ebay several years ago!

Kymmy · 14-05-2011, 09:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by windbag

Possibly, Kymmy.
But that doesn't point me how to connect the W2K laptop via ethernet, to download any better ones (apart from via another PC, which has other issues).

Just use a USB storage device.. Last time I was desperate to download the files but didn't have a dongle on me I just used the storage space on an old digital camera to transfer from a working PC to the laptop the required drivers..

windbag · 15-05-2011, 11:56

Thanks, Zing & Kymmy.

I'm a little hesitant applying the "sp5" (which seems to be a collection of hotfixes, not a real sp) for two reasons:
1) it keeps warning you not to apply them unless you have "that specific problem", and the language for most of the problems is pretty opaque, and that error isn't among them
2) the lack of "undo" if it goes horribly wrong. Yes, I know I can back up the system, but the consequences of the backup not restoring are too big for this laptop (especially feeding everything through existing USB1.1 ports).

Thanks for the hotfix rollup link, though.
I have now got that ready on a USB stick, but I'd already got another "version", and it's not clear which version I should throw at it. I was hoping that being able to connect directly via ethernet would enable the Windows system interrogation software to help specify it, but no-one's giving advice with how on earth to do that.

Thanks also, dave6x.

You've got a good point; there are two differences on the old laptop, it is W2k AND only has USB1.1 ports. The others have USB2 PCMCIA cards, and the WiFi adapter instructions do say "plug into a USB2 port". I was hoping that a USB 1 would do (I thought USB2 stuff was supposed to be backwards compatible, albeit at slow speeds) - so it COULD be that.

So, I'll start by getting a PCMCIA USB card for the W2k and see if hat sorts the problem - if it works, it would also upgrade connection speed, which was rather the point of getting Virgin broadband!

I'll come back here when I've got that installed.

Still like to know how to get a direct ethernet connection into the router on the W2k, though.

zekeisaszekedoes · 16-05-2011, 12:20

Hmmm, sounds like a lot of effort. Any particular reason you're not giving up and installing XP?

windbag · 17-05-2011, 11:19

Easier (and cheaper) installing USB2 PCMCIA card (and useful no matter what) than installing XP.

So trying that first.

craigj2k12 · 17-05-2011, 11:51

the laptop isnt usb2 so that would be pretty hard

dave6x · 17-05-2011, 17:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by zekeisaszekedoes

Hmmm, sounds like a lot of effort. Any particular reason you're not giving up and installing XP?

Maybe Win2K does everything he needs to do efficiently on elderly hardware!

Win2k is the last mainstream OS produced by M$ that is relatively free of bloatware therefore it runs efficiently on elderly PCs with limited resources. My spare lappy is a very elderly Tosh that I use for playing with small Linux distros, and that struggles with XP but runs a treat under Win2KPro.

I'm also using an old desktop running Win2KPro as a MIDI slave linked to a digital piano, does everything I need it to do so no need to "upgrade"!

windbag · 17-05-2011, 19:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigj2k11

the laptop isnt usb2 so that would be pretty hard

Not sure if this was a response to my post or by zekeisaszekedoes.

If to mine, no it's dead easy to put in a USB2 PCMCIA card - I've already put one in two others, for only a few quid each. Worth it anyway to speed up memory stick read/writes.

And, yes, W2k runs fine with the existing onboard W2k office, so unless I need to upgrade, I'll not tinker.

craigj2k12 · 17-05-2011, 19:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by windbag

Not sure if this was a response to my post or by zekeisaszekedoes.

If to mine, no it's dead easy to put in a USB2 PCMCIA card - I've already put one in two others, for only a few quid each. Worth it anyway to speed up memory stick read/writes.

And, yes, W2k runs fine with the existing onboard W2k office, so unless I need to upgrade, I'll not tinker.

it was a reply to you, but i misread your post, so it was irrelevant anyway

zekeisaszekedoes · 18-05-2011, 15:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave6x

Maybe Win2K does everything he needs to do efficiently on elderly hardware!

Win2k is the last mainstream OS produced by M$ that is relatively free of bloatware therefore it runs efficiently on elderly PCs with limited resources. My spare lappy is a very elderly Tosh that I use for playing with small Linux distros, and that struggles with XP but runs a treat under Win2KPro.

I'm also using an old desktop running Win2KPro as a MIDI slave linked to a digital piano, does everything I need it to do so no need to "upgrade"!

I guess, but it's not terribly difficult to open services.msc and gpedit.msc then turn off a bunch of pointless crap you don't need. It's the reason my six year old laptop runs fully updated Win7 at speeds comparable to XP even before turning off the few Aero effects I like (taskbar thumbnails, win-tab switching). I figure if he's desperate to get the hardware going the odds of getting XP drivers are higher and could save hours of 2K based frustration.