Upgrading my Pavilion 8750C to Windows 2000 Pro

[Ed Crabtree]

Stupid me.
I Assumed that since I just bought a new Pavilion 8750C this past July it could be upgraded to Win2K easily. Especially since Microsoft lists it as a compatible system.
I tried to upgrade it from crappy Windows 98 (2nd Ed.) which bombs out on me at least twice a week and runs scandisk to further corrupt my system. I got a upgrade message indicating that I needed drivers for the following:

Conexant PCI Modem Enumerator
Conexant Soft56K Data, Fax and PC Modem
Crystal Audio Codec Game Device
HP D525A Pavilion M50 Monitor
Master Riptide PCI Audio Device
Riptide PCI Audio Legacy Resources
Riptide PCI Game Controller
Riptide Virtual Game Port.

Oh, Is that all?
Is this what Microsoft refers to as a compatible system?
So I proceeded since I had downloaded the Conexant Win2K driver from HP.
Wrong move, it doesnt work.
I now have to reinstall windows 98 and deal with the system freezes and blue screens until a good update is released.

Is HP close to fixing this problem?

I think I might just stick with Unix!
Sorry if I seem a little bitter but this is the second Pavilion I have had that is giving me problems.

[Jamie Hughes]

Hi Ed,

Sorry you're having problems. Here's the page that describes the Pavilion support statement regarding Windows 2000.

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/personal_computing/support_doc/bph05537.html

As you see, Windows 2000 is not officially supported by HP on the Pavilion models but the page does offer some tips to get it working. Windows 2000 is more of a corporate OS while 9x and ME are for home users. The Pavilion PCs are geared towards home users.

You can try following the steps in that article and remove some of the drivers that are incompatible, if upgraded drivers don't exist yet. If you would like to speak to someone responsible for Pavilions, they have a forum or you can call them at 208-323-4663. You can access the Pavilion forum by clicking under the "Useful Links" section on the right side of the Microsoft forum. There is a link that says "Visit Customer Care for Pavilion Questions". That will take you to the Pavilion forums.

Best regards,
Jamie Hughes

[T B S]

Ed,

7 out of the 8 in your list belong to the same device. It is the rockwell audio, conexant modem combo device that HP calls the "Chameleon". Here is a Windows 2000 driver for that device:

http://forum1.support.hp.com:88/servlet/CLA_Servlet.Login?sid=t297019835645316634132043208&stage=1

For the monitor, I don't know. Here is a link to download the INF file for Win9x:

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/personal_computing/software/monitorh.exe.html

Maybe you can get it to work. Let us know!

TBS

[T B S]

I forgot to add,

There are two Conexant Win2k drivers on the HP website - one for the standalone modem and one for combo card. I hope you just needed the right one!

[T B S]

Now I feel really stupid, I pasted the wrong link, not the one for the driver.

http://www.hp.com/cposupport/personal_computing/software/camhsf2k.exe.html

Sorry

[Alessio]

I have the exact same problem, even though WIn2k is not suported by HP, whoever reads this post from HP know win2k is 1000 times better that 98, and as some people pointed out, my PC just would not work with 98, I would be working and if I runned 2 or 3 programs at the same time, it would just reset, or blues screen.

I upgrated to win2k this morining, I have been working all day with no problem, except that now I have no cool keys in my keyborad and no sound. I have cable modem so I do not care about DSL or the analog modem, I just want to be able to listen to some tunes while I work, I would have to buy a sound card just for this, but if it comes down to that what options do I have.

I have surfed through HP's sites, I would say about 30 sites, and done research in external serch engines, I got 4 files that claim to do the job, but they all do the same, they say that they detected the hardware, that they are ready to install and then I get an error that says that the intwalation failed, and it closes.

I have searched my hd for error mesages, log files, temp files, somethig, but nothing, no clue what's wrong.

I went to the manufacturers web site, and the guys say that they just sale the thing, they don't support it, well, if they make it, they should suport, it, no?

Sorry this is kind of long, but we come here after we tried everithing, so I guess it is only normal to feel this frustrated.

Who makes this thing, HP or conexant? they just make the chip or they sale the finished borad, they should be forced by law to suport it, now?

Please help

[Alessio]

I got it to work, the Conesant combo card with windows 2000 (win2k for the search engine)
download this file http://www.7th-eclipse.com/ConesantW2K.zip and unzip it to c:temp01

Goto device manager, uninstall the devices that show as nonfunctioning (sound card) then right click on the pc on top, in the device manager still, and hit scan for new hardware, it is going to tell you that it found it, and that is it going to search for a driver, tell it to search in the specified location, and pint it to c:temp01, you know the rest.

Good luck, if you want to email me at alessio@7th-eclipse.com

[Alessio]

I got it to work, the Conesant combo card with windows 2000 (win2k for the search engine)
download this file http://www.7th-eclipse.com/ConesantW2K.zip and unzip it to c:temp01

Goto device manager, uninstall the devices that show as nonfunctioning (sound card) then right click on the pc on top, in the device manager still, and hit scan for new hardware, it is going to tell you that it found it, and that is it going to search for a driver, tell it to search in the specified location, and pint it to c:temp01, you know the rest.

Good luck, if you want to email me at alessio@7th-eclipse.com

[Michael Patrick]

I can certainly sympathize with your experiences. When I bought my Pavilion 8775C the salesman told me it would be no problem upgrading to W2K (I use server rather than pro) and I also checked with MS for compatability. It would be nice if manufacturers (ie. HP) would put any disclaimers as to OS compatability and Support somewhere prominent on the box.
So far I have found Riptide drivers for the audio side of the Conexant modem and have that part working. No joy on the modem side though. I searched until I found the correct drivers for the modem from conexant (no mean feat, their sight is chaotic). I am sure I have the right driver as I interegated the WinME side of my machine rather extensively and got all the appropriate info. Modem queries fine in diagnostics but am unable to connect. Called HP and they danced around as to support and pointed me at Microsoft. If HP doesn't want to support W2K then why give me drivers for it on the CDs I got with the system. Anyway, HP Support was a somewhat joyless experience. Will try 7th-eclipse drivers next in the continuing saerch for something that works. Kinda makes me feel like I should have bought a DELL!

[M_6]

Computers often have problems that continue from model to model. These are the problems that cost companies thousands or millions in tech support and basic confusion. For example the IBM NetVista has USB issues and I am willing to bet these weird glitches will continue into future models of the NetVista. The IBM ThinkPad had issues with certain PCMCIA modem/LAN cards for many MANY models. I'd say I saw the problem continue for at least three years! The HP Pavilions had issues with friggin modems and Windows 2000. This will probably plague the Pavilion forever. Aside from that... getting to specifics... I hate my Pavilion 8756C. Video card/modem/USB Intellimouse Explorer problems. Big time. Now even when I put on the prinstalled WinME I still have weird stuff happen. Crashes, lags, mysterious things. Sometimes the damn thing refuses to boot - before the OS even loads... a BIOS error. I unplug my USB mouse and plug in a PS/2 mouse and the thing is happy again. Go figure. My Intellimouse works fine on other computers, but lags, freezes or becomes unresponsive on this 8756C - in fresh installations of WinME and Win2000 with all MS updates done. The modem is another nightmare. Conexant/Lucent should have coordinated better with MS for Win2k drivers. Lucent deserves to be shot. HP, too. HP is undergoing big time restructuring. Some chick just took control of the company and restructured the whole company. She's doing a great job, but the transitional period was super crappy! As you can see... HP is just now starting to reap the benefits of it's redesigning etc. They will stabilize.