Category Archives: OEM

Sony VAIO VPCEC2SOE

A high-end multimedia laptop released in 2010, featuring a Core i5 processor, 6-8GB of RAM, a built in Blu-Ray player and a Radeon HD 5450 graphics processor.

The laptop comes with Windows 7 Home Premium with some Sony software included. When I got the laptop it had a fresh install with Windows 10, but the recovery partition was broken on this model as it could not complete a restore. And even worse the laptop shipped with a 5400rpm hard drive which was slow after using SSD’s for a few years. Recovering the install was another issue, since the only recovery disc I could find online was intended for a similar model, but the recovery utility still would not co-operate due to the model number mismatch, despite the laptops having similar specifications.

A work around was to extract the recovery image and use a utility to extract the files. They are actually Windows Installer files but in a container format (.mod) which is run during the Sony restore utility. By using this method we can install the Sony itilities and drivers, making this close to an actual install. For installing Windows 7, I used a standard OEM Home Premium found online and activated it using the product key found underneath the notebook itself.

Here’s the recovery image I used/extracted

Sony VAIO Recovery Patcher – A bit time consuming to run, I found it easier to extract the mod files and run them as Windows insallers (double click to run). Some of these are redundant since they are designed for specific regions, and some just install registry keys. For more information, see the support page

VAIO Control Center

This acts as a control panel that is customised for Sony’s specific functions, here you can change settings relating to power management, Network and display options. It’s a more simplified interface of the Windows control panel.

It will also display the heath of your battery (this one happens to be a GreenCell battery I got off Amazon, which shows as healthy yet struggled to hold a charge when disconnected from the AC adaptor.

There is also a battery care function that limits the charging to 80%, which is supposed to extend the life of the battery.

VAIO Media plus

Sony’s Media Centre that lets you view photo’s video and music that is stored on your notebook in a full screen view. Possibly intended for use when you connected your VAIO to your HD TV.

There is the SenseME feature which analyses and organises your music into different modes/playlists, depending on how energetic or smoothing the song is.

VAIO Gate

This acts as a shortcut launcher that appears at the top of the screen, and has shortcuts to most preinstalled utilities. You can also pin applications here for pick access, similar to the Mac OS X dock or the Windows Quick Launch that was deprecated in Windows 7.

Whilst intended to be useful, its placement can be annoying, by default if you place your mouse cursor anywhere near the top of the screen it will poppet, making it difficult to use iof you’re using a browser such aa Google Chrome, or any browser that places it’s tab bar at the top of the screen, which is all of them.

At the time this was released, this design was uncommon as Firefox and Internet Explorer placing their tab bars near the bottom of the toolbar. Just above the web page itself with the applications title bear residing at the top.

PlayStation Tools

If you owned a PS3 gaming system at the time of this laptop, Sony bundled two useful utilities to use with your PS Triple.

Remote Play

Sony bundled two utilities to allow fours with the PlayStation3, which was their current console when this computer was released. Remote Play will let you control and stream your PS3 console to your laptop.

Setting it up requires pairing your PS3 to your computer by entering a code, you can then enabled and allow the PS3 to functional a WiFI hotspot to allow your remote device to turn the PS3 on. This is only for remote play use, you cannot share your internet connection this way.

The performance leaves a lot to be desired, even when both devices are connected via ethernet, the performance is just too poor with the lag reaching to around 3-5 seconds delay to respond to a button press. This gradually gets worse as you use it.

Also to play games, the PS3 game itself must support remote play since it required a certain amount of system RAM to be reserved, along with a spare SPU to encode the video. The amount of titles supported is very small, too much that I don’t have access to a game that is on the list.

PS1 games are supposed to work and a few of the digital titles do work, but you could just download an PSX emulator and play it that way instead, then you woudnt have to deal with the poor latency.

Overall it’s a waste of effort. I remember this working much better with the PSP instead.

Remote Keyboard

The other utility is the remote keyboard, which lets you pair the PS3 via Bluetooth to allow your VAIO’s keyboard and trackpad to functional it it were connected to the PS3. The setup will guide you on how to pair both devices and once enabled, you can fully control the XMB. This does prevent you from using the laptop whilst connected to the PS3, requiring you to disconnect it from the PS3 XMB, or by pressing Ctrl + Alt+ Backspace on the keyboard.

It useful but niche, how often are you going to be using this in games? Maybe for text entry for games that require it, but many games just don’t need this.

There are a few select titles that did support the keyboard function for gameplay, Unreal Tournament 3 was one such title (the PS2 port of Unreal Tournament also supports this) allowing me to enter a match and play using the PC traditional WASD controls.

There are issues when sending a keystroke and moving the mouse at the same time, making aiming jerky. You can also send only one keystroke at a time, making dodging or jumping difficult. Really you’re best of getting a cheap Bluetooth keyboard and mouse and just pair it directly top the PS3. Maybe at the time these were much more expensive which made it a nice addition, but I just can’t see this being useful.

The only other use for it would be to browse the PS3’s web browser, which again is pointless since the laptop’s browser will be a much better experience.

Upgrade Options

This is one of the few laptops that supports upto two internal SATA drives through the use of an aftermarket adapter which allows you to connect two SATA drives which would have been ideal to add an SSD as a extra SATA drive. These are very difficult to find now, so I had to replace the internal HDD with the SSD instead and leave the second bay empty.

Still the laptop also features an eSATA connector which you can use to attach an external eSATA hard drive or optical drive. eSATA hard drive enclosure’s are difficult to find, but the Dell external optical drives are easily available for eBay.

There is also an ExpressCard connector, which allows for an expansion card to be inserted. A USB 3.0 card can be inserted, or alternatively a Firewire 800 card can be installed instead. The power supply is limited over Expresscard, so for high power devices you will need a power adaptor that supplied an additional 5V or a powered USB 3.0 hub.

Gateway Restore CD 7.7

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A look at a typical restore CD provided by Gateway systems of the era. Unlike recovery discs provided by other OEM’s, Gateway requires you to have the Windows 98, or 95 install disc. This was also bundled with the system.

The latest release of 86Box (Version 4.1.1) has added a load of Gateway systems for us to look at, here I am using the Lucas motherboard which is a modified MSI MS-5185

The recovery disc is bootable and can initialize a blank hard drive using the built in FDISK tool. When booted, you are given the option to use either a Windows 98 or 95 install CD. No mention of Windows NT, which might have been out of the scope of Gateway since they commonly shipped PC’s for the home consumer market.

Selecting an CD-ROM driver, you have a list of IDE drives to choose from which would have been the drives that Gateway had actually shipped from the factory, or you can select a generic IDE driver.

Selecting the install option, which will reboot and will prompt you to reboot your PC and will then prompt you to insert the Windows install disk. This actually boots from the HDD and will go through an automated Windows install. You don’t need to navigate or answer any questions for the installer.

Once completed, the system will reboot and will boot into Windows. Here you will go through the regular OOBE where you will need to provide your name, and the Windows OEM serial key.

Were not done yet, since additional software provided by Gateway will need to be installed. This is done automatically and the Windows will reboot several times here.

DirectX6 is automatically installed, of which 5.1 came with Windows 98.

Microsoft IntelliPoint is also installed, as Gateway typically bundled Microsoft Mice with their systems.

McAffee VirusScan also comes included.

The Chips Technology driver also starts to install here, since I’m using the B69000 video card. This also indicates drivers are also installed if supported hardware can be found.

The keyboard utility in the Windows Control Panel

IntelliPoint comes with additional features for the mouse. You don’t actually need as Microsoft Mouse to use most of these features, and some like the scroll wheel will work on all models of mice.

And a look at the system properties, strangely there is no OEM logo or information. Just the Registered To fields are prepopulated.

Restore CD – Archive.org

Acer 1997 Install

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A non-model specific restore/OEM Install, this looks like it was intended to be used across various models of Acer’s Aspire line, as it prompts for a reference number during recovery. Aspire is Acer’s brand for desktop and laptop computers for domestic users, similar to Dell’s Dimension or IBM’s Aptiva line of systems.

The default desktop, post recovery

Running the recovery program, interesting menu layout you see here which gives you options to restore the drive, perform a few diagnostics or to go straght to the MS-DOS Prompt.

Following through with a full recovery, which will initalise the hard drive

The Acer BIOS, here we are using the V35 motherboard that is emulated in 86Box.

The boot screen, with Acer branding. Here we have Windows 95B, with the USB supplement already installed.

It’s a shame than the bootscreen gets overwritten when installing the 95 Plus! pack. If you wish to preserve it, copy the LOGO.SYS file on the root of your C: drive before installing the Plus! Pack.

Uh-Oh, not sure what happened here but a quick reboot fixed it. My guess is that setup reinstalled or updated the IDE drivers, and lost access to the CD drive as a result. Acer possibly used various different IDE controllers or chipsets across their motherboard, and this was their way of ensuring the correct drivers were installed for that specific chipset.

Thankfully after a reboot we were able to proceed with the setup and registration wizard

Installing graphics drivers for the Matrox graphics card, which 86Box now supports.

Running the registration utility

The Acer Software Librarian which is used to install the software that shipped with your machine. You need to enter an identifier provided so the software knows which software and drivers to install for the correct model

Some of the software requires additional CD’s to install from

The installers are automated, but can go AWOL if the installer throws up a message that wasn’t expected. This will result in the message informing that the install script failed and will give you the famous Abort, Retry or Fail ~~Ignore~~. Choosing the retry option to restart the installer. I believe the install script tries to mimic the user’s keypresses, during this it’s best not to touch the keyboard or mouse whilst the script is running.

ACE Acer Computer Explorer provide a child friendly interface, like Packard Bell Navigator. There isn’t any software installed that takes advantage of this so we can’t fully demonstrate it.

Acer Service Center which providers support information and details about your computer. I kinda dig the aesthetic with the dithered stock photograph of a typical 90s office, almost like an episode of Friends.

The default screensaver which shows a collage of aspiring photographs (Acer Aspire, geddit?)

Concentric Network Communications, appears to be an internet provided for SME businesses, it’s since been absorbed into Verizon, according to the XO Communications wiki page.

The Quicken, this popped up once I install the sound drivers

Another look at the desktop with the System Properties

The included wallpapers, which are small Acer logo’s which are intended to be tiled

Download link if you’re interested in trying this yourself. I’ve not tested it on any other motherboard in 86Box apart from the Acer V35, so I’m not sure if it performs a hardware check or if it just relies on the code you enter being correct to perform the restore.

Source – Internet Archive

IBM Aptiva 2159S

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The default desktop post install, some of the desktop icons are animated, a first that i‘ve seen

If you move your mouse cursor over some of the desktop icons, a bubble will show up that gives information on what that icon does.

This appears to be part of the Aptiva Desktop customization software, which was developed by Moon Valley Software for IBM. There is an icon in the tray area that you can click to open various options, and you can turn off the animations if you find the desktop too ‘busy’

Voyeta AudioStation with some IBM branding, this was used to manage the volume mixer controls and to play CD’s MIDI open WAV files within one place, if you didn’t wish to use the built in Windows utilities. Although were not using the same sound card, the software will still work with the emulated soundcard.

The Aptiva installer that lets you quickly install software that came with your Aptiva computer but was shipped on a separate disk. Kind of a good feature since many OEM’s installs have been criticized in the past for shipping with bloatware, though it was understandable in the 90s since the internet wasn’t very common which made downloading and installing software difficult.

Some of the existing software that comes included

There’s also an update connector to keep IBM software up to date

Aptiva Helper that serves as a guide to using the computers features

IBM AntiVirus comes included, and is covered in the Helper application

It also explains how disk fragmentation works and how/when to run the defragmenter utility.

Some misc screenshots

SmartSound Mastro – Lets you create sound effect which sound like something off a 90’s shopping infomercial. Ideally this might have been used in backgrounds for presentations.

Editing the music in more details, here you can choose the different segments and effects

The Kid’s room (7th Level), their version of Microsoft BOB and Packard Bell’s CyberTrio. This is fully animated with voice acting, though they have a tendency to ramble on.

Intended for use by children, it lets them access their Windows programs without using the Windows 95 interface which helps prevent them changing any settings. By default the Windows game come pinned by default (Solitaire, Minesweeper and Hearts) which don’t strike me as games that kids would enjoy. Possibly any additional software that IBM provide who automatically be added. Also it takes around 15 second to launch a program

The calendar, you can save reminders that can be viewed by anyone

Create Writer comes bundled with the install, which was originally part of the Microsoft Kids Plus Pack

A memory game where you have to remember the sequence the light flash up in.

A game of tic tac toe

Another game that should look familiar, yo have to match two of the same to clear the board, which will reveal the background picture.

Setting an alarm, where you can also leave a message. I’m curious if this goes off whilst the computer is running but the program isnt. Maybe there is a background task.

To exit out, simply click on the red STOP sign and you will be returned back to the desktop.

A look at the Logitech MouseWare software that comes included as a Control Panel applet

Windows 98 Upgrade

So that’s pretty much it, you can tell this was designed to be a family PC but the type of software that comes included with the install, as IBM’s Aptiva line was destined for home use and many OEM’s were bundling education software to make their home PC’s more appealing for all members of the family.

The OS post Windows 98 upgrade, a lot of the IBM stuff still remains like the Aptiva desktop.

External Links

Image Source (Archive.org)

Panasonic TOUGHBOOK CF-53

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Panasonic is another Japanese brand that’s produced notebook computers, Panasonic largely specialise in rugged laptops, hence the name Toughbook. They are mostly used in field engineering which can be rough environments for laptops. They feature reinforced exteriors, spill-resistant keyboards, and enhanced shock absorption to withstand rough handling.

The default Windows 7 desktop, with a custom theme from Panasonic applied. Just a solid white wallpaper.

A view of the system info with details of contacting support.

A look at the reference manual that provides instructions on how to use various features the laptop, including how to make use of the removable drive bays. These can be swapped out for a different device or drive, similar to some models of Dell’s Latitude series.

Dual Express card slots, you don’t see these on laptops now. Typically you can add addition wires, USB 3 expansion cards, 3/4G modems or just plain storage devices through these.

The notebook comes with WinDVD playback software included, but refuses to launch as it performs a BIOS check on startup.

Toshiba Bluetooth Stack: Instead of using the standard Windows 7 Bluetooth utility, it appears to have its own installed. I’ve seen this a few times on Toshiba and Dell laptops so It appears to be common among OEM’s, some users also prefer it over the Windows default stack.

Roxio Creator comes bundled with the laptop, Roxio Creator is a software suite designed for multimedia creation, editing, and management. It allows users to create, edit, convert, and burn CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs, as well as manage digital media files.
Audio Cd’s can be ripped or burnt to a disc, if you don’t wish to use Windows Media Player. Data disc images can be managed also, supported formats are iso, go and udi.

It’s a very barebones installation with only a handful of utilities included, as these notebooks were designed to be used in a corporate environment who would install the appropriate software.

Alienware M7700

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Browsing a couple of preinstalled VMWare OEM images and found an Alienware Windows XP install, I was curious to see what an XP install would have looked like from Alienware since this would have been before the Dell acquision. Since this is a preinstalled VMWare images all I had to do was extract and import it into VmWare Fusion.

Product Information

A successful boot up, surprisingly we have not triggered the Windows XP activation. The install appears to be a late generation XP install as wee have Service Pack 3 and DirectX 9c included.

A look at the My PC Information file on the desktop, this contains customer name and account information that I’ve blanked out to stop any possible privacy issues. This goes though the configuration of the laptop as it left the production, and shows the results of the various different benchmarks

125fps in Doom 3, that’s good for a laptop from this era. It appears this laptop is based off the Clevo D900T design, who are a common OEM for laptops for uncommon brands like Medion, Advent, Time/Tiny and RM (Research Machines). Acer/Samsung also did this and are such examples of such OEM’S that sell hardware designed to be rebranded.

Dual optical drives? That’s very rare for laptops in 2006. Makes you wonder how often both were utilised.

For a lot of PC’s of this era, it was common to see dual optical drives since one would be the DVD-ROM drive and the second being a CD-RW drive. DVD-R drives that could also write to CD existed for laptops at this point, so I’m unsure why they didn’t go for that approach instead, unless you wanted to burn a CD whilst you watched a DVD movie.

A look at the different checks that Alienware go through before the system is shipped, I wonder if they still do this when Dell took over? (Maybe, since there is no sign of McAfee, or any antivirus for that matter)

CyberLink PowerDVD – Designed for the playback of DVDs but also various video files. Also features a screen-capture feature to save screencaps of content.

Alternatively you could use Windows Media Player 10 instead which came bundled with Windows.

Nero also comes included to copy and burn CD and DVD’s, there is a few components included for multimedia playback.

Nero later developed into full media center software to compete with Windows Xp Media Center Edition.

This can also function as a DLNA media server, to share content with the consoles and set top boxes of the era. This actually still works with modern stuff like smart speakers or smart TV’s. Useful since Windows XP did not have support for DLNA media sharing unless you installed the Windows Media Player 11 Update.

Lastly, A look at the system properties box with the Alienware branding.

Overall it’s a clean install with a few multimedia software packages included. I’m surprised about the lack of game demos since this was designed as a gaming laptop, a few demo’s of games of the era would have been a good way to demo the graphics capabilities of the notebook.

Download – Works in VMWare Player or Fusion

Sharp AV18P

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A first time look at a Sharp OEM install. Sharp was a manufacturer of compact laptops that were popular in Japan, but also made a few for the western market. They did have some sort of a retail presence in the UK as you could find their laptops in stores like Curry’s, but they were always sub-notebooks. Like Fujitsu and NEC, Sharp also made computers for the 8/16bit home computer market in Japan.

Product Information

The recovery utility which seems to want us to split the disk into two partitions. This was common across some OEM’s with the belief that storing user data on the second partition would help with fragmentation whilst leaving the operating system and program files on the main partition. Though your document folder would still be mapped to the main partition also.

Going through the OOBE, theres no logo in the top right corner as we’ve seen with other OEM installs

The desktop, with a custom wallpaper. Resolution is a little but understandable considering this is a netbook class of computer

Windows Help & Support with a touch of Sharp

Network Setup Utility, each icon represents a network settings or profile. It looks a little blank as it was intended for use with the notebooks internal WiFi card.

Here is what it’s supposed to look like. The different icons represent the types of network you can connect to and the profiles can represent the different sharing settings. This isn’t too different to what modern Windows does when it asks you to set either a Home, Work or Public connection which affect the file sharing ability, since you might not want to enable Public file sharing when you’re connected to a public hotspot

Drag’n Drop CD+DVD – disc burning application. This places a sidebar to the bottom right of the screen where you can drag files to be copied to a CD.

This appears to have been developed by Sonic Solutions who also went to develop RecordNow! Seen on other OEM installs.

Here you can rip an audio CD, or burn existing files to disc. It a bit clunky to operate and the UI looks like something you would see out of a Hollywood TV, it’s rare to see a program refer to itself as a window.

And Norton Antivirus 2003 comers included

Lastly we have InterVideo WinDVD4 which serves as the default DDVD player. Amazing this worked within the virtual machine so this must provide some sort of software MPEG2 recorder. At least I thought it worked, it decoded the first frame and was then froze on that frame. The audio was still playing however and when I eventually closed, a quick shot of the last frame came up before closing the program.

Recovery Media Download – From Archive.org, This version is unlocked to function on any machine

Fujitsu LifeBook S6120

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A look at the Fujitsu LifeBook S6120 Windows install, running in a Parallels Virtual machine. Fujitsu are a well known brand in Japan for Personal Computers and are no stranger in the West either, having enterprise contracts with various corporations and governments for IT solutions. Fujitsu also produced FM Townes Marty range of computers that were popular with the Japanese market and used x86 processors.

Starting the recovery process. At first i thought the graphics were corrupted, probably not a good idea to use this effect for recovery software

We need to reset the HDDcontroller settings in the Windows registry, to do this we need Hiren’s boot cd. Start Mini windows XP and then click on Hiren’s Menu and select Fix HDD controller form the Registry menu. If you’re stuck at this point, refer to the two screens above which will point you in the right direction

Once the console comes up, select option 2 and then enter the install directory of the Windows folder, which will be C:\Windows.

If unsure, Alt Tab out and check in my Computer to see which drive letter its mounted as

When everything is correct, you can reboot into the install

The OOBE with the Fujitsu Logo

And the desktop, with a custom Fujitsu wallpaper. A few others come included that have the Fujitsu infinite logo, which reminds me of that hidden Sonic CD screen (fun is infinite)

Now lets take a look at some of the software

Zinio Reader, appears to be a magazine reader of sorts. Kind of like Adobe Reader but has a few documents on there already which look to be magazines.

Unfortunately whilst I can open them, trying to turn the page causes the VM to freak out and suspend with a graphics error. I’m guessing the program is trying to do something that the virtual GPU does not like. This happens quite friendly and you can see a bunch of blue lines appear when it happens.

Included magazines appear to be from BuisnessWeek, Harvard Business Review, Sporting News and PC Magazine. This service is actually still going, and you can still purchase magazines from there, although this version of the client is long obsolete.

There’s also NewsStand reader, which serves the same purpose

Netscape version 7 comes included, with some Fujitsu branding

Norton AntiVirus 2003 is the security software included here. This only includes the antivirus, not the internet security suite. I couldn’t get this to update unlike the Norton Internet Security that was seen in the VAIO RG620

Veritas RecordNow – I’m sure this was originally made by Sonic (Sonic RecordNow!) or they might have acquired off them. Either way this is the software used to burn CD and DVD’s containing either data or music.

A CD player application comes invoiced that can play audio compact discs. You might think why does this exist when you have Windows Media Player installed but this is a dedicated CD pLayer application and have a very compact interface, ideal if you just want to listen to CD’s without the bloat of Windows Media Player. This only plays from the primary CD player, so connecting a USB CD drive didn’t work at first until I 69’d the drive letters in disk management so that the USB drive was the D:\ drive.

It’s a nice program to listen to music to whilst you work, and you can possibly control the playback via the media keys on the laptop itself.

There is also a security panel application, but this does not load. Instead we are treated to this error message. Chances are its BIOS locked to Fujitsu laptops.

Microsoft Works comes included here which serves as a basic productivity suite. Im surprised this here as this class of laptops would have been used in an office environment where Microsoft Office would have been used instead.

Other software that comes with, but not already installed is Microsoft Reader and Windows Journal Viewer. This can be installed by clicking on the Third Party Software icon on the desktop which opens the folder where the installers are located

A look at the OEM branding in the system properties

Inserting the second CD-ROM starts the easy instillation which is used to install additional software. So far everything appears to be installed already from the recovery image, though this might be used to install supplementary software the retailer might have included as part of a bundle.

If you’re wondering what the Click Me! link in the start menu does, it displays this message and then disappears, along with the shortcut itself. Probably self terminates if it detects it’s not on a legit Fujitsu machine

Sony VAIO PCV-RX360

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Another day another VAIO. This one is A Windows ME desktop PC orientated with video and multimedia features. Whilst eMachines, HP and Compaq were after the low end market with internet ready PCs, Sony hung out in the multimedia sector with their machines being built out of box for photo and video editing with its bundled software and iLink support for DV cameras.

The VAIO desktop with a cool blue background

Some remaining software that needs to be installed

The VAIO support agent which features a quick fix wizard to diagnose problems with your installed applications. Not exactly sure what this does but it might undo any changes made to applications.

Issues with PictureGear already?

Looks like a registry setting has changed. My guess is to not mess with it unless there’s an actual issue with the software.

The VAIO tour which is also set as the default screensaver. This is an advertisement of the computer itself and its features and would have been used in a shop setting.

Sony Screenblast take you to a website, sadly It wasn’t archived well. According to a few older articles it was a video editing and music creation software you could purchase for editing.

Further Information

ImageStation – Sony’s solution for printing images online, like HP’s Snapfish. Photo printers were still expensive at the time.

RealProducer – capture digital video or still images from a capture device

Adaptec EasyCD creator 4 – As Windows ME did not provide support for CD burning from within explore, you needed dedicated software to do that instead. This kind of system would have come with a CD-RW drive, along with a DVD-ROM drive installed as the secondary drive. You also have an assistant in the style of the Microsoft Office assistants, to guide you through the burning process.

Adobe PhotoDeluxe – An entry level photo editing software for manipulating photographs and can be used to make greeting cards. It has an easy-to-use interface, making it accessible to users who were not necessarily experienced in graphic design or image editing. Basic image editing tools provided were as cropping, resizing, rotating, adjusting brightness and contrast, and applying various filters and effects.

DVgate Motion, MediaBar, MovieShaker, PictureGear and VisualFlow are other bits of software included that only runs on a Sony VAIO system, due to the BIOS check.

The system does come with Tomb Raider Chronicles preinstalled. Not the best Tomb Raider but does serve as a good demo of what the graphics hardware can do.

McAfee security comes as standard

Trying to download new updated virus definitions, McAfee wants address and location details just to update.

Worth a try, but the update server is long gone

Recovery Download – Archive.org

Compaq Presario 5222

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To restore the image, you need to manually select the recovery image from the explorer window, select the FACTORY.PQI from the Q drive (That’s the CD drive mapped to Q)

Password is ZZZHIND

The program can be quite unresponsive, the only thing you can do is wait until it loads.

After recovery has completed, the system will reboot into the Setup screen here you will need to enter the OEM serial key and registration details as with your typical Windows 98 setup.

Windows starts to detect the new hardware and we get a BSOD from the Aureal driver. This ends up crashing the entire PC. Rebooting will take us back into the driver wizard but we still get blue screens due to the sound driver

Trying to remove the old driver by booting into safe mode and uninstalling it from there, this mostly worked but then encountered a hard crash with the below:

Not sure if this is considered a fix but I ended top removed the entry from the system.ini file and that seemed to stop the crashing. Not sure what this does but hey, as long as it works

Don’t know what this thing that keeps crashing, a quick search revels some Yamaha sound driver

On the subject of sound, the VmWare sound drivers will fail to install since they expect 98SE, and this is the first edition of 98. There were further problems with installing the standard Creative driers since these VM’s use a fucked up PCI/IRQ steering which the drivers cannot handle. The solution was to edit the VMX file to remove the PCI bridges, and to manually add the legacy sound card.

Following this archived guide is what worked for me:

https://web.archive.org/web/20200808203541/https://www.howson.pro/windows-98-vmware-fusion-sound-fix/

What’s annoying is most of the online literature assumes Windows 98 is 98Se which isn’t the case for this version, so a lot of the solutions will not work. I suppose you could always upgrade it to Windows 98SE, but that’s too easy isn’t it?

Don’t forget to uninstall the Yamaha and Aureal drivers, they will cause issues with the Creative sound card. You can easily do this form the Add/Remote programs applet from the control panel

Eventually we get the system into usable state

The main desktop, its defiantly an Internet PC which means a low end Celeron/Cyrix system with a 56K modem and internet orientated software.

Compaq Carbon Copy – A remote support software. In the event you experience technical problems, you can contact Compaq who would then be able to connect to your PC and provide remote support. Looking in the software you can also use this over a LAN with other computers that have this software installed. You can also use this to transfer files and voice chat to the other user, kind of amazing pulling that off on a dial up connection.

Netscape Communication also makes an appearance, this appears to be a customised Compaq version that has additional bookmarks added by Compaq. The Quicken 99 is included along with Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 99, this seems to be very common with OEM systems. Encarta was like our Wikipedia of the 90s, only it wasn’t publicly editable since all the data was held on the CD-ROM.

This version of Netscape also comes with support for the Cosmo VMRL plugin which allows the browser to display 3D models and graphics within the browser.

Compaq QuickRestore which is a utility to restore your system back to factory defaults, and to create boot disks. This interface is very 90s, even with the spinning Q logo.

Intel Video Phone, to make visual phone calls. This software typically came with Intel branded webcams. Now I’m not sure if both users had to be running the same software or if it was comparable with other video phone software like VDOPhone, I believe there was a standard (H.263) butI’m not sure how well adopted or supported this was. The help file does reference calling recipients with other software so it might have been compatible in that regard.

You can also make traditional phone calls, though not when your PC was connected to the internet.

I don’t believe this would have worked with 3G phone when they arrived, as they would have used the 3GP standard.

Compaq’s easy access utility lets you adjust the soft keys that are featured on the Compaq keyboard. You can configure this to point to a specific website or program. By default this would have launched your homepage or opened your default email client.

There is also a tray icon with a menu that can be brought up by right clicking on it. This appears to emulate the soft keys on the keyboard.

The is an onscreen display that appears when you adjust the volume. This can be adjusted or disabled altogether and is similar to the OSD of a regular TV of the time.

And that’s it, there is additional software like the Yamaha and Aureal sound programs, but these won’t function without the actual hardware being present.