Finally got one, can not connect to WIN98. (again).

do you have a friend or relative that you could load Opera and sync contacts and agenda, load software etc.

Borrow their pc for a few hours!

Once you've done that you shouldn't need to connect to your pc too often, except for backups every so often.

a pain but you cant take your p800 now

once you've got all your stuff loaded you certainly wont

I've just sync my Revo contacts (600) and agenda my p800 is even more valuble now.

Would you believe everyone I know has WIN98 and can not think of reasons to move.
WIN ME was not much different.
2000 is WIN NT, so great for corporate.
XP - great, now does anything run on it. Has it stopped crashing ?

Sorry, I'll calm down soon, good suggestion.

Surely I know someone with a more recent PC than the 2 year old one with 98SE that I am typing on.
Now, how do I move my NETBOOK contacts etc to it ????

psionfan, I have updgraded all 3 of my machines to Win2000 (2 were 98, one was NT) and did not have any problems. You may be able to do a dual install and you could then always reboot to access the stuff you don't have the install disks for.

2000 is MUCH more stable than 98 and with XP out now (and it's replacement in the works) I would recommend an upgrade as it's inevitable fewer and fewer companies will support 98/95/ME etc.

Thanks wanaP800.
I have a little predjudice against Msoft and refuse to upgrade just for the sake of it.
As it is I have problems with some programs that are very old that need to run under DOS.
The dual-boot idea seems good, if I can find an easy/safe way to do it.
My main comments refered to XP which a lot of my friends have attempted to upgrade to and given up on.

As far as most things moving to ME/2000/XP, yes eventually.
But how come Symbian has gone from no XP (USB) support for Series 5/Netbook to you get no choice !
Also how come every other thing I or friends have purchased in the last 12 months works in 98SE (inc an IPaq and a Marantz 5200 remote).

If you've gotta stay with Win98 then copy the Opera .sis file straight to your phone thru Bluetooth - assuming your PC has this of course...

=mak

Bluetooth, good idea. I have considered buying a card but they always seem overpriced, especially compared to 802.11b cards.
I did wonder how if .SIS files were available for every software I may wish to load.
If they only come as .EXE's (see thread from earlier today), then this would cause problems.
I am now 1 day into attempting to move to ME, but having problems with the backup portable HD device I choose. I will see how tomorrow goes.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Thoe P800 box clearly states "PC requirement: ME/Win2000/XP". I understand lots of people have prejusdice against MS, but if you absolutely insist on sticking with your Win98SE, why you bought the P800 in the first place? Blaming the company for this problem would be like a diabete patient blaming a candy company for making sweets. It's a matter of doing your homework before making such an important decision (buying the P800) and obviously you have not done your homework 😃

BTW, S.E announced they will issue a PCSuite version that compatible with Win98 in the near future.

Hey Psion fan,
You could use infrared. Slightly cheaper than Bluetooth.
However you really should upgrade.
Windows 2000 is much more stable than Windows 98 (no I don't want a debate about it but as I support over 3500 workstations around London I think I'm in a position to make a judgement call :robot: ).
Windows XP is great too, particularly if everything (and I mean everything) is on the Microsoft Hardware Compatibility list (somewhere at www.microsoft.com) - and as long as you run all the service packs.

You could always setup a dual boot system. Or, stick in a different drive. Then setup Win2k or XP on the new drive (don't put the old one back in till you feel confident you have it all stable.

😮 STAY AWAY FROM MILLENNIUM 😮

Its right up there with AOL for causing the most grief to support techies like me :evil:

Before you start - BACKUP EVERYTHING !!!!!

THE P800 BOX I HAVE IS BLACK WITH THE PHONE NUMBER, P800, SYMBIAN OS & BLUETOOTH WRITTEN ON IT. NOTHING ELSE.

Anyway, when you buy a phone you normally only get to examine the box after leaving the shop.
The only place I found the PC requirements were on the software CD's.
I would not be so angry if the box had stated the software requirements, also the PC I own is 18 months old, not that old.
I realise that I should have done more homework, after all I have had a year to do this. Mind you SE/Symbian have also had over 1 year to make the phone compatible with most peoples home systems.
Thanks for the info re WIN98, I will stop sending Emails to SE.
Yes, I should have watched this forum more carefully !

t0me,
Thanks for the info.
I am now 1.5 days into trying to backup my PC (not meaning to distract this forum), using Retrospect express 5.6 & a USB 2.0 hard drive.
Unfortunately my main drive has 7.5 Gb on it, so it refuses to back up to space limits of 4Gb compressed.
I eventually removed things and got the backup to start, but fails 500Mb from the end.
I appear to need new backup software now.
Thats before I load Win2000.
I was going to get ME, thinking it would be safest as it is similar to WIN98, not NT (WIN2000). I am now confused, but thanks for the warning.

Here's the box my P800 came in with. And it's the official retail box for this phone. I've never seen a different one in both Swedis & English versions.

The reason S.E gave for no Win98/98SE support being the poor USB functionality. Apparently, Win95/98/98SE does not have native support for USB devices, and all users need to install USB driver updates for the OS, but with this Microsoft does not even guarantee compatibility across devices. On the other hand, ME/2000/XP support USB natively as Plug-and-Pay, and are the recommended OS's for USB devices.

Regarding your backup solution, I am using Norton Ghost 7.0 (runs in DOS mode) and it beats every backup package out there. It creates an exact copy image of the disk/partition, compression level is about 35% and takes 25 minutes to do my 6GB C drive. Do a search on Google and you'll find lots of people posted this software for free download. Give it a try. It support Disk-to-Image, Partition-to-Image and vice versa. Only drawback is that no support for partially backup of files or directories. Whole disk or partition or nothing !

Mr47,
Interesting box, I would show you the totally BLACK box that the UK version comes in but since I loaded WIN ME into the PC with the digital camera support, the modem no longer works ! Odd, I never had problems with WIN98. (Well apart from the usual occasional crashes, but you get used to it).
I promise though, the box has only 1 small label on it stating P800/symbian/bluetooth, or I may have actually considered waiting until I knew I could actually plug it in.
Strangely I have 2 WIN98 machines and have had no problems with USB devices, cameras, remote control, Ipaq, scanner(s),Canon S900 printer. But as you say sometimes specific drivers need to be written for WIN98.

Thanks for the info on GHOST, t0me mentioned it offline, and I will checkout your extremely useful advice on where to get it from.
Steve. 😊

Get with the 90s already.

Windows 98 has been pretty unsupported for ages. It's all very well and good saying "Damn that infernal Micro$oft", but if you're not prepared to upgrade to even a remotely current OS, you have no one else to blame but yourself when you find bleeding edge technology doesn't run on your antiquated system.

Actually, I have to agree with psionfanfor12years. One of the advantages of the P800 is that it is a Symbian OS and not Microsoft. Therefore I was hoping to avoid the endless forced upgrade cycles for no benefit. The fact is, other than for the P800, there is absolutely no incentive for me to upgrade my OS. The OS controls the machine. Why fork out money to change it. It still just controls the hardware.

Windows NT4 is still the de facto standard for most companies and yet isn't supported by a phone that is most definitely aimed at the business market which seems very strange.

At the moment, that isn't going to make much difference. The P800 is still being bought by early adopters like ourselves, the vast majority of whom will be running the latest OS. But for everyone else who has yet to find a reason to fork out $100 for an upgrade of Windows Media player and a few extra built in drivers, the lack of older OS support is going to stop them buying. And the fewer people buy this thing, the less incentive there is going to be for companies to make software for it.

[quote="Bassey"]The P800 is still being bought by early adopters like ourselves, the vast majority of whom will be running the latest OS./quote]

Good point.

However the simple fact that they couldnt get it to work and didn't persist before launch gives you some idea of the timescales they are on.

Imagine if it had been delayed another month due to sorting this... Might sound silly, but if the rumours are true and they release another version of the sync software for 98 next month, this would have been the case.

I think you also have to remember that this isn't just the case with the p800.. Remember a lot of firms have this problem with any USB devices on NT4, and for those wanting to use bluetooth you've should be on XP SP1.

Whilst im sure this is an issue for some, it shouldnt be.

Durzel, "get with the 90's"
Strange you should say that it was 2002 when one of my machines was purchased (new from DELL), with with WIN98, and 2000 the other.
If it was a TV I would be quite annoyed at having to throw it out so quickly.
Even my T39 has lasted longer than my WIN98 O/S.
I agree with Bassey why should I upgrade at the cost of �70 every 18 months for a media player and a couple of drivers. It is just an excuse for MS to make money.
Whilst I recognise it's near the end of it's life, WIN98 has supported/been supported for everything apart from this (see above (Ipaq/Scanner/ Canon S900 - 1 month old)).
I would like to use bluetooth as I have always liked it, but XP does have some reports of incompatibility with some products, and even threads here stating problems.
Andyp - Good point, if it took them 1 year from announcing to supply of the phone, can you imaging how much longer we would have to wait for 98 support. Oh well, one day soon my other machine with WIN ME will have the modem working again !