I have run this box for twelve years (It started as a 486DX33 with 4Mb and 170Mb disc. Those were the days!), and now want to start a home network to share files, printers etc. with a Pentium II running Win 2000. At first I tried loading NT4.0, to dual boot with the beloved DOS 6.0 /Win 3.1, but NT does not seem to like LBA, when this is provided by a BIOS extension on a card, and will not boot (The BIOS itself is not upgradeable.). NT4.0, unlike 95 or 98, was actually designed to dual boot with 3.1 and would probably have been more stable and have had more in common with Win 2000. The alternative is to upgrade Win 3.1 to WFW 3.11. However, I have tried this three times only to find that, after running for a few minutes, I get: 'Memory parity error, system halted.', with a WFW version of the BSOD. This has never happened with 3.1. Has anyone experienced this or found a solution? Also WFW takes much longer to boot than 3.1. Two other questions arise when using WFW: 1. Should I ever manage to get this network running, does any one know whether drivers are available to get a Netgear Ethernet switch and printer server to respond to WFW please? The makers are unhelpful in this respect. 2. Netscape 4.08, which works well with Win 3.1, refuses to work at all after updating the TCP/IP in WFW. I am sure there must be an answer to this. Does any one know please? Thank you for any advice you can give.

Firstly installing NT4 on a hard drive connected to a "BIOS extension Card" would entail hitting F6 at start of install and offering the drivers for this hardware. In the past have tried various upgrades but always had better success installing in the following order from a clean bare hard drive: MS-DOS 6.2x WfW3.11 Updated TCP Stack IE5 16 bit If as part of LAN made sure the LAN had a DHCP server. DO NOT BAN THE MESSENGER

" The alternative is to upgrade Win 3.1 to WFW 3.11. However, I have tried this three times only to find that, after running for a few minutes, I get: 'Memory parity error, system halted.', with a WFW version of the BSOD. This has never happened with 3.1. Has anyone experienced this or found a solution? Also WFW takes much longer to boot than 3.1." The memory parity error (at least in a lot of Compaq's that I've worked on) often means that you have memory that may be "out-of-sync" (different speeds). Usually, reverting back to identical SIMMS (or gold-plated ones for Compaq's) solved the problem. http://www.pcguide.com/ts/x/sys/booterrGBER39-c.html

Thank you 'rogerashley' and 'T-R-A' for your response. The makers of the BIOS extension card, Promise Technology (Eidemax), insist that no driver is needed for NT, only for 3.1x to give 32 bit access (the two files are loaded from Win.ini and are not TSR, so could not interfere with any other OS). Others have also mentioned the need for a driver for NT, so I am strongly inclined to agree. I also take your point about a clean installation from scratch. However, much of the original software was 'bundled' and, while I have a set of recovery discs, I am uncertain whether satisfactory re-installation with anything other than the original OS would be possible. Installing WFW on top, as if it were an upgrade, seems the only safe way round this. Without, so far, either WFW or NT4.0, this m/c is not yet part of a network. All the SIMMS strips, 4x16MB, were sourced and installed together. I have nevertheless run with each removed in turn, also rotated in the slots, but the problem persists. You mention Compaq; my other m/c is a Deskpro 4000 6266MX with 1x64 and 1x32MB strips, same speed, different makes, but have had no problems yet. However, thanks for the warning; I shall be careful if I need to increase RAM