Ed, I don't have a specific 'url' for you but I do have some advice for you (I'm sure others will have advice as well - grin!).
If you are interested in learning more about this matter, I suggest doing a search using your favorite search engine, and you'll get enough hits to keep you reading for the rest of your life. I know, that's why you wanted a specific 'url', but everyone will likely recommend a different one anyway, how will you know which one is best?
There are dozens (probably hundreds) of 'cheap' solutions for your problem. They range from 'freeware' to probably in the range of $49.95 and maybe more. Most solutions are one of three basic varieties.
1. An actual card that you would place in one of the ISA slots in your machine that will give your operating system (assuming that IT is Y2K compliant) the correct date.
2. Software that you install that does much the same as described above.
3. A patch applied to your BIOS to correct it's date handling routines.
All of these solutions do work ... you will have to decide which one is best for you. The first thing you should do is contact the manufacturer of your current motherboard and find out if there is an upgraded BIOS that you can obtain, but judging by the age of your motherboard, you're not likely to be successful here. Even if you are successful, if you actually have to change the BIOS chip, as opposed to the newer 'flash upgradeable' BIOSes, this can be more than average computer user can handle.
You said you had considered buying a new machine. Do yourself a favor and give yourself a treat. Go out and buy a cheap used Pentium box (a 166 or 200 Mhz. should not be too expensive at all)and load it up with 32 or 64 megs of memory. You'll probably be blown away by the performance boost. And if you really don't need more than a 486 now, with the upgrade you'll have yourself a machine that will probably carry you for another 5 years. If you keep your existing machine much longer, you'll probably be severely restricting your choice of software for future use, as most new software will probably have minimum machine requirements that will exceed what you have.
Good Luck! |
