SGI 320 and windows Xp pro

[RE*S.T.A.R.S*2]

Hi there.
I would like to know if you could install windows xp on an old silicongraphics motherboard with dual processor! each processor is 550 mhz pentium 3 and with 512 mb of memory. want to make it a system for capturing and video editing stuff , its has a 9 gigas of harddrive but is a SCSI driver, and i think this setup would be better than my 3200+ amd xp and my nforce2 MOBO wich support 133 ata hardrivers , and is a single processor.
i can reinstall windows 2000 but i like windows xp 100% any help would be greatly apreciate it.

[Dv8ted2]

Yes, you can install XP. That system meets at least the minimum specs for XP. You could also tweak it by turning off some unneeded services if you want, so that it would run more efficiently.

[rallynavvie]

Two 550 P3s are not going to be faster than your XP 3200, SCSI or no.

[RE*S.T.A.R.S*2]

Thanx for you quick reply friend.
But the thing is that this system is so picky i mean it doesn`t have a regular bios , its seems that this mobo its soo different than anything i have seen , i have been trying to boot like you regulary do but has no Bios;
the only way to boot its going to this setting options,wich its the only thing that looks like bios: http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/dynaweb_docs/nt/SGI_EndUser/books/SG320_540_SWIG/sgi_h...gures/main.gif
choose the INSTALL SYSTEM SOFTWARE.
But it only allow to install windows 2000, tried the windows xp home ore Pro not avail.
i found this web page: http://www.leupen.com/~remko/sgi/CPU.htm with information regarding this system and they stated that there is no way to install windows xp on this board , it also state what kind of board its this and how it work without bios chipset, this is why i was wondering if somebody here have managed to install XP on it.

[RE*S.T.A.R.S*2]

Two 550 P3s are not going to be faster than your XP 3200, SCSI or no.

Well i dont know if it won`t remember that some aplication are tweaked for dual processor than for only one!.
but anyway, more than anything its something that i want to do. having two system its not bad at all, and i know a lot in here have the wisdon to help me on this journal! thanx again for your help

[Dv8ted2]

Have you tried using the boot floppy disks?

[RE*S.T.A.R.S*2]

Yes i tried and doesn`t work , any other comment?
Please i need to know.

[rallynavvie]

Well i dont know if it won`t remember that some aplication are tweaked for dual processor than for only one!.

There are, but you don't get quite the sum of the two processors' clock when using an SMP system with SMP-aware applications. For instance the two 550 MHz P3s would "add up" to about 1.1 GHz processing power but would really only yield the speed of about a single 800-1000 MHz processor when using SMP-aware applications. For the majority of other applications they'll only see one of those 550 P3s.

If you were able to load a Windows client on it I'd say use it as a file server. And for that I'd actually just recommend using a Linux client as there has to be one out there which will work with all the added SGI hardware.

There are a few SGI users in the forums though, hopefully they'll add their knowledge on the subject.

[RE*S.T.A.R.S*2]

Ok thanx a lot.
But it will be hard to get a proper anwser.
becouse if there a way to do it.
I would find it searching on goggle and yahoo search.
Only those link that i posted above could tell me something about this system.
Its sad to know this system wouldn`t be better for video than my system.
But i still want to try to install windows xp on it.
thanx again friend

[guns1inger]

The following it taken from this Microsoft article on the XP kernal

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/kernel/XP_kernel.mspx

Several Windows 2000 components are removed in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003:
• Posix subsystem
• OS/2 subsystem
• NEC PC98 support
• SGI 320 and SGI 540 support

I also found several other sites that talk about software capable of running on the 320 under windows, and all were restricted to the Windows 2000 versions because support for this hardware had been explicitly removed from Windows XP.

The closest I have seen to a how-to is this which talks about rumours of people having hacked the XP installer to allow them to use the HAL from 2000 to get it running. More work that it is worth.

As was pointed out, you have nice little server, but it is no longer the graphics powerhouse it once was. Put 2000 back on it.

If you want some light reading, the owners manuals and tech docs for the 320 are here http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/search.cgi?cmd=search&coll=nt&db=&pth=&src...hpth=nt&rpt=20

[RE*S.T.A.R.S*2]

The following it taken from this Microsoft article on the XP kernal

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/driver/kernel/XP_kernel.mspx

Several Windows 2000 components are removed in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003:
• Posix subsystem
• OS/2 subsystem
• NEC PC98 support
• SGI 320 and SGI 540 support

I also found several other sites that talk about software capable of running on the 320 under windows, and all were restricted to the Windows 2000 versions because support for this hardware had been explicitly removed from Windows XP.

The closest I have seen to a how-to is this which talks about rumours of people having hacked the XP installer to allow them to use the HAL from 2000 to get it running. More work that it is worth.

As was pointed out, you have nice little server, but it is no longer the graphics powerhouse it once was. Put 2000 back on it.

If you want some light reading, the owners manuals and tech docs for the 320 are here http://techpubs.sgi.com/library/tpl/cgi-bin/search.cgi?cmd=search&coll=nt&db=&pth=&src...hpth=nt&rpt=20

I heard about people hacking the system, but no webpage found telling you how to!
Is seems that my only bet is installing 2000 back again.
Thats not nice man, thank you for your support, if i found something i will be updating this post , thanxx a lot people.