nforce 4 sata + esdi_506

[japer]

I have an ASUS A8N motherboard (nForce 4 AMD); yesterday I successfully installed and booted 98SE by using RAM Limitation Patch (my computer has 2 GB of RAM), no acpi, and real mode (a.k.a. 16-bit, bios) disk access.

(Just for completeness, my system also has a nvidia 6600GT, which works perfectly using tweaked drivers. The network card is detected and I have a working driver for it, but I can't install MS-TCP -- more on that on a later post).

Windows is installed on a 4 GB primary partition just at the start of a 200 GB disk (which is connected to my SATA2 port).

If I try to switch to ESDI_506/protected mode drivers, 98SE hangs at startup -- ctrl+alt+delete does not work, but the logo.sys animation does.

A second or so before hanging it spins up the floppy motor for a moment -- but I think that's usual behavior with the ESDI driver.

I tried LLXX's patched LBA48 ESDI_506.pdr, but It fails at exactly the same point.

Bootlog.txt's last lines:

[0012CC87] Initing esdi_506.pdr
[0012CC88] Init Success esdi_506.pdr
[0012CC88] Initing esdi_506.pdr

Unfortunately, no ios.log is generated

I think I've tried everything I know... and no luck so far. So, does anyone know if ESDI_506 works on nForce 4 with SATA enabled?

Edited November 26, 2008 by japer

[dencorso]

You'll need RLoew's just released SATA.INF also, for that to work, AFAIK. Contact him. LLXX's ESDI_506.PDR is solid, but MSHDC.INF is not up to the task. HTH

[japer]

You'll need RLoew's just released SATA.INF also, for that to work, AFAIK. Contact him. LLXX's ESDI_506.PDR is solid, but MSHDC.INF is not up to the task. HTH

Just the INF?

That was just about the lines of what I was doing right now: testing the different registry settings I found out by string-grepping esdi_506.pdr:

IDENoSerialize
ForceSerialization
ScanOnlyFirstDrive
ForceIRQSharing
NonStandardATAPI
NoCMOSorFDPT
NoIDE -- at least I know what this one does 
EnableInts

Edited November 27, 2008 by japer

[98Guy]

If you've got a SATA hard drive, and it's larger than 128 gb, then in the BIOS settings you should have it controlled by your motherboard's raid controller, and NOT have it appear as a legacy IDE drive.

Then in Win-98, install the appropriate raid driver (hopefully there will be a win-98 raid driver). The raid controller will appear in device manager as a SCSI controller.

How did you get a PCI express video card to work under win-98?

Where did you find win-98 drivers for the chipset?

[javispedro]

If you've got a SATA hard drive, and it's larger than 128 gb, then in the BIOS settings you should have it controlled by your motherboard's raid controller, and NOT have it appear as a legacy IDE drive.

Then in Win-98, install the appropriate raid driver (hopefully there will be a win-98 raid driver). The raid controller will appear in device manager as a SCSI controller.

Unfortunately I don't think there are drivers for nForce4's softraid.

How did you get a PCI express video card to work under win-98?

Using the tweaked nvidia driver you can find on this forum.

The setup program does not work for me, but you can extract the whole package (as explained on the README) and then just point the hardware wizard driver search to that folder.

(BTW, I corrected my original post: my card is a GeForce 6600, not a 6600GT).

Where did you find win-98 drivers for the chipset?

I only found drivers for the builtin network card (standard CK804, handled on Linux by forcedeth).

Here: http://gigapeta.com/dl/58274a502e32

I assume that the nForce 3 driver binary for w9x was already capable of handling the nForce 4 (nvenet8) network card, so the russian guy who created this driver just modified the INF file to add the pci ids and "features" of the card. I'm not sure thought, take care.

And, as I said, using these drivers my card is recognized and even negotiates a 100 Mbps link, but I can't install MS-TCP/IP -- the network control panel applet just "forgets" whatever protocol I installed when I click OK, then prompts me to uselessly reboot. I believe this is a 98SE bug that appears only if using the real mode disk drivers.

Testing some weird ESDI_506 combinations I was able to get both a PATA CD-ROM and a SATA CD-ROM detected and running, but both were EVEN MORE slower than using the real mode oakcdrom/mscdex, so I went back to the real mode drivers. No luck so far with the HDDs.

(just remembered the password for my older account).

Edited November 27, 2008 by javispedro

[98Guy]

> > How did you get a PCI express video card to work under win-98?

> Using the tweaked nvidia driver you can find on this forum.

> > Where did you find win-98 drivers for the chipset?

> I only found drivers for the builtin network card

I don't get it.

Unless you have a win-98 chipset driver, I wouldn't think that you'd be able to install anything in the AGP or PCIe slot and get it to work.

[javispedro]

I don't get it.

Unless you have a win-98 chipset driver, I wouldn't think that you'd be able to install anything in the AGP or PCIe slot and get it to work.

I did not install a single third-party driver before installing the PCIe card one.

I don't know what a "chipset driver" would be for either...

[esecallum]

I have an ASUS A8N motherboard (nForce 4 AMD); yesterday I successfully installed and booted 98SE by using RAM Limitation Patch (my computer has 2 GB of RAM), no acpi, and real mode (a.k.a. 16-bit, bios) disk access.

(Just for completeness, my system also has a nvidia 6600GT, which works perfectly using tweaked drivers. The network card is detected and I have a working driver for it, but I can't install MS-TCP -- more on that on a later post).

Windows is installed on a 4 GB primary partition just at the start of a 200 GB disk (which is connected to my SATA2 port).

If I try to switch to ESDI_506/protected mode drivers, 98SE hangs at startup -- ctrl+alt+delete does not work, but the logo.sys animation does.

A second or so before hanging it spins up the floppy motor for a moment -- but I think that's usual behavior with the ESDI driver.

I tried LLXX's patched LBA48 ESDI_506.pdr, but It fails at exactly the same point.

Bootlog.txt's last lines:

[0012CC87] Initing esdi_506.pdr
[0012CC88] Init Success esdi_506.pdr
[0012CC88] Initing esdi_506.pdr

Unfortunately, no ios.log is generated

I think I've tried everything I know... and no luck so far. So, does anyone know if ESDI_506 works on nForce 4 with SATA enabled?

i suggest you use a duel ide to sata adpter and plug in the ide to sata adapter into the ide socket on the motherboard and connect the sata cables to sata drive...

these duel function ide to sata / sata to ide adapters cost only 1 or 2 pounds plus postage on ebay..

if you do this then your problems will vanish as the adapters take care of the problems and you will not a have a driver issue either.

thats is what i did as sata drivers for win98/winme don't really exist.

could you read your inbox message please.

[98Guy]

You bought the wrong motherboard.

Any board with VIA PT880 Pro/Ultra Chipset will function well with Win-98.

That motherboard uses the VIA VT8237A SATA raid controller, for which there are windows 98 drivers available.

That board has both an AGP and PCIe slot.

I still can't see how you got the video card to work (presumably at something higher than 640 x 480) without a functioning motherboard chipset driver installed.

[javispedro]

You bought the wrong motherboard.

I agree with that -- I hate it.

I still can't see how you got the video card to work (presumably at something higher than 640 x 480) without a functioning motherboard chipset driver installed.

Well, as I said, I did virtually nothing, and I am running at 1280x1024 with full acceleration. I've never installed any "chipset"/"pci bus" driver on XP either.

Thanks for all the suggestions. However, I'm installing 98SE mainly for learning (I wanted a GUI that wouldn't get in my way while "playing" with the hardware) and as such I'm not going to spend more money on this.

Edited November 28, 2008 by javispedro

[glocK_94]

I still can't see how you got the video card to work (presumably at something higher than 640 x 480) without a functioning motherboard chipset driver installed.

It works throught the generic drivers. It's not recommended but you can install your video card drivers before your chipset drivers and it works.

[rloew]

That was just about the lines of what I was doing right now: testing the different registry settings I found out by string-grepping esdi_506.pdr:

Tnere is more involved in making SATA work than the ESDI_506 Driver Registry settings.

[javispedro]

Well, just trying

As a sidenote, I got the builtin network card finally working -- it seems the driver I used does not install fully by itself, and I had to "help it" force-installing the older, nForce3 (and nForce4 incompatible) driver, then replacing the nvenet.sys file with the newer build one (afaik, nvidia made a few more nvenet.sys builds -- since discontiniung nForce9xME drivers -- that were compatible with 9x. they're not avalaible in the archive though).

I'm still using real mode disk access, but hey, at least, networking, sound and video work. I think that makes Win98 fully usable on this motherboard (A8N-E), and I'm indeed posting from W98 right now (and I seriously miss my spell checking plugin ).

Thanks a lot!

Edited December 9, 2008 by javispedro

[dencorso]

As a sidenote, I got the builtin network card finally working -- it seems the driver I used does not install fully by itself, and I had to "help it" force-installing the older, nForce3 (and nForce4 incompatible) driver, then replacing the nvenet.sys file with the newer build one (afaik, nvidia made a few more nvenet.sys builds -- since discontiniung nForce9xME drivers -- that were compatible with 9x. they're not avalaible in the archive though).

Can you please describe more fully your procedure and tell us if and how you edited the .INF?

Would you please upload the files you used somewhere and post a link to them?

You are the first, AFAIK, to accomplish that! You rock

[javispedro]

I didn't create a new INF, my Windows knowledge is still very limited.

You'll need to install them "by hand"...

Download the nForce3 drivers from nVidia, then unpack them (but do not install them).

Download the newer drivers from http://gigapeta.com/dl/58274a502e32

(I found those in a russian board; I assume whoever uploaded them got them from some unarchived nvidia release).

Go to Device Manager, then update driver for "unknown device" "PCI Bridge"; select driver from list, select "have disk", point the "have disk" dialog to the "ethernet" folder in the unpacked nForce3 drivers.

After rebooting, the device will have the yellow warning sign on device manager (not the right driver for it).

Now go to Windows\System and replace nvenet.sys with the one available in the newer driver.

Go to the registry editor, key

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Net\

And search for the "subfolder" whose DriverDesc is "NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller". You'll need to update the following keys:

AdapterCFID

DeviceCaps

Ndi\DeviceID

(it MIGHT work without updating them all, but never tried )

You can get correct values for your nForce version by looking at nvenet9x.inf in the newer drivers.

For example, A8N-E is nForce 4 AMD (a.k.a. ck804, nvenet9, pci device id 0057), and the values are

"AdapterCFID"="005710DE"

"DeviceCaps"="005710DE00000002000000000001000200001F1F00FC00070024000100000000"

Ndi\"DeviceID"="PCI\\VEN_10DE&DEV_0057"

It should look like this:

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Net\0002]
"DriverDesc"="NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller"
"DevLoader"="*ndis,*ntkern,*ndis"
"DeviceVxDs"="nvenet.sys"
"EnumPropPages"="netdi.dll,EnumPropPages"
"AdapterCFID"="005710DE"
"AdapterType"="5"
"BusType"="5"
"DeviceCaps"="005710DE00000002000000000001000200001F1F00FC00070024000100000000"
"InfSection"="NVENET.NDI"
"NTMPDriver"="nvenet.sys"
"InfPath"="NVIDIA~2.INF"
"ProviderName"="Nvidia"
"DriverDate"=" 3-16-2004"
"OemSetting1"="1"
"ForceSpeedDpx"="0"
"PollIntervalInus"="425"
"MatchingDeviceId"="PCI\\VEN_10DE&DEV_01C3"
"ASFEventBitmask"="0"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Net\0002\Ndi]
"DeviceID"="PCI\\VEN_10DE&DEV_0057"
"InstallInf"=""

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Net\0002\Ndi\Interfaces]
"Lower"="ethernet"
"LowerRange"="ethernet"
"Upper"="ndis3"
"UpperRange"="ndis3"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Net\0002\Ndi\Install]
"ndis3"="NVENET9x.INSTALL"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Net\0002\Ndi\params]

By installing only the newer drivers, vital entries (AFAIK) like DeviceVxDs or DevLoader would not appear at all.