I have a 98SE / W2K dual boot PC with a standard boot.ini file created by W2K.

I want to add a 3rd option that would allow me to boot into DOS directly from the boot menu.

What would be the best way to accomplish that?

I already tried F8, but that brings up W2K's boot options, not 98SE's.

I looked at the relevant files, and there's BootGUI=0 or 1, but I couldn't figure out how to set it on the fly, or pass it as a parameter.

If there's no better solution, I think I can create a small partition somewhere and format it with a 'sys' option and point to that from boot.ini, but at this point I'd prefer to have a solution that doesn't involve partitioning.

TIA

Use a floppy. Until you fix your hardware memory speed problems and get a clean 24h memtest86+ run, its useless to try anything more permanent. BTW, are you using BIOS v. 1.90 of Sept 5, 2003, right? What Athlon exactly do you use?

Forgot to mention, that's not a viable option, not even now.

Floppies are good for emergency and for very occasional use, but they would be a PITA here.

Yes, the BIOS is 1.90, and the CPU is AXDA2500DKV4D.

the CPU is AXDA2500DKV4D

That's a 2500+ Barton with FSB=333 MHz (running at 11x System Bus, which is 166 MHz, of course). It's a good CPU.

But, for your system, if you can get hold of one of them, I'd suggest as a drop-in replacement, an Athlon XP-M, the AXMJ2800FHQ4C.

It's a 2800+ Barton, with Vcore =1.55 V (but it'll run OK at 1.65 or 1.60V, in case your board doesn't allow lowering the Vcore).

All the AXMJ2800FHQ4Cs have unlocked multiplier, so you can get it to experiment different multiplier/system bus combinations...

It's default is 16 x 133 MHz so it would allow you to run 1:1 at FSB 266 MHz, or, what I think will really work, the CPU @ 133 MHz and the DDR RAM @ 100MHz. Or run everithyng at 100 MHz and set the CPU multiplier to 21, which it'll accept gladly.

Of course, that's just my 2¢.

Those are selling for $16 .. $25 apiece on eBay.

I'm currently winning on a AXDA2400DKV3C for under $5, however. This would be just a secondary/tertiary system, mostly for file storage, and for my daughter to watch her videos.

Wow! That's probably a Thoroughbred B (CPUID 681), but it can also be the *rarest* variant of all Thoroughbred A (CPUID 680)!

Be sure to find its CPUID with, say, CPU-Z, as soon as you lay hands on it.

The simplest solution is to activate Windows 98 boot menu, instead of adding another option to the Windows 2000 menu. In the effect the Windows 98 boot menu would show after selecting it from Windows 2000 boot menu.

In the MSDOS.SYS in the [OPTIONS] section there is a BootMenu=1 switch. I t should force the Windows 98 boot menu to show. Also it is possible to increase boot delay, when Windows 98 waits for F8 key. The standard setting is BootDelay=2. So hitting the F8 key in just 2 seconds time is very difficult.

Also it is possible to create a Windows 98 boot menu through CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files.

In the MSDOS.SYS in the [OPTIONS] section there is a BootMenu=1 switch. I t should force the Windows 98 boot menu to show. Also it is possible to increase boot delay, when Windows 98 waits for F8 key. The standard setting is BootDelay=2. So hitting the F8 key in just 2 seconds time is very difficult.

Thanks, I just modded my msdos.sys, and it works fine. I guess this is indeed the simplest solution.

You could use something like BOOTPART.EXE from http://www.winimage.com, You can add a DOS boot into the main menu from there.