It Works!

[PROBLEMCHYLD]

Made an attempt to do this yesterday. Floppy was readable when I got it, formatted, added the DOS Utility and BIOS file. Rebooted, and floppy has become unreadable, and is totally dead.

Go figure...

Does anyone have the instructions for the method via DOS? I'm willing to try that. It seems this floppy drive *MIGHT* be a disk-eater, though its barely used and didn't scrape the floppy at all.

First thing you need to do is grab the updated BIOS, flash utility etc... if the bios files needs to be extracted, then use a tool like 7zip. If you have trouble, post a link and one of us will do it for you. After that, you need to copy the necessary files to the C:\ drive for easier navigation. After that, run the flash program in dos and follow the instructions. You can load dos up by holding ctrl button on start up. Most of my computers are laptops and I wasn't going to buy a floppy drive for each and everyone of them. These instructions should work for you as well

Instruction 1.

Give us a link to your updated bios. Then we will go to step 2. One step at a time before you end up with a doorstop, I'm not joking either. I would hate for you to brick it for not following instructions.

Edited June 11, 2013 by PROBLEMCHYLD

[nostaglic98]

Lucky me, I managed to do it via "CrashFreeBIOS" (Alt+F2). I burnt a copy of the utility to CD with the correct name and did that. It worked, and I now have a shiny Pentium 4 at 2.8GHz sitting in there. Doing a quick test revealed I could set the graphics details on Midtown Madness 2 from Low (with almost zero visibility) to Very High, with other glitz on and a little extra visibility.

The other computer also was built yesterday, and appears to boot. I now need to get a graphics card for it (P5KPL-C motherboard, with PCI-E x16), since it does not have onboard. Unfortunately, I also discovered yesterday whilst doing the processor changeout that the Asus mobo (P4P800MX) doesn't have AGP... Only the artefacts. Whoops! There goes $35. Oh well, I can resell that and my Celeron, Heatsink and anything else on eBay, for a "reasonable" price

With that in mind, can one still get regular PCI Graphics cards today? If so, what should I get and will it have any real performance gain over the integrated stuff I've got at present?

[buyerninety]

@nostaglic98 said:

"discovered... ..Asus mobo (P4P800MX) doesn't have AGP... Only the artefacts."

[P4P800MX = Onboard Intel Extreme Graphics VGA AGP, no AGP slot]

+Try ratcheting up the amount of video memory in the bios screens.

Try attaching or directing a fan at or to the large central (Northbridge) heatsink,

see if that decreases the amount of artefacts at all.

Any 'store new stock' PCI card wouldn't have drivers for Win98.. 'store old stock'

might, refer to the OSes mentioned on the box. But why buy new? zillions of PCI

video cards available 2nd hand...

I'm hopeful one of our other posters can direct you to the link to the 'sticky's',

there's one discussing useable video cards for Win98... (I can't see it.),

@submix8c

+For clarity; found online copy manual for E521... turns out its bios screens DON'T have

ANY mention of a setting for 'Disable/Enable USB Keyboard'.. (only USB Legacy setting

is for Bootable Devices...) possibly there may be some such setting there but 'not made

visible to end users'. Regardless, a flash using the keyboardless methods discussed in

previous posts is still worth trying, if a full 512KByte 'recent bios' image can be found.

[nostaglic98]

@nostaglic98 said:"discovered... ..Asus mobo (P4P800MX) doesn't have AGP... Only the artefacts."[P4P800MX = Onboard Intel Extreme Graphics VGA AGP, no AGP slot]+Try ratcheting up the amount of video memory in the bios screens. Try attaching or directing a fan at or to the large central (Northbridge) heatsink,see if that decreases the amount of artefacts at all.,

I wasn't talking about artefacts in the video picture! {But I will see what increasing the V-RAM does (I've found many PC's lock it at 4mb, even if I set it to the maximum)} I didn't suggest that I was having trouble with the video (But my mistake for not being clear) - I was stating there are artefacts on the motherboard for an AGP slot, which must've caused my confusion...

Any 'store new stock' PCI card wouldn't have drivers for Win98.. 'store old stock'

might, refer to the OSes mentioned on the box. But why buy new? zillions of PCI

video cards available 2nd hand...

Buying new or on eBay is what I prefer - Doesn't matter, so long as it is a good quality card and works with 9x/2K. Anyone have a "recommended" model?

[dencorso]

[...] I was stating there are artefacts on the motherboard for an AGP slot, which must've caused my confusion... [...]

By "artefacts" you were trying to mean the (solder-filled) soldering holes and markings, like what is inside the red line in the attachement???

[RFMaster]

Buying new or on eBay is what I prefer - Doesn't matter, so long as it is a good quality card and works with 9x/2K. Anyone have a "recommended" model?

This-> http://www.diamondmm.com/s9250pci256-diamond-amd-radeon-9250pci-256mb-ddr-video-graphics-card.html

[nostaglic98]

By "artefacts" you were trying to mean the (solder-filled) soldering holes and markings, like what is inside the red line in the attachement???

This-> http://www.diamondmm...phics-card.html

Looks good! Have to check it out more in-depth later

[submix8c]

@buyerninety -Service Manual - System Setup

USB Controller (On default)

Enables or disables the internal USB controller. No Boot enables the controller but disables the ability to boot from a USB device.

NOTE: Operating systems with USB support will recognize USB floppy drives regardless of the No Boot setting.

Rear Dual USB0 (On default)

Enables or disables the indicated group of USB ports on the back of the computer.

Rear Dual USB1 (On default)

Enables or disables the indicated group of USB ports on the back of the computer.

Front USB (On default)

Enables or disables the indicated group of USB ports on the front of the computer.

I think that about covers it... BTW, it's nVidia-based NOT Intel-based. HALTS on no-keyboard - BOOM! Done! OVER! And it's OBVIOUS it will NOT mention "legacy USB" since that is ALL it has - NO PEE-ESS-TWO (duh). Please stop with your informing me/us of things already known by me/us.

edit - and before you prattle about a "bad keyboard", I have TWO of them - BOTH are Original Dell and NO USB PORTS detect them. OK???

Edited June 13, 2013 by submix8c

[jaclaz]

edit - and before you prattle about a "bad keyboard", I have TWO of them - BOTH are Original Dell and NO USB PORTS detect them. OK???

I would add that a PS/2 IBM model M, which is otherwise a nice thing to have , won't help .

jaclaz