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"Slipstreamable" Intel Chipset INF Drivers


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Hello everyone!

This project is fairly straightforward. I have integrated the Device Data from the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility versions 6.3.0.1007 and 8.3.1.1009 (up to ICH9; all after ICH6 is UNOFFICIAL) (excluding server motherboard/Xeon CPU chipsets due to 64KB INF size limit) into the original MACHINE.INF, MACHINE2.INF, and MSHDC.INF files. At the moment, only files for 98SE English have been created. I may consider creating equivalent versions of these INF's for ME/98FE (MAYBE 95, it is more complicated) if there is sufficient interest.

Updated info for USB Devices is not included in this initial version. The reason being that there would need to be multiple versions of USB.INF and USB2.INF, depending on if the original USB files are to be maintained; if manufacturer-issued USB2 drivers will be in use; or if NUSB 3.3, NUSB 3.6, or any other unofficial package is used in a target system.


Hopefully some of you with Intel or Intel-based systems can test these in a new installation.


Answers to a few initial questions:


Do I NEED these INF's?

No, but they can take a step out of setting up a new system. They are also only useful for new Windows 98SE installations on Intel or Intel-based motherboards.


How do I use these INF's?

Unzip them and place them in the same directory as your Windows 98SE CAB files prior to installation, and they will be used instead of the older versions inside the CABs.

In order to use these, you will need to copy the \WIN98 folder of your 98SE CDROM to your Hard Drive and install from there, or be able to create a new Windows 98SE CD with these files added to the \WIN98 folder.


What do these INF's do?

These INF's provide all of the Device Information contained in the above listed versions of the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility. If you use these updated INFs during 98SE installation, you will no longer need to install the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility to provide drivers/identify devices on your Intel or Intel-based motherboard.


EDIT 7/20/13 :

I have split the project into two INF sets, one to be used with Intel Chipsets up to ICH6 (mostly 8xx chipsets) and one to be used with ICH7/ICH8/ICH9/ICH10. (ICH10 not included yet!) Please use the proper version for your system.

I have tested the ICH6 and below INFs on some ICH6 and ICH5 systems, and I know these work.

Based on the issues schwups reported below, I have reduced the size of MACHINE2.INF for the ICH7 and up INF set. This set is still experimental, and this reduced version is for testing ONLY!

If anyone can test, especially on ICH7/ICH8/ICH9 systems please report your results. :thumbup

INTEL_INF_98SE.ZIP - 44.9 Kb

 

 

EDIT 11/23/15 :

 

I have updated the project to include all devices up to the Intel Chipset Identification Utility version 9.4.0.1017. The newer version requires slightly different handling, so the older version and links are left intact. See Post #31 for link and more info.

Edited by LoneCrusader
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Hello LoneCrusader,

the first attempt failed :no: . "The file C:\WININSTO.400\machine2.inf couldn't be opened. The file is missing or corrupted....SU0410". Generally inf files with more than 53 KB don't work on Win ME. But I'm not so familar with Win98SE. My test system: Win98SE, chipset i945 / ICH7.

For the second attempt I reduced machine.inf and machine2.inf to 48 KB and 51 KB (removed not necessary entries). Now the setup runs without an error. But the look into the Device Manager reveals that something went wrong. The devices of your machine.inf exist except the PCI BUS (unknown device). Also the manual install fails (errorcode 192). The devices of machine2.inf and MSHDC.inf are missing or aren't installed.

Note: 98SE runs on the system, if I proceed conventionally and I manually install xrayer's driver.

Edited by schwups
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I removed the unknown device (PCI BUS) in the device manager and then I was able to install it with xrayer's driver. Afterwards all missing devices install fine using inf files machine2 and MDHDC. 

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Hello LoneCrusader,

the first attempt failed  :no: . "The file C:\WININSTO.400\machine2.inf couldn't be opened. The file is missing or corrupted....SU0410". Generally inf files with more than 53 KB don't work on Win ME. But I'm not so familar with Win98SE. My test system: Win98SE, chipset i945 / ICH7.  

For the second attempt I reduced machine.inf and machine2.inf to 48 KB and 51 KB (removed not necessary entries). Now the setup runs without an error. But the look into the Device Manager reveals that something went wrong. The devices of your machine.inf exist except the PCI BUS (unknown device). Also the manual install fails (errorcode 192). The devices of machine2.inf and MSHDC.inf are missing or aren't installed.  

Note: 98SE runs on the system, if I proceed conventionally and I manually install xrayer's driver.

I removed the unknown device (PCI BUS) in the device manager and then I was able to install it with xrayer's driver. Afterwards all missing devices install fine using inf files machine2 and MDHDC. 

Thanks for testing. :thumbup

I haven't had the opportunity yet to actually use these on ICH7 and up yet. I do know that everything I integrated from the last official 98SE INFs DOES work, because I have used it successfully on ICH6 and ICH5R boards, but this was before I added the ICH7/8/9 data.

I am not surprised that the PCI BUS installation fails, I saw this on my attempts to install vanilla 9x on ICH7/ICH10 without any INF drivers.

I will investigate further as soon as I can. I am surprised that xRayer's driver works where mine doesn't though, because I actually compared them before I released my versions. :unsure: Also I noted some instances in xRayer's INFs where the device VEN&DEV line entries point to install sections that do not exist. (This is a side-effect of directly copying those lines from a 2K/XP INF file without the corresponding sections, one should either do this and modify those sections accordingly for 9x, or when the VEN&DEV entries are copied, they should be edited to point to the proper sections in the 9x INF... but who am I to criticize, LOL :lol: , his apparently works and mine doesn't, so I'll have to figure out what is different. :unsure: )

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"The file C:\WININSTO.400\machine2.inf couldn't be opened. The file is missing or corrupted....SU0410". Generally inf files with more than 53 KB don't work on Win ME. But I'm not so familar with Win98SE. My test system: Win98SE, chipset i945 / ICH7.

Reproduced this error on a VM. I have removed some unnecessary entries for testing and it prevents the error on my VM.

This is the first such problem I have seen with an INF size smaller than 64KB. The real "limit" must lie somewhere in between 63KB and 64KB.

But the look into the Device Manager reveals that something went wrong. The devices of your machine.inf exist except the PCI BUS (unknown device). Also the manual install fails (errorcode 192). The devices of machine2.inf and MSHDC.inf are missing or aren't installed.

Note: 98SE runs on the system, if I proceed conventionally and I manually install xrayer's driver.

I compared my INFs to xRayer's again. The only major difference is that I moved all of the Intel data to MACHINE2.INF rather than MACHINE.INF; this because it is the method already used in 98SE. All of the ICH7 devices are pointed to the same "installation processes;" basically the exact same actions should be performed by both INF sets.

As I mentioned above the "PCI Bus" driver installation failure happened to me as well, even without any updated INFs, and I had to manually install "PCI Bus" to cause the detection of the remaining missing devices. It may be impossible to avoid this during a "clean install," or, it may require special handling in the INF if we can figure out what to modify.

When you say "manually" install xRayer's driver, what steps are you taking?

If you manually place xRayer's drivers (without mine) in the \WIN98 folder before installation, are they detected and used during installation? If so, does the "PCI Bus" installation failure still occur?

Edited by LoneCrusader
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After my first attempts I had made a sucessful third attempt for ICH7. I didn't report. I renamed xrayer's ICH7core.inf to machine.inf and used this file instead of yours. Works for ICH7:

Hmm.. I'm glad that it does work that way, but this leads to unnecessary redundancy. The same Intel devices that are present in xRayer's ICH7CORE.INF are already handled in my MACHINE2.INF. unsure.gif

(background info, slightly off-topic)

In 98FE/98SE/ME the standard method of handling manufacturer-specific motherboard devices is to place their data in MACHINE2.INF, not MACHINE.INF. This is the "more complicated" difference between 98 and 95 that I mentioned in my first post; Windows 95 does not have a "MACHINE2.INF" by default, and all of the corresponding data is contained in MACHINE.INF instead. Needless to say, this, along with some special handling for ultra-legacy BIOSes makes the 95 MACHINE.INF much larger, and leaves much less room for additions. I have solved this in my slipstream by splitting the data into 2 INFs based on 98FE/98SE.

(/background info, slightly off-topic)

I had the opportunity last night to test my INFs on an ICH7 board (Intel DG41TY). Windows 98SE installed, but would not finish loading in Normal Mode. Most likely there is a serious conflict/incompatibility with the newer versions of ACPI on ICH7 and later systems. I was able to boot into Safe Mode, where I verified that all of the devices had installed properly, including the "PCI Bus" and related entries.

I repeated the experiment using the "SETUP /P I" switches to prevent the loading of ACPI. Using this method I was able to boot 98SE in Normal Mode after installation, and the "PCI Bus" and related entries were properly installed.

So, it looks like my INFs are now working properly after the size reduction to MACHINE2.INF, but the ACPI problem makes it difficult to run more definitive tests. :}

When you have time schwups, could you please retest my new versions without xRayer's ICH7CORE.INF, and also see if using xRayer's INFs during installation (without mine) prevents the "PCI Bus" failure? (as you found his ICH7CORE.INF corresponds to MACHINE.INF, 945.INF should correspond to MACHINE2.INF)

Edited by LoneCrusader
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:thumbup Your new version works for ICH7. I tested it on two machines i945G and G31. OS Win98SE

One Standard Graphics Adapter is too much. This must be deleted. After restart the yellow exclamation mark of the other Standard PCI Graphics Adapter is gone. After installation and the necessary reboots, DMA for the HDD and the CD drive must be enabled in the device manager.

The long manual intel chipset driver installation is no longer required. It is a considerable simplification.

Works on ME, too. I placed the files in the win9x ( cab files) folder of ME. :)

Edited by schwups
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:thumbup Your new version works for ICH7. I tested it on two machines i945G and G31. OS Win98SE

One Standard Graphics Adapter is too much. This must be deleted. After restart the yellow exclamation mark of the other Standard PCI Graphics Adapter is gone. After installation and the necessary reboots, DMA for the HDD and the CD drive must be enabled in the device manager.

The long manual intel chipset driver installation is no longer required. It is a considerable simplification.

Works on ME, too. I placed the files in the win9x ( cab files) folder of ME. :)

Thanks for the report! :thumbup

I will make a cleaner edit of the MACHINE2.INF file (and may try to figure out what the exact size limit is in bytes) soon; and I hope to find the time to make Windows ME specific INFs and add to the project at some point. Probably there is very little difference from the 98SE versions though.

What is the manufacturer and model of the motherboards you used? Did you experience any problems with ACPI?

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You might try running it through minf to check for section names that are too long.

All of the section names are the exact same as they were in the 98SE originals. My policy was to integrate the newer Intel data while making the absolute minimum changes to anything else. The problem is (was) the overall size. The "real" INF size limit for 98SE must lie somewhere in between 63KB and 64KB, rather than being 64KB "exactly." I removed some non-Intel entries to get the size down a few bytes; I plan to go back and reduce it in a different manner so that no content is lost.

One way to eliminate a considerable amount of "unnecessary" size is to remove all instances of ".DeviceDesc" (without the quotes). In this way no information/identifiably is lost; but I will only make that change if it is necessary to preserve original content or add something that is absolutely necessary. I have adopted an "absolute minimum change" policy for most of my projects; this because it makes comparison/reversion to the originals easier and reduces the possibility of further problems down the line. ;)

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:thumbup Your new version works for ICH7. I tested it on two machines i945G and G31. OS Win98SE

One Standard Graphics Adapter is too much. This must be deleted. After restart the yellow exclamation mark of the other Standard PCI Graphics Adapter is gone. After installation and the necessary reboots, DMA for the HDD and the CD drive must be enabled in the device manager.

The long manual intel chipset driver installation is no longer required. It is a considerable simplification.

Works on ME, too. I placed the files in the win9x ( cab files) folder of ME. :)

Thanks for the report! :thumbup

I will make a cleaner edit of the MACHINE2.INF file (and may try to figure out what the exact size limit is in bytes) soon; and I hope to find the time to make Windows ME specific INFs and add to the project at some point. Probably there is very little difference from the 98SE versions though.

What is the manufacturer and model of the motherboards you used? Did you experience any problems with ACPI?

Your inf files already work on Win ME as good as on Win98SE! I tested with the G31.

Used Motherboards:

G31 > Asus P5 KPL EPU

See topic "Modern motherboards which are working with Windows 98"

There are no drivers for onboard sound and the Asus ATK 0110 virtual device (not required).

I use PCI SB 128 (Ensoniq 1373).

ACPI 2.0 must be disabled in BIOS.

i945G > Fujitsu Siemens D2156 A1

There's no driver for onboard sound. I use instead PCI SB 128. HT must be disabled in BIOS.

Usually I set power options Monitor / Hard Disk / Standby to never and Hibernate to disabled, because normally the system doesn't reawakened. That has probably more to do with the graphics driver of the card.

Edited by schwups
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