Intel Ethernet Connection Driver for Windows 98SE

[Sfor]

Well. The task is to test the drivers able to work with Windows 98, right? I doubt Windows 98 GUI can work with DOS based TCP/IP driver. So what's the point in testing it?

[jaclaz]

Well. The task is to test the drivers able to work with Windows 98, right? I doubt Windows 98 GUI can work with DOS based TCP/IP driver. So what's the point in testing it?

That's another question.

 

Dave-H asked something to test Internet under DOS, I tried replying to that question, and I don't think you can have Internet without TCP/IP , whether this will help in the more general "task" is to be seen , but possibly in one of the given pages there may be found the *something* (if it exists) that is missing.

 

jaclaz

Edited December 11, 2014 by jaclaz

[Sfor]

I suppose what I should test fundamentally is whether the DOS driver is actually working in DOS.

I have no DOS programs that use internet access, so has anyone got any suggestion as to how I can test it in DOS?

Cheers, Dave.

 

Well. Testing the DOS driver with TCP/IP protocol is simply forcing things. It should be faster and simpler to test just the NetBeui with Microsoft Networking. This will answer the question, if "the DOS driver is actually working in DOS". What's more important, all the necesary elements are available, and were linked together, already.

[dencorso]

But, for that, he must have a local area network...

In case Dave-H's machine is standalone, that's not an option, while TCP/IP remains viable.

[Dave-H]

I tried installing Arachne, which went fine, although the installer complained about being out of conventional DOS memory.

It didn't find anything to allow it to connect, so i downloaded and installed Microsoft Network Client 3.0 for DOS.

That installed fine and found the Intel DOS driver without any problem.

The trouble now is that I can't use that and Arachne at the same time because there isn't enough memory!

I haven't even got himem.sys loaded in config.sys because I haven't needed it for years, but I guess I'll have to get my head around all that again if I'm going to get Arachne working.

[jaclaz]

The trouble now is that I can't use that and Arachne at the same time because there isn't enough memory!

 

Ahhh, the good ol' times:

http://www.compmiscellanea.com/en/arachne-installing-and-setting-up-ethernet.htm

 

7. Run MemMaker or OPTIMIZE from QEMM97 to optimize base memory management. If it is MemMaker then press Enter at any suggestion - MemMaker will handle it itself. Computer is going to restart several times, each time MemMaker will be re-running - again nothing, just Enter, is a safe choice. If it is QEMM97 (specifically OPTIMIZE), then there is going to be several restarts too and each time just pressing Enter is OK.

 

why in my day ...

... we used to fight till the end for a bunch of Kb of free memory....

...and we LIKED it!

 

Kids today ....

 https://tinyapps.org/blog/misc/200702250700_why_in_my_day.html

 

jaclaz

[Dave-H]

LOL, I remember those days too, although I suspect you go back with PCs much further than I do (1993).

I did actually run memmaker for the first time in years a while ago to try and sort out some other problem, and after it had finished the system wouldn't restart so I had to undo it, but I will try again.

[Dave-H]

Well I tried Memmaker again, just using my normal AUTOEXEC.BAT and CONFIG.SYS files, without any of the Arachne or MS Network Client entries.

Sadly I got the same result as before, the system won't restart after the optimisations, it just stops on the Windows 98 splash screen, or on a flashing cursor on black if I boot to the command prompt.

 

This is the CONFIG.SYS it's trying to use -

DEVICE=C:\WIN-98\CHKSTATE.SYS /S:SR3 /15834DEVICE=C:\WIN-98\HIMEM.SYSDEVICE=C:\WIN-98\EMM386.EXE NOEMS X=CF00-D0FFBUFFERS=12,0FILES=30DOS=UMBLASTDRIVE=ZFCBS=4,0REM 29/11/2014SHELL=C:\WIN-98\COMMAND.COM /E:768 /PREM ** REM OUT THE PREVIOUS LINE WHEN USING AUTO-PATCHER **DEVICE=C:\WIN-98\SIZER.EXE /15834 /11 C:\WIN-98\COMMAND\ANSI.SYSCOUNTRY=044,850,C:\WIN-98\COMMAND\COUNTRY.SYSDOS=HIGHREM DEVICE=C:\PROGRAMF\OLDPROGR\CREATIVE\CDROM\DRV\SBIDE.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:170,15REM ** REINSTATE THE PREVIOUS LINE IF CD SUPPORT IS NEEDED IN DOS OR SAFE MODE **

I tried a step by step boot, and it's fine until it gets to DEVICE=C:\WIN-98\SIZER.EXE /15834 /11 C:\WIN-98\COMMAND\ANSI.SYS at which point it stops and goes no further.

Trying again and skipping that line it's then OK until it tries to load DBLBUFF.SYS with SIZER.EXE (which isn't actually in the CONFIG.SYS file, which i think is normal) and it hangs again.

Skipping that it gets to loading AUTOEXEC.BAT and then hangs again.

 

I don't know what's wrong, but I guess I'm going to have to try and set it all up manually, as Memmaker's automatic settings are just not working.

[Dave-H]

Hi again guys, sorry for the delay, but I've been trying, with dencorso's invaluable help, to free enough base memory to run the MS DOS networking and the Arachne browser at the same time, to test the DOS network driver.

We weren't having a lot of success because of the architecture of my motherboard, and were on the point of giving up (at least I was!)

 

Then, I decided to have another go in Windows.

After several fruitless attempts which just produced the same results as before, suddenly and completely unexpectedly

 

IT WORKED!!

                

 

In the best traditions of this sort of thing, I can't exactly say why it's now working when it wouldn't before, but what I think I did differently was this.

 

I removed the Ndis2 and Gigabit adapters from Device Manager, and then tried installing the Ndis2 adapter again.

However, this time after the file copying, I didn't immediately reboot as instructed (which had always just resulted in a "cannot load drivers" entry.)

 

This time I tried updating the driver first, and pointed it at the INF file for the Intel DOS driver.

 

This had always said "no information about your hardware" when I'd tried anything similar before, but to my great surprise this time it said it had a driver for the Gigabit Adapter, and started to install. It actually asked for the location of E1000.DOS file, which it had never done before, so I was highly hopeful.

 

After it had finished, I rebooted, and was rewarded with an enabled Intel Gigabit Network Adapter entry in Device Manager, using NDIS.VXD as its driver. Tested the internet connection, and was over the moon to find it was working!

 

The driver details in Device Manager were a bit bizarre, the driver provider string was gibberish, and the driver date was 0-0-1980!

A bit of registry editing soon fixed that though.

 

Testing it, it's just as fast as its predecessor, so I am well pleased and I can't thank you all enough for all your help with this!

I certainly hope this thread is of help to others in the future.

 

My next problem is why my graphics driver keeps crashing in Windows 98 unless I keep it on 256 colours, but that's for another thread!

Cheers and thanks again to you all, Dave.

Edited December 16, 2014 by Dave-H

[dencorso]

  Now, that's great news!

 

Congratulations!

 

 

So, I guess, that also means your add-on network card is about to be decommissioned...

[jaclaz]

Good news , though I hate it when this kind of things happen (without apparent reason/by sheer magic).

jaclaz

[buyerninety]

You mentioned;

"REM 29/11/2014
SHELL=C:\WIN-98\COMMAND.COM /E:768 /P
REM ** REM OUT THE PREVIOUS LINE WHEN USING AUTO-PATCHER **
DEVICE=C:\WIN-98\SIZER.EXE /15834 /11 C:\WIN-98\COMMAND\ANSI.SYS
COUNTRY=044,850,C:\WIN-98\COMMAND\COUNTRY.SYS
DOS=HIGH
REM DEVICE=C:\PROGRAMF\OLDPROGR\CREATIVE\CDROM\DRV\SBIDE.SYS /D:MSCD001 /P:170,15
REM ** REINSTATE THE PREVIOUS LINE IF CD SUPPORT IS NEEDED IN DOS OR SAFE MODE ** "

 

"I tried a step by step boot, and it's fine until it gets to DEVICE=C:\WIN-98\SIZER.EXE /15834 /11 C:\WIN-98\COMMAND\ANSI.SYS at which point it stops and goes no further.

Trying again and skipping that line it's then OK until it tries to load DBLBUFF.SYS with SIZER.EXE (which isn't actually in the CONFIG.SYS file, which i think is normal) and it hangs again.

Skipping that it gets to loading AUTOEXEC.BAT and then hangs again. "

 

I did wonder if this information on MDGX's webpage was having an affect;

http://www.mdgx.com/msdos.htm

"Hidden features, oddities + BUGs I discovered:"

"Windows 9x/ME automatically loads the interface (GUI) ONLY IF a "SHELL=" line is NOT present in CONFIG.SYS"

 

Despite the above, I'd agree hangs are usully caused by conflicts (during

{boot} setup) when assigning memory ranges an such... - so the different

installation process you eventually used allowed the BIOS or OS to assign

the resources, such that no fatal conflicts occured.

Guess you should make a note from Device Manager, Network Adapter,

Properties, Resources, of the (working) Memory Range, I/O Range... 

there's no conflicts shown there, right?

Edited December 16, 2014 by buyerninety

[Dave-H]

Thanks buyerninety. I just replied to your PM, then found you'd deleted it!

As I see you've seen, the problem has gone away anyway as I finally got the driver to work in Windows!

I had been working on the DOS memory issue by PM with dencorso, and I think we'd got to the point where we were about to decide that there was just no way to free enough base memory to allow the MS DOS Networking components and the Arachne DOS browser to run at the same time.

Apparently most modern motherboards have this problem, because they're just not designed for DOS working of course.

Cheers, Dave.

[Dave-H]

Good news , though I hate it when this kind of things happen (without apparent reason/by sheer magic).

jaclaz

 

Yes, it is very annoying, especially as the thread potentially won't be as much help to others as it might have been if we don't know exactly what the fix was!

I'll be interested to hear what Sfor thinks.

It may well be that I misunderstood his instructions and just didn't do things in exactly the right order or something.

 

Looking at my present PROTOCOL.INI file, the difference is here -

[data]version=v4.10.2222netcards=E1000$,*PNP8fff

Everything else is the same, but that *PNP8fff which wasn't there before is the magic extra.

 

A file has been added to my INF\OTHER folder too, whose contents look like an INF file, but is called ~OEM0B01.WIN.

That's not something I'd ever seen before either!

 

And yes den, I'm looking forward to taking the separate Ethernet card out later today, it will eventually be replaced with an eSATA card!

Edited December 16, 2014 by Dave-H

[jaclaz]

Good , at least we know that the missing item was the comma and the name of the device, which in Sfor's case is a "plain" name:

 

[data]
version=v4.10.2222
netcards=ATL2$,ATHEROSL2

 

and in your case is a PNP ID:

 

[data]
version=v4.10.2222
netcards=E1000$,*PNP8fff

 

 

jaclaz