eSATA Card Drivers for Windows 98

[Dave-H]

Happy New Year everybody!

Just wanted to report that I've just fitted a Vantec UGT-ST300 eSATA PCI card to my system, which I had been very pleased to find actually has Windows 98 drivers.

It works perfectly, so would be a solution to add SATA/eSATA to an older motherboard with Windows 98.

It has one eSATA port and one internal SATA port.

It's obviously not a current card, but there did seem to be several sources of it on eBay.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Dave-H

[Drugwash]

Happy New Year, Dave!  Glad you got everything working! Good news the eSATA card has 9x drivers, maybe you could share them in case we need them for a driver package (there's such an idea somewhere around).

Good luck ahead!

[Dave-H]

Thanks Drugwash.

The Vantec UGT-ST300 eSATA card I just installed is the PCI version of the previous one I had, a Vantec UGT-ST400, which appears to be the PCI Express version of the same card.

I never got the ST400 to work, as the motherboard refused to recognise it in a PCI Express slot, which is why I fell back on the PCI version.

 

Both versions claim to have drivers for Windows 98, the ST400 ones being a bit later (from 2007 instead of 2005).

Now I've looked into the driver situation more closely, it appears that the ST300 is the only card that actually has Windows 98 drivers.

 

Despite the fact that the ST400 box and installation booklet clearly state that it supports Windows 98, there are no Windows 98 drivers on the disk in the box!

Also the latest ST400 driver available from Vantec's website is the same as that on the ST400 disk, so no Windows 98 there either even though the page says that the card supports it!

 

Anyway, I've got one that works, although had the ST400 worked with the motherboard I would have been highly miffed to find that there weren't actually any Windows 98 drivers for it despite what the documentation says!

I'm sure I can get the necessary files off the installation disk if you think they would be worth having.

 

I'm still getting odd niggles with Windows 98, sometimes it tries to load on the splash screen, and then the system just spontaneously re-boots, or occasionally the system just freezes.

Usually telling it to load normally again then works.

I'm also getting BSODs when inserting CDs into the CD drive, which is annoying. If I then reboot with the disk already in the drive it seems to be fine.

 

I guess these sorts of things are par for the course when you're using Windows 98 on a system that fundamentally wasn't designed for it, and I think I've actually been very lucky to have got it working so well at all!

 

The main niggle still outstanding is the graphics driver crashing sometimes, but that's definitely for another thread!

 

Cheers, Dave.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Dave-H

[Drugwash]

Thanks for the official link - if the drivers on the web are the same as those on the disk (for ST300) then we can just get them online while they're available.

 

I have a fairly old motherboard for my 98SE installation and still got weird issues with the optical drive, also related to networking. At times, when trying to access the optical drive - located on the 98SE machine - from another machine (it's shared on my local network), the 98SE machine just instantly reboots. Not always, just sometimes. Since that is the only (usable) DVD unit in the house, you can imagine it's quite frustrating. Reasons could be too many to count so I have not pursued the issue. Yours could well be similar, especially if you have a similarly updated 98SE system as mine (2000/XP/2003 system files, AutoPatcher/uSP, KernelEx, Revolutions Pack). Maybe we should open a new topic for such optical drive issues sometime.

 

You'd be amused to know that, rarely, my system throws an error messagebox related to... blank screensaver! I mean, in display properties I have selected 'Blank' for the screensaver which should just blank the screen. Well, at times when that blank should come into effect according to the timer, the screen does go blank but I get the crash message box (twice in a row). However, just tapping 'Enter' each time restores the desktop without any side effect. The video driver is extremely old and specific to the videocard (MSI GeForce2 Ti4200 AGP8x). If I try a newer, generic driver from nVidia (even the tweaked one from MDGx) I lose AGP Texture in DirectX diagnostic page (and obviously in applications).

 

So, you see, weird things are happening in this realm. We cope with them as we can.

[Dave-H]

Unfortunately the drivers on Vantec's website for the ST300 are the same, no Windows 98 driver included, despite what the page says!

The only Windows 98 driver seems to be the one on the installation CD that came with my ST300 card.

I guess that might well work with the ST400 as well.

[Drugwash]

Well then I'd be interested in those on the CD.

[jaclaz]

Allow me to guess that the drivers are these:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/142799-goodbad-sata-controllers-for-win98/?p=915048

 

http://www.vantecusa.com/system/application/media/data_file/ugt-st350.zip

 

jaclaz

[Dave-H]

That is actually a later driver for Windows 98 than the one I've got on disk, good find!

The one I've got is 1.3.61.0, that one is 1.3.65.2.

I can't try it with the ST300 at the moment, but I bet it will work!

[jaclaz]

The one I've got is 1.3.61.0, that one is 1.3.65.2.

 

Which I can guess is the "standard", completely unlike modified, Siicon Image one :

http://www.siliconimage.com/support/

http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/SWD-003x12-00W-1361.zip

 

If this is the case, I would try also the 1.3.67:

http://www.siliconimage.com/docs/3x12_13670_x86_logo.zip

 

It seems like the "Chicago" signature disappeared in 1.3.68

 

jaclaz

[Drugwash]

Too bad they don't provide a change log for the different driver versions. If I were Dave, I'd keep the older (on CD) driver somewhere safe, in case there's any incompatibility between the new drivers and the hardware or other drivers.

Anyway, thanks for the heads up, jaclaz!

[Dave-H]

Thanks guys, sorry I've been otherwise engaged this evening, but I will try the 1.3.67.0 driver tomorrow and report back.

Edited January 3, 2015 by Dave-H

[rloew]

Unfortunately the drivers on Vantec's website for the ST300 are the same, no Windows 98 driver included, despite what the page says!

I've seen this problem a number of times. I have even returned items that advertised Windows 9x support and didn't have any.

[Dave-H]

I'm used to information on websites being wrong, especially on auction sites, but having the wrong information actually printed on the product box, and on the documentation inside, as it is on the ST400 I bought, is right out of order!

Anyway, I'm pleased to report that the 1.3.67 driver seems to work perfectly on the ST300, so assuming that is the last Windows 98 compatible driver, that's the one to add to the collection!

Edited January 3, 2015 by Dave-H

[Drugwash]

They always get away with it, virtually nobody makes a case out of this. M$ are really desperate to bury Win9x and everything related to it. Think for a second: why is there no Windows 9? Why did they jump from 8.x to 10? My opinion is, they are afraid people looking for Win9-related stuff might stumble into Win9x-related stuff and be amazed on all the available options 9x had , compared to the new "monsters".

 

What were you saying? Oh, the drivers... OK, I got them saved. Hopefully there won't be another system crash before getting to burn these on DVD. Although last night's repeated power failures did break a PSU in a friend's computer I had here for temporary perusal. Off-topic, I know...

[jaclaz]

 Think for a second: why is there no Windows 9? Why did they jump from 8.x to 10? My opinion is, they are afraid people looking for Win9-related stuff might stumble into Win9x-related stuff and be amazed on all the available options 9x had , compared to the new "monsters". 

 

Interesting opinion , I like it!

 

jaclaz