Building a fully compatible 98SE computer

[rloew]

I think only the 7100 works with the 77.72 Drivers.

The biggest problem I have had with the 8x.xx Drivers is the Shutdown Problem, which I fixed.

[pangoomis]

I have some problems like: (can only think of these at the moment)

1. Shutdown to MS-DOS from Shutdown menu not working.

2. DX-Ball has no text at all

Both are fixed when using 7x.xx drivers.

[Josey]

Thanks guys! So, if I come across any issues with the card I should be able to fix them using older drivers or a patch.

 

Everyday now I'm looking at motherboards, trying to find the right one at the right price. Can't wait to start building!

[rloew]

The 7950gt only works with the 82.69 Driver.

[Josey]

I've found a few more possible motherboards... sadly all used.

GA-965P-DS3http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2456#sp - About £20, from 2007 I think. It uses "solid-state capacitors", which they claim last longer. Would this board be good?

 

And I've found lots of used motherboards from around 2009 using the G31 chipset, which sell for about £10 to £50. For example the GA-G31M-ES2L http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3485#sp - Would these boards (and the Intel G31 chipset in general) work ok?

 

 

On 07/03/2016 at 5:24 AM, rloew said:

The 7950gt only works with the 82.69 Driver.

Well, hopefully I won't run into too many issues, but even if I do I'm considering doing two builds now, one for Windows 98SE, and after that, just for a fun hobby, building an 'older' PC to run OS/2, MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 using older hardware, and trying to learn how to replace capacitors myself! 

The Windows 98SE build is my priority, and my focus, and for that one I want to use the newer hardware recommended on here. Then afterwards I'll start thinking about the other build, and maybe seeing if any local PC repair shops have any motherboards with faulty capacitors that they would give me to practice on.

[LoneCrusader]

11 hours ago, Josey said:

I've found a few more possible motherboards... sadly all used.

GA-965P-DS3http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=2456#sp - About £20, from 2007 I think. It uses "solid-state capacitors", which they claim last longer. Would this board be good?

 

And I've found lots of used motherboards from around 2009 using the G31 chipset, which sell for about £10 to £50. For example the GA-G31M-ES2L http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3485#sp - Would these boards (and the Intel G31 chipset in general) work ok?

 

 

Well, hopefully I won't run into too many issues, but even if I do I'm considering doing two builds now, one for Windows 98SE, and after that, just for a fun hobby, building an 'older' PC to run OS/2, MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 using older hardware, and trying to learn how to replace capacitors myself! 

The Windows 98SE build is my priority, and my focus, and for that one I want to use the newer hardware recommended on here. Then afterwards I'll start thinking about the other build, and maybe seeing if any local PC repair shops have any motherboards with faulty capacitors that they would give me to practice on.

Those should work OK, remember it's mostly about personal preferences once you have the basic requirements down. I personally wouldn't choose the G31 board since it's not a full size board and only has 2 RAM slots, but it's totally up to you.

Check out the BADCAPS website when/if you want to get into the capacitor issues. I've had work done by the guy who runs it, and I was very impressed.

[Josey]

On 3/15/2016 at 5:13 AM, LoneCrusader said:

Those should work OK, remember it's mostly about personal preferences once you have the basic requirements down. I personally wouldn't choose the G31 board since it's not a full size board and only has 2 RAM slots, but it's totally up to you.

Check out the BADCAPS website when/if you want to get into the capacitor issues. I've had work done by the guy who runs it, and I was very impressed.

Thank you. The BADCAPS site looks very useful.

I ended up winning a very low bid on eBay for a GA-G31M-ES2L with a Intel Core 2 Duo 2.80Ghz SLB9Y processor. I agree that the smaller board with only two ram slots isn't ideal, and it might not be the board I end up using, but it was so cheap! I'll have a look at it when it arrives, and see what I think.

I'm looking at PSU's today...I read on one site that when building old computers you need to use old PSU's because new ones don't have a -5v rail. Am I right in thinking, that because I'm using a newer motherboard, I can use a new PSU, or does some of the older hardware (for example the floppy drive) need the -5v rail, or something else only on a old PSU?

[Tommy]

26 minutes ago, Josey said:

I ended up winning a very low bid on eBay for a GA-G31M-ES2L

FYI, I don't have Windows 98 installed on it but I have this same exact model running in this machine and it works quite well I think. I think there are a few design flaws but overall, it's really good.

[LoneCrusader]

7 hours ago, Josey said:

I'm looking at PSU's today...I read on one site that when building old computers you need to use old PSU's because new ones don't have a -5v rail. Am I right in thinking, that because I'm using a newer motherboard, I can use a new PSU, or does some of the older hardware (for example the floppy drive) need the -5v rail, or something else only on a old PSU?

Interesting; I'm afraid I can't be of much help on this point as I'm not familiar with the issue, but I would definitely be interested in knowing if that is true or not.

 

If it is true, it's still possible to find good quality used PSU's on eBay though.

[Josey]

On 3/15/2016 at 5:13 AM, LoneCrusader said:

Those should work OK, remember it's mostly about personal preferences once you have the basic requirements down. I personally wouldn't choose the G31 board since it's not a full size board and only has 2 RAM slots, but it's totally up to you.

Check out the BADCAPS website when/if you want to get into the capacitor issues. I've had work done by the guy who runs it, and I was very impressed.

Thank you.``

[Josey]

Yesterday the 7950GT arrived! It looks lovely. And today the GA-G31M-ES2L arrived. It's so, so small. It looks brand new. I'll let you know if I learn anything else for sure about PSU's. I'm going to try using a new one for now. QuoteOn 3/19/2016 at 9:56 PM, Josey said:Thank you.`` I didn't post that...my account hasn't been hacked has it?

Edited March 23, 2016 by Josey

[dencorso]

Change your password, just in case.  

[Josey]

13 hours ago, dencorso said:

Change your password, just in case.  

Thank you. Will do.

[Josey]

My friend still wants to wait to build his in the summer, but we'd decided to build mine together at the end of next week! Yay!

Today I ordered "XFX TS Series 430W" PSU and "Crucial 2GB DDR2-800 UDIMM". My plan is that I'll see how it runs with just 2gb, and then in a few months I can upgrade to 4gb if I want to.

In a day or so I'll order the patches I need from rloew. I know I'll need the "WINDOWS 95/98/SE/ME RAM LIMITATION PATCH" and "NVSIZE". I was planning on using a SATA hard drive but as my motherboard has IDE, and I have a spare 60gb IDE hard drive I'm thinking I'll use that, for now at least. If I'm not using SATA, will I still need rloew's "SATA Patch and INF File for Windows 9x"? And is there any other patches or software I'll need from him?

And, what's the best way to install Windows 98SE with 2gb of ram? I'm guessing I can't use the patch until Windows is installed.

Thank you.

[LoneCrusader]

11 hours ago, Josey said:

My friend still wants to wait to build his in the summer, but we'd decided to build mine together at the end of next week! Yay!

Today I ordered "XFX TS Series 430W" PSU and "Crucial 2GB DDR2-800 UDIMM". My plan is that I'll see how it runs with just 2gb, and then in a few months I can upgrade to 4gb if I want to.

In a day or so I'll order the patches I need from rloew. I know I'll need the "WINDOWS 95/98/SE/ME RAM LIMITATION PATCH" and "NVSIZE". I was planning on using a SATA hard drive but as my motherboard has IDE, and I have a spare 60gb IDE hard drive I'm thinking I'll use that, for now at least. If I'm not using SATA, will I still need rloew's "SATA Patch and INF File for Windows 9x"? And is there any other patches or software I'll need from him?

And, what's the best way to install Windows 98SE with 2gb of ram? I'm guessing I can't use the patch until Windows is installed.

Thank you.

You will probably still need the SATA patch as many boards that have SATA ports + an IDE controller still do not work properly without it because the IDE controller allows connection of PATA drives but is still treated as a SATA controller by the BIOS. I believe Tommy had this issue...

I would also go ahead and get his 48-bit LBA patch for use with drives >128GB if you're getting the SATA patch anyway as it will allow you to use more common/more modern drives.

The RAM patch is (ideally) installed at the first reboot of Windows SETUP, but it can be installed at any time. Installing it at the first reboot allows you to set up Windows without having to physically reduce RAM to 512MB or less, as the limitation doesn't present itself until this point.