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Building a fully compatible 98SE computer


Josey

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We started building yesterday! All of our IDE cables were on the small side, so by the time the we had all the drives plugged in and working we were out of time. We'll install 98SE next week now.

One question...is there any down side to installing using "SETUP /p i"? If not I may as well do that to avoid issues, but if there is I'll try it without. And if I don't use "SETUP /p i" should I use "SETUP /p j"?

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13 hours ago, Josey said:

We started building yesterday! All of our IDE cables were on the small side, so by the time the we had all the drives plugged in and working we were out of time. We'll install 98SE next week now.

One question...is there any down side to installing using "SETUP /p i"? If not I may as well do that to avoid issues, but if there is I'll try it without. And if I don't use "SETUP /p i" should I use "SETUP /p j"?

SETUP /p i disables ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface) and reverts 98SE to APM (Advanced Power Management). The only downside to this might be the loss of some power saving features; but IMO this is irrelevant especially in a system built for performance/gaming. It might be helpful to have ACPI on a system that you plan to leave continuously powered on, but otherwise I see no benefit. You will probably need to use SETUP /p i on the G31 board (I assume that's the one you're working with) if you want to be certain there are no resource conflicts in the Device Manager. Of course you can always run a normal SETUP and see what the Device Manager looks like when you reach the Desktop. If you have conflicts, especially with "Motherboard resources," or you have trouble getting the machine to Shut Down properly then I would start over using SETUP /p i. I've never needed to use SETUP /p j for anything.

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Thank you. I will use SETUP /p i. Yes I'm using the G31 board, for now anyway.

Are there any generic 1394 drivers for 98SE? I've got a 1394 PCI-e add-on card, which only has drivers for Windows 2000 and up. I was about to order one that had drivers for 98SE, but then I wondered about generic ones. I've had a google and can't see any, but just in case I've missed something I thought I'd ask.

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The 1394 driver that comes with Windows 98SE is fairly generic, at least for Motherboard 1394 Controllers. I haven't found one that is not recognized. I don't have any 1394 peripherals to test with.

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I tried today to install Windows 98SE! But I'm having a few problems, and I was wondering if someone might be able to help. When I start the Windows 98SE setup it asks if I want large disk support, and then after I say yes, it asks me to reboot with the boot floppy in drive A. Do I install the patches now, or after it's formatted the hard drive and copied the windows files over? 

I don't have a boot floppy, or access to a floppy drive apart from the one in the case I'm using for the 98SE build, so I made a 98SE boot floppy CD. I put the boot CD in and booted into it, and then swapped the disc with the Windows 98SE setup CD. It then formatted the drive and started putting the Windows files onto the computer, but it couldn't copy vga.drv over. Any idea where I went wrong?

Looking at rloew's manual for the patches...for the PATCHATA patch he says "1. Download and UnZip the Program to a known location.
2. Copy the PATCHATA.EXE to C:\PATCHATA.EXE" How do I do this? Do I do it in DOS?

For the SATA patch, when he says "Boot to DOS using a Floppy Disk", do you mean use a DOS boot floppy? Would a DOS boot CD or USB also work? If not how can I make a floppy for booting into DOS? Can I make it on a linux live cd, or on Window PE?

Oh, and by the way, I ended up not using the Nvidia 7950GT, because it covered one of the PCI slots, so I got a £3 256mb Nvidia 6200 at a local shop, but that has stopped working (it was fanless, and I think it might have over heated as it was very, very hot when I removed it), so I'm now using a 512mb Nvidia 7600 GS, which a friend had.

Because the Nvidia 6200 wouldn't have needed the NSIZE patch, I haven't ordered that yet. Will Windows install with the Nvidia 7600 GS, without the patch, or should I order that before I try again? 

I've also emailed rloew for advice. 

Thank you,

Josey :)

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I had a reply from rloew, and he said to do this: 

1. Make a CD with all three Patches added to the Boot CD you created before.
2. Use the Setup CD to Partition (if necessary) and Format your C: Partition.
3. ReBoot with the Setup CD and Install Windows until it asks to reboot.
4. Insert the Boot CD with the Patches, then let it Reboot.
5. From the Boot CD, apply the PATCHATA and PTCHSATA Patches.
6. ReBoot with the Setup CD and wait until it crashes with the "Not Enougn Memory" Error.
7. Insert the Boot CD with the Patches, and Reboot.
8. From the Boot CD, apply the PATCHMEM /M Patch.
9. ReBoot with the Setup CD and finish installing Windows.
10. When it is installing the Hard Drive Drivers, answer No if it asks you to Reboot.

I started this, but at step 3 it again says "Error loading vga.drv". If I keep trying, it sometimes comes up with a different error (for example "Error loading user"), and twice the error didn't pop up and it goes for a little bit longer, but then the first time another error came up saying "Message SU995003 - Setup cannot load a required library [0x138b}, and the second time it said "Cannot load from drive C". 

I have no idea what's going wrong. Does anyone have any idea?

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rloew said I should try a different install CD, so I did. It still did the vga.drv error, but only the first time. Since then every time it gets to 100% of step 3, and then just before it reboots it has three errors. They are:

1) "(error #1 f) Setup could not finish copying a file.
Source file: 'C:\SYSTEM.NEW'
Destination file: 'C:\WINDOWS|SYSTEM.DAT=SYSTEM.DAT'"

2) "(error #1 f) Setup could not finish copying a file.
Source file: 'C:\USER.NEW'
Destination file: 'C:\WINDOWS|user.DAT=user.DAT'"

3) "Application Error - SUWIN cased a General Protection Fault in module KRNL386.EXE at 0001:81AA."

Is there anyway I can do the file copying, or whatever it's trying to do, for Windows?

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I've never seen any of these errors before... very odd. :dubbio: Are you sure the CD(s) you're using are in good shape and not dirty, scratched up, or otherwise damaged? I would try using a different CD/DVD drive; it's always possible it could be the cause as well. Some "lower quality" ones don't always function well under a DOS environment or with SETUP.

When I set up a new Win9x system I always partition and format the drive and then I copy all of the Windows SETUP files to a folder on the hard drive, such as C:\WINDOWS\SETUP\ and run the installation from there instead of from the CD. This also prevents Windows from asking for the CDROM when installing new hardware. (Using a folder under WINDOWS on the HDD will trigger a prompt about the folder already existing or cause Windows to try to install to s different folder during SETUP, always check this or use MSBATCH.INF to override the install folder and kill the prompt about it.)

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17 hours ago, LoneCrusader said:

I've never seen any of these errors before... very odd. :dubbio: Are you sure the CD(s) you're using are in good shape and not dirty, scratched up, or otherwise damaged? I would try using a different CD/DVD drive; it's always possible it could be the cause as well. Some "lower quality" ones don't always function well under a DOS environment or with SETUP.

When I set up a new Win9x system I always partition and format the drive and then I copy all of the Windows SETUP files to a folder on the hard drive, such as C:\WINDOWS\SETUP\ and run the installation from there instead of from the CD. This also prevents Windows from asking for the CDROM when installing new hardware. (Using a folder under WINDOWS on the HDD will trigger a prompt about the folder already existing or cause Windows to try to install to s different folder during SETUP, always check this or use MSBATCH.INF to override the install folder and kill the prompt about it.)

This (copying install files to HDD) is extremely good advice :thumbup as it is faster and removes a lot of possible issues connected with the CD (both reader and media).
Personally I see very little issues in using a folder OUTSIDE the \Windows\ directory to store the files, which would remove a complication just for the sake of having a "clean" root directtory, C:\Install\ or C:\Setup9x\ has always worked for me nicely.

jaclaz
 

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Thank you everyone. I already was (on most of my attempts) copying the files to the hard driver using the "COPY *.* C:\WIN98" command. I was sort of following this: http://www.windowsreinstall.com/win98/install98stepbystep2/indexfullpage.htm but most of the time using "setup /p i" instead of just "setup". I'm going to try this again with a different install CD, a different CD drive, and if that doesn't work I'll try swapping the ram (which rloew said might be an issue). And I'll try installing it from USB.

It might be a few days before I can try all of that. I'll let you know how I get on.:)

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