Trying to boot Windows 98 SE

[BradleyPhillips]

Hello, I'm wondering if anyone can help me.

I just put together a computer for Windows 98 SE to play old games on and I've encountered quite a few problems along the way but I've managed to figure out most of them. I was able to partition my SSD and install windows 98 on it but my big problem right now that I've been having no luck with has simply been trying to get Windows 98 to start. I can start it just fine in Safe Mode but when I try to launch normally it goes to a blank screen with a white underscore blinking in the corner.

 

Before I go on, I'll list what I have.

 

MB - ASRock 775i65G http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/775i65G/

CPU - Intel e5800 CPU http://ark.intel.com/products/42802/Intel-Pentium-Processor-E5800-2M-Cache-3_20-GHz-800-MHz-FSB

SSD - Micron M500 SSD http://www.storagereview.com/micron_m500_enterprise_ssd_review

RAM - MEM-DDR512PC3200LLAW

600W Rosewill Power Supply

generic floppy drive

generic IDE CD drive

PS/2 mouse + keyboard + vga monitor

 

I also have a sound card and a graphics card but the monitor won't get a signal if the graphics card is in and the sound card doesn't seem to have any effect so I'm leaving them out for now.

 

When I start the computer I get this screen:

 

If I press 1. Normal, the Windows 98 splash screen appears, then the screen goes black for a few seconds and the exact same screen re-appears except this time it's non-interactive with a white underscore blinking in the corner. Sometimes the screen is just blank with the blinking underscore. If I let it sit, it will restart and give me this screen once again. If I select 3. Safe mode, the computer will start in safe mode perfectly fine.

 

 

 

My best guess is that the issue is either with the SSD (being connected through SATA) or something to do with the RAM. I tried starting it up with a stick of 128mb RAM but I think the stick was bad as I couldn't even get safe mode up.

 

I feel like it wouldn't make sense for the SSD to be the issue as I can run safe mode just fine and navigate the directories and such but I came into this expecting to have trouble getting the SSD to work properly so it wouldn't surprise me.

 

Any help would be appreciated. I've been at this for hours.

Edited February 27, 2016 by BradleyPhillips

[jaclaz]

It does seem like an issue with the SATA device (not connected to it being a SSD instead of a conventional hard disk).

See:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/161982-windows-98-hangs/

 

It is possible that you are having some issues related to BIOS settings and device ports, see also:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/97588-modern-motherboards-which-are-working-with-windows-98/?p=992381

 

but the SATA patch should anyway solve the issue.

 

jaclaz

[netbookdelgob]

Maybe an ACPI issue? Windows 9x has problems with new acpi.

[BradleyPhillips]

It does seem like an issue with the SATA device (not connected to it being a SSD instead of a conventional hard disk).

See:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/161982-windows-98-hangs/

 

It is possible that you are having some issues related to BIOS settings and device ports, see also:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/97588-modern-motherboards-which-are-working-with-windows-98/?p=992381

 

but the SATA patch should anyway solve the issue.

 

jaclaz

Thank you! In the second link rloew had wrote "... go to safe mode and Disable, NOT Remove, everything under "Hard Disk Controllers" using Device Manager." Disabling the primary IDE controller allowed it to boot properly. I think it was looking for the hard drive in the primary IDE slot and not finding it.

Now when I start the computer it tells me I am missing "vnetbios.vxd", but if I press enter it will continue to boot up normally. My biggest issue now is that it won't detect my cd drive. It seems to want drivers for it. I tried a SATA cd drive as well to see if it would read that, but also nothing.

[submix8c]

SATA Optical drives are problematic. They require special drivers. You can, however, try SHSUCDX.

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

Your SATA Control for the Drive will probably need to be in PATA Mode for that controller/device.

I have, of course, not tried this yet. I have the Dell "EXTCD.SYS" that works on Dell Dimension 531 but don't really know how "generic" it is.

 

edit - DOH (See next post by jaclaz)! Correct! the "other" Driver (not this one).

Edited February 27, 2016 by submix8c

[jaclaz]

Well SHSUCDX:

http://adoxa.altervista.org/shsucdx/

is a (better) replacement for MSCDEX.EXE, it has nothing to do with the bus on which the CD device is installed, it is basically a CDFS filesystem extension.

What might be needed (for the DOS part at least) is GCDROM:

http://help.fdos.org/en/hhstndrd/base/gcdrom.htm

or XDVD2:

http://optimizr.dyndns.org/dos/drivers.html

jaclaz

[Tommy]

This was exactly the problem I was having, I had the screen that would freeze and have a blinking underscore. I ultimately had to get the SATA patch from Rloew to have perfect compatibility. But if you go into safe mode, go to my computer and right click on it, go to properties, click on performance, file system, troubleshooting, and the check disable 32-bit protected mode disk drivers. Hit okay and reboot. That way you can at least boot into normal mode but your disks will be in compatibility mode meaning it'll be slower and a little less stable, but it works.

 

But as Jaclaz said, the SATA patch will solve the problem and $11 is a small price to pay for SATA support.

 

Also, vnetbios.vxd I believe is related to your network adapter. Once you get everything sorted out with having SATA support, remove the network driver by uninstalling the device from device manager and try reinstalling it. That should make the problem go away as it'll ask for your Windows 98 disk and recopy necessary files when you go to reinstall the driver for the device.

 

What I'd recommend is if you get your CD drive working (SATA patch will fix that too if applicable), copy your Windows 98 disk files to the C:\Windows\System\Precopy folder, that way it'll be easier to fetch files from it, even in DOS mode where your CD drive may or may not work.

[rloew]

It does seem like an issue with the SATA device (not connected to it being a SSD instead of a conventional hard disk).

See:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/161982-windows-98-hangs/

It is possible that you are having some issues related to BIOS settings and device ports, see also:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/97588-modern-motherboards-which-are-working-with-windows-98/?p=992381

but the SATA patch should anyway solve the issue.

jaclaz

Thank you! In the second link rloew had wrote "... go to safe mode and Disable, NOT Remove, everything under "Hard Disk Controllers" using Device Manager." Disabling the primary IDE controller allowed it to boot properly. I think it was looking for the hard drive in the primary IDE slot and not finding it.

Now when I start the computer it tells me I am missing "vnetbios.vxd", but if I press enter it will continue to boot up normally. My biggest issue now is that it won't detect my cd drive. It seems to want drivers for it. I tried a SATA cd drive as well to see if it would read that, but also nothing.

The test you ran confirms the need for the SATA Patch as it does not affect anything else.

Since it puts you in Compatability Mode, you lose the Driver for Optical Drives.

[BradleyPhillips]

 

 

It does seem like an issue with the SATA device (not connected to it being a SSD instead of a conventional hard disk).

See:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/161982-windows-98-hangs/

It is possible that you are having some issues related to BIOS settings and device ports, see also:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/97588-modern-motherboards-which-are-working-with-windows-98/?p=992381

but the SATA patch should anyway solve the issue.

jaclaz

Thank you! In the second link rloew had wrote "... go to safe mode and Disable, NOT Remove, everything under "Hard Disk Controllers" using Device Manager." Disabling the primary IDE controller allowed it to boot properly. I think it was looking for the hard drive in the primary IDE slot and not finding it.

Now when I start the computer it tells me I am missing "vnetbios.vxd", but if I press enter it will continue to boot up normally. My biggest issue now is that it won't detect my cd drive. It seems to want drivers for it. I tried a SATA cd drive as well to see if it would read that, but also nothing.

The test you ran confirms the need for the SATA Patch as it does not affect anything else.

Since it puts you in Compatability Mode, you lose the Driver for Optical Drives.

 

I see. That would make sense. How do I know I'm in compatibility mode? And where would I find this patch?

[dencorso]

At RLoew's site...

[BradleyPhillips]

At RLoew's site...

Thanks

[Tommy]

He doesn't have a SATA demo patch available though, so you'll have to contact him directly in order to purchase it.

[rloew]

There is no Demo Patch for SATA.