Win 98se on an emachines etower 633ids

[justacruzr2]

I'm having a little problem with a fresh installation of win 98se on an emachines etower 633ids.  Sound doesn't work and usb flash drives don't work.  After trying several different ideas that didn't work it occurred to me that maybe this is a problem with the initial install.  I checked the introduction date of the emachines etower and found out it was approximately Nov/Dec 2000.  About 8 months after 98se was relaeased (4/23/99).  If the Machine inf's that came with 98se don't have this computer in them I figured that might be why.  So rather than uninstall the whole thing and start from scratch I could go into Device Manager and update the drivers using the inf's from Millennium.  Millennium is on this computer and that's what it came with when I bought it.  Well that idea wasn't too bad because several things got a lot better overall.  I now get the little pop from the speakers on start up but still no sound in Windows.  I looked at the Multimedia and Sound properties in Control Panel and neither of them show a "preferred device".  However the Multimedia device that used to be in "Other" (yellow triangle with black exclamation point) in Device Manager is gone and the AC'97 sound card is now shown in the Sound and Multimedia section.  USB flash drives still are a problem though even though the USB card is properly registered in Device Manager.  Don't suggest NUSB33e because I already tried it.  This computer has 2 built in USB ports and they aren't working either and they should be.  I think this is a "Machine" problem, that 98se didn't fully understand this computer and just did the best it could during install.  So what I'm wondering is what if I just remove "System" from Device manager, reboot, and let it reinstall that using the Millenium Inf's?  Has anyone ever done a dangerous undertaking like this and was it successful?  I really don't want to start from scratch since I just recently finished everything else (updates and apps).

[pangoomis]

Try grabbing drivers from a Restore CD of a similar model (eTower 633is):

https://archive.org/details/emachinesrestorecdversion1.1etower633is2000

[awkduck]

Hopefully, MrMateczko's suggestion works for you.

You could try the 95 modded AC97 drivers. They still contain original support for 98 and newer. You can get them here and here.

These seem to be your specs, found from a brief search.

Quote

Microsoft® Windows® Milennium Edition
Intel® Celeron® 633 MHz (w/128KB L2 Cache)
Intel® 810 Chipset, 66 MHz FSB
64 MB SDRAM (1 DIMM available for upgrade up to 256MB)
15 GB HDD 1
Built-in 12x Max. DVD-ROM; 3.5" 1.44 MB FDD
Intel® Direct 3D 2x AGP (shared memory)
56K ITU v.90 PCI internal Fax/Modem
Intel® 82801 AC '97 Audio
Keyboard; Mouse; Stereo Speakers
2 USB ports (1 is on front bezel); 1 Serial; 1 Parallel; 1 Midi/Game; 2 PS/2; Audio In & Out, Microphone In; 3 Expansion slots - 2 available

The Intel® 810 Chipset seems to only support USB1.1, so you could try rloew's USB driver, instead. If you can provide the make/model of the "added" USB card, the drivers are probably common. But I have suspicions that NUSB will end up working for you. Note: if you intend to use USB2.0, do not use rloew's USB driver.

There has been debate about the usefulness of "Intel Chipset" support additions being installed. I don't want to add anything to that debate, but I will say that the inf files for older chipsets have much more information in them. If the chipset support does anything useful, it is more likely to be useful on a system like yours. I know rloew instructed that the chipset support be installed "before" you install his USB driver. I've had VIA and Intel systems not correctly detect PCI "and other" devices, until the chipset support was installed. But who is to say "for certain" that it was actually the chipset installation that helped. It couldn't hurt to try.

You mentioned that you installed updates. Did you install one of the Unofficial 98se service packs? If so, the newer ones provide their own USB drivers. So installing NUSB shouldn't be needed.

You could remove the drivers and let Windows re-detect the system. But that probably won't do much better than just trying to update drivers from the ME infs. I doubt it could do much harm trying anyway.

Since you are having USB and Audio issues, it seem like something else might be wrong. KolibriOS provides an ISO for it's LiveCD OS. You system is supported by KolibriOS, so you could test your hardware with that.

You could also try burning an older "Live" 32Bit Linux to CD. Even something dated, like "Damn Small Linux", should boot and provide functionality tests. Knoppix 6 or 7 series would also be good. However, there are recent Linux releases that will still boot an older system, like the one you have. Maybe Pupply Linux?

I have my doubts that there is a hardware malfunction. Perhaps a conflict? I would first remove the USB card, then see what happens when reinstalling "the existing" drivers. It may be further needed to remove any cards added to the system. Unless ME ran fine with these cards installed as the currently are. It is also possible that the audio driver for ME does not Fully support 98.

If the drivers in the  restore CD are ME Specific and unhelpful "and" the hardware proves functional (via alternative OS tests), then you will likely need to find 98 specific drivers. There are drivers, for you machine, that support both Win95 and 98.

Hope someone finds something here useful.

[justacruzr2]

On 10/1/2022 at 3:53 PM, MrMateczko said:

Try grabbing drivers from a Restore CD of a similar model (eTower 633is):

https://archive.org/details/emachinesrestorecdversion1.1etower633is2000

Thanks, I'll try that if it's not for ME.

[justacruzr2]

On 10/2/2022 at 12:13 AM, awkduck said:

Hopefully, MrMateczko's suggestion works for you.

You could try the 95 modded AC97 drivers. They still contain original support for 98 and newer. You can get them here and here.

These seem to be your specs, found from a brief search.

The Intel® 810 Chipset seems to only support USB1.1, so you could try rloew's USB driver, instead. If you can provide the make/model of the "added" USB card, the drivers are probably common. But I have suspicions that NUSB will end up working for you. Note: if you intend to use USB2.0, do not use rloew's USB driver.

There has been debate about the usefulness of "Intel Chipset" support additions being installed. I don't want to add anything to that debate, but I will say that the inf files for older chipsets have much more information in them. If the chipset support does anything useful, it is more likely to be useful on a system like yours. I know rloew instructed that the chipset support be installed "before" you install his USB driver. I've had VIA and Intel systems not correctly detect PCI "and other" devices, until the chipset support was installed. But who is to say "for certain" that it was actually the chipset installation that helped. It couldn't hurt to try.

You mentioned that you installed updates. Did you install one of the Unofficial 98se service packs? If so, the newer ones provide their own USB drivers. So installing NUSB shouldn't be needed.

You could remove the drivers and let Windows re-detect the system. But that probably won't do much better than just trying to update drivers from the ME infs. I doubt it could do much harm trying anyway.

Since you are having USB and Audio issues, it seem like something else might be wrong. KolibriOS provides an ISO for it's LiveCD OS. You system is supported by KolibriOS, so you could test your hardware with that.

You could also try burning an older "Live" 32Bit Linux to CD. Even something dated, like "Damn Small Linux", should boot and provide functionality tests. Knoppix 6 or 7 series would also be good. However, there are recent Linux releases that will still boot an older system, like the one you have. Maybe Pupply Linux?

I have my doubts that there is a hardware malfunction. Perhaps a conflict? I would first remove the USB card, then see what happens when reinstalling "the existing" drivers. It may be further needed to remove any cards added to the system. Unless ME ran fine with these cards installed as the currently are. It is also possible that the audio driver for ME does not Fully support 98.

If the drivers in the  restore CD are ME Specific and unhelpful "and" the hardware proves functional (via alternative OS tests), then you will likely need to find 98 specific drivers. There are drivers, for you machine, that support both Win95 and 98.

Hope someone finds something here useful.

Hi and thanks for your reply.  Don't know where you got the info that the Intel 810 chipset doesn't support USB 2.0 but that's
exactly what is running on ME.  Me has no problems at all.  XP Pro is also on this machine.  All 3 OS's are on separate drives.  When I installed the USB card (long ago) all I had to do was run the install program that came with the card.  ME and XP had no problem at all. When I plugged in the first flash drive, ME simply went into the found new hardware routine and installed it.  After the install of 98SE, the USB card was shown as an UNKNOWN in Device Manager along with the flash drives.  All I did was run the driver install from the CD that came with the card and it was all good in Device Manager.  It was moved from UNKNOWN to USB with no yellow exclamation points.  But windows doesn't know how to use it.  No unofficial updates have been installed.  Don't need any additional problems and I suspect that at this point in time even those updates are outdated.  This, I believe, is a deeper problem due to the fact that 98SE didn't come with anything for the AC'97 sound chip or USB 2.  Using ME Inf's did help a little bit but there's still something missing.  Today I found a thread on another web site by someone who had a similar problem and it led me to a site that had the Trigem Cognac motherboard drivers.  A more up to date set from 2004.  It is compatible with 95, 98, 98SE, ME and XP.  We'll see if that does the trick for 98SE.

[awkduck]

http://www.techtalk.cc/viewtopic.php?t=65

3 hours ago, justacruzr2 said:

Hi and thanks for your reply.  Don't know where you got the info that the Intel 810 chipset doesn't support USB 2.0 but that's
exactly what is running on ME.

I probably am just not being clear enough. Its not an issue of general support for USB2.0. I was meaning that integrated USB, accompanying the chipset, will not be USB2.0. Usb add on cards have their own chip support. But to be frank, I haven't cornered the market on "Intel 810". I just peaked at the wiki on it. And Wikipedia isn't always 100% accurate or complete. So if you are talking about the integrated USB, whoa is me. I would not have been the first person to lean to far on Wiki, for support.

"Support" should have been worded more clearly at the internal board devices.

Re-reading, I did try to express that intentions to use USB2.0 should avoid Rloew's USB driver, as it is only USB1.0 and 1.1. So thankfully I wasn't too tired to to realize that USB2.0 could be used with the 810. Apparently clarity wasn't in the cards, for me.

If I am way wrong, and you are talking about the integrated system, please correct me.

You are right, Win98se does not support a bunch of machines, straight from install. But, you'll get it. Plenty here have Installed Win98se, on machines much much newer. I personally, have not pasted the 2010 manufacture date.

I've got my fingers crossed, that the new driver attempt works for your machine. The Trigem Cognac has similar (maybe the same) specs, and the same chipset(although wiki says there are 5 different ones, it probably won't matter). So likely every thing should work. You will still need drivers for the USB2.0 card.

I also do not like the SE Unofficial Service Packs. But 3.66 was added/updated in 2021. However, much of is is a collection of original updates. Things like Kernelex and USB are more recent. Despite 3.66 being the newest, it seems those that do use the service pack prefer 3.65.

I found modem and video drivers on the restore disks. The audio driver is just an audio.exe file. maybe it will extract/install drivers somewhere. The other two are inf folder.

All, but the first one listed, chipset support downloads on this page include the 810. The audio driver I mentioned earlier, will/should work. Video is included in the restore CD and maybe/probably the Trigem drivers. If you can't get USB2.0 working, try the more recent NUSB3.6 drivers.

Hope you up and running, before you read any of this. Good luck!

[justacruzr2]

That's OK.  Didn't mean anything by that.  I could be more clear myself.  The Trigem Cognac motherboard comes with 2 built in USB 2.0 ports and the AC'97 sound chip.  It was the fact that the built in USB ports didn't work that clued me in to thinking that this was a motherboard driver issue for 98SE.  When a mobo has special features that are new to the computer world, the manufacturer usually will do a pre-install of the drivers necessary to use those features.  They will not come with Windows unless Microsoft already knows about them in time for the release of their new OS.  Due to the timing of the release date of 98SE and the release date of this mobo, MS didn't include the appropriate drivers to use these new features.  They would have already been installed by the manufacturer.  I didn't think about that initially because the 98SE version that I had, already had them loaded.  I originally got 98SE on a drive that I removed from a computer that was being thrown out where I used to work.  When I installed that drive on my system everything worked just fine.  Then came the day that drive went berserk along with the other one that was hooked up to a raid controller card.  So I lost 98SE and it's backup (which was on that other drive).  My copy of 98SE is an ISO of the retail version. which doesn't include anything other than Windows.  So I have been re-installing 98SE and didn't even think of that.  Anyway, I do have the mobo drivers now and I will see if that takes care of this.  It should.  Thanks again for the conversation.