Win98 FE won't install on A8N-Sli Deluxe system

[KerguelanAvon]

Can anyone help me with getting Windows 98 to install on my new motherboard?

Instead of having the full version of the SE installation, I only have the upgrade version that runs from a First edition installation, but the First Edition installation only gets as far as detecting the plug & play devices before it hangs, and this is with all the USB and Firewire cables unplugged.

I remember that there is something about needing the SE version of windows to get FireWire to work, but the firewire is integrated onto this motherboard, and I'm wondering if this is what is causing my hang in the First Edition installation process.

If this is the case, would the Seven Years Later project allow me to install Windows 98 successfully? Is it the same principle as Slipstreaming the latest Service Packs and Drivers into a new installation disk that works for Windows XP (which I'm part way through trying to build for my Laptop)?

Or is there any way of integrating the SE and FE discs into one installation disc?

[KerguelanAvon]

OK, at the moment I appear to have got things going again, and now the SE upgrade disk is doing its thing.

I managed this by doing a line by line confirmation and rejecting the MSMouse.vxd driver from loading.

I'd be interested in why this would cause me a problem, and how I can automatically disable it or replace it, so that I can get a cleaner install next time around.

Edited September 18, 2005 by KerguelanAvon

[ssmokee]

Besides the msmouse.vxd how did the 98se install go? Im guessing you probably know that nvidia doesnt even offer 98se drivers for nforce4. Nforce3 is the cut-off point for 98se drivers, atleast on their site. Are you going to try force the nforce4 drivers to install on 98se or something? Also, what is the rest of your hardware config like?

[RJM]

You do not need to first install 98FE to run your upgrade disk, just run the upgrade disk and it will ask you for your product key for 98FE before it starts the install. Actualy this is the prefered way of installing as the upgrade does not remove all of the garbage left over from the 98FE install.

Hope this helps.

Edited September 20, 2005 by RJM

[KerguelanAvon]

Besides the msmouse.vxd how did the 98se install go?  Im guessing you probably know that nvidia doesnt even offer 98se drivers for nforce4.  Nforce3 is the cut-off point for 98se drivers, atleast on their site.  Are you going to try force the nforce4 drivers to install on 98se or something?  Also, what is the rest of your hardware config like?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Once I figured out about turning off the Mouse.VXD driver, it went fine. Win98 FE finished the installation and then I was able to start up the SE upgrade. As you said there were no drivers for any of the motherboard components, so it went with the safest minimum versions of the drivers.

Every time it rebooted I had to intercept the start up to disable the Mouse.vxd driver. Even so the mouse still worked, and by the time SE had installed, the system booted up without turning off Mouse.vxd.

But you're right, I couldn't do anything else about the rest of the drivers. I managed to get IE6 SP1, .Net framework and a few other things from Magazine cover disks, (no network drivers) and I had to abandon the build. I even tried installing recent GeForce Drivers, but they couldn't see the card, because there was no driver for the chipset presumably.

I don't know anything about trying to force older drivers into the install, so I had to abandon the build. Can you help with this or point me somewhere I could find out about it?

I also have Athlon64 3700, Asus En6600GT Extreme & 1Gb Dual Channel memory, but if I'm not going to be able to get Win98 to install on the new set up, I might have to try to ressurect my A7A266 motherboard and get a replacement for the XP1700 processor that died and triggered the upgrade in the first place. I've also transferred the WDC 60Gb and 120Gb discs from the old system, but might also drop in some SATA discs once I figure out how to slipstream the drivers and service packs into my XP home installation.

I wondered if it might be possible to get Win98 drivers for the individual parts of the motherboard seperately, instead of getting it as a complete motherboard package? Can anyone help with this?

I suppose the other thing I could try is putting Win98 on my X05 Laptop. It's also fairly new, and although the Win98 drivers on Samsung's website are unsupported, at least drivers are available. I'll probably have to replace the 30Gb disk in the laptop so that I'll have rooom for a proper dual boot environment with WinXP Pro.

[KerguelanAvon]

You do not  need to first install 98FE to run your upgrade disk, just run the upgrade disk and it will ask you for your product key for 98FE before it starts the install. Actualy this is the prefered way of installing as the upgrade does not remove all of the garbage left over from the 98FE install.

        Hope this helps.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Even though the Win98 SE disc has its own installation key? I had copied the FE and SE discs to a FAT32 partition on the hard drive, set up a seperate active primary partition for sending the installation to, before using the FE disc to boot to the command line, and then running the set up for FE from the hard disc.

I think I remember trying to run the set up for the SE disc first, but it rejected it saying it needed to run under Windows, I think. Is there a way of running the 98SE installation from the command line?

But once I got the FE install into the desktop without using safemode (see the Mouse.vxd stuff above) I was able to run the SE upgrade, but still had !!!s on the Device manager for most of the motherboard components, and base level drivers for the ones that did install.

[ssmokee]

One quick question. When installing 98/98se, were you installing it to a sata drive hooked up to the onboard sata ports, or using a pata drive? Im curious to know if dos and win98 worked with nvidia's native sata.

I don't know anything about trying to force older drivers into the install, so I had to abandon the build.  Can you help with this or point me somewhere I could find out about it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I havent the slightest idea, other than google. The only thing I can really say (from what Ive read) about nvidia chipsets and 98se, is that everyone reports that nvidia's 98se drivers suck wind. Ive never read anything anywhere about someone running 98se on a nvidia board, and actually being satisfied with the results.

Im not ready to give up on 98se support just yet either, so Ive been looking at s754 boards with sis and ali/uli chipsets. Sis and uli AFAIK still have 98se drivers available. Unfortunately no manufacturer has stepped up with a decent sis board, so it looks like my chipset options are limited to uli. Via also has 98se drivers available, but Im not willing to put up with their neutered PCI bus any longer.

Edited September 21, 2005 by ssmokee

[RJM]

To run the 98SE disk without windows being installed create a DOS start up disk,

with a formated hard drive start your computer with the start up disk and at the command promp switch to your CD drive and run setup. the set-up disk will then ask you for the key to the operating system that you want to upgrade and then it will ask you for your 98SE upgrade key.

[Eck]

Yes, with an upgrade cd that is the way.

However, he has the $20 2nd Edition "Update" cd and that one will not install from Dos. It requires Windows 98 1st Edition installed and to be run from within Windows.

Without chipset drivers available though, the point is moot!

How about Windows Me drivers? Does Intel offer those for the board? Just a shot in the dark. Even if they offer those, they probably would be trouble on 98 if they specifically are just for Windows Me.

[RJM]

Can I clarify something here?

Would I be correct in thinking that unlike most Service Packs (which include all previous updates) that this does not include the SE update? 

Is the reason for this because SE was sold as a seperate upgrade package to those who bought the first edition of Win98?

I have a Win98 FE Installation CD and a seperate SE upgrade CD, but I can't get my FE install to run properly on my new A8N-SLi Deluxe motherboard (which might be coz it has onboard firewire?). 

Assuming the answer to the first two questions is yes (SE is not included), can I combine this service pack with my Win98 FE installation CD to make a new Installation CD, and then apply my SE upgrade, and then the unofficial SE Service Packs?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Good thing I AVOIDED buying Win98 FE and waited for a bug fixed version of 98 such as SE because I knew 98fe would have some y2k bugs & other compatibility problems. Heck, my brother bought a used IBM laptop with pre-installed Win98 SE several years ago. 98 FE has anemic firewire support, 98 SE has better firewire support but requires the Q242975 update to fix crucial problems with SE's firewire support.

First off KerguelanAvon, copy the SE files from the Win98 folder from the CD to the hard drive. Then run SE setup from the HD, and if it asks for a qualifying product, insert your Win98 FE (not SE) CD, and you should be able to complete the setup AND you should be able to use Win98 SE instead of FE because SE supports more hardware.

Well Petr if MS recently told you that hotfixes Q254087, Q265528 & Q329128 are not available, then they are probably not available anymore. So we should give up on asking for those as MS may have already sent them into oblivion.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

erpdude8 said it better

[Andromeda43]

Why are we belaboring trying to install an out of date OS on brand new hardware?

It's just going to be one driver hassle over something else.

Why not just install Windows XP and be done with it?

Just curious, that's all.

Andromeda43

[KerguelanAvon]

One quick question.  When installing 98/98se, were you installing it to a sata drive hooked up to the onboard sata ports, or using a pata drive?  Im curious to know if dos and win98 worked with nvidia's native sata.

Afraid it was just regular PATA drives.

I don't know anything about trying to force older drivers into the install, so I had to abandon the build.  Can you help with this or point me somewhere I could find out about it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I havent the slightest idea, other than google. The only thing I can really say (from what Ive read) about nvidia chipsets and 98se, is that everyone reports that nvidia's 98se drivers suck wind. Ive never read anything anywhere about someone running 98se on a nvidia board, and actually being satisfied with the results.

Im not ready to give up on 98se support just yet either, so Ive been looking at s754 boards with sis and ali/uli chipsets. Sis and uli AFAIK still have 98se drivers available. Unfortunately no manufacturer has stepped up with a decent sis board, so it looks like my chipset options are limited to uli. Via also has 98se drivers available, but Im not willing to put up with their neutered PCI bus any longer.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[KerguelanAvon]

Why are we belaboring trying to install an out of date OS on brand new hardware?

It's just going to be one driver hassle over something else.

Why not just install Windows XP and be done with it?

Just curious, that's all.

Andromeda43

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I had wanted to use my Norton SystemWorks CD on the Win98 install to run an undelete on a freind's Camera's Flash card. I'd done this before from Win98 on my own camera's CF card, either from the CD, or from having NSW installed, but the undelete doesn't seem to work for CF cards when I run it on WinXP.

The problem was that I'd just replaced most of my system after a processor failure kickstarted an upgrade cycle, and I hadn't appreciated the lack of Win98 support when I was updating my components.

In the end, I ended up taking a different approach, and getting some undelete applications off the net and doing it that way in my WinXP installation.

The only reason for having a Win98SE installation now, is so that I might one day get the chance to play all those old games I never seem to have time for, but it would seem that to do this, I'll need to get an new Athlon XP processor and motherboard to hook up to my old graphics and sound card and memory.

I think that I'd rather replace the motherboard in my StrongARM RiscPC first, so that I can play the original StarFighter 3000 again.