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HELP: Win98SE won't boot on my new PC


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I recently installed Windows 98 SE on a ECS 915G-A (Intel® 915G & ICH6, Socket 775)

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Products/Prod...=93&LanID=9

motherboard, which has built-in graphics card. Though I do have installed a Nvidia GeForce 4 440 Ti AGP. CPU is a Pentium 4 3.0GHz. Mice is USB not PS/2.

Windows 98 SE installed fine. It wasn't until the reboot with message "Please wait while Windows perform post-install stuff...." that it hangs. It actually boots into Windows 98 SE in safe-mode alright, but then I don't get sound/cd-rom/network/etc. Does anyone have any idea why it is hanging in normal boot up mode? Is it because of no PS/2 mouse detected? Or something else?

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I recently installed Windows 98 SE on a ECS 915G-A (Intel® 915G & ICH6, Socket 775)

{snipped}

Windows 98 SE installed fine. It wasn't until the reboot with message "Please wait while Windows perform post-install stuff...." that it hangs. It actually boots into Windows 98 SE in safe-mode alright, but then I don't get sound/cd-rom/network/etc. Does anyone have any idea why it is hanging in normal boot up mode? Is it because of no PS/2 mouse detected? Or something else?

Did you find a solution to your problem?

Phil

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I recently installed Windows 98 SE on a ECS 915G-A (Intel® 915G & ICH6, Socket 775)

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Products/Prod...=93&LanID=9

motherboard, which has built-in graphics card. Though I do have installed a Nvidia GeForce 4 440 Ti AGP. CPU is a Pentium 4 3.0GHz. Mice is USB not PS/2.

Windows 98 SE installed fine. It wasn't until the reboot with message "Please wait while Windows perform post-install stuff...." that it hangs. It actually boots into Windows 98 SE in safe-mode alright, but then I don't get sound/cd-rom/network/etc. Does anyone have any idea why it is hanging in normal boot up mode? Is it because of no PS/2 mouse detected? Or something else?

What HDD was used and what was the BIOS setting? I cite from the manual:

ATA/IDE Configuration (Enhanced)

The ATA/IDE option can be configured as either “Enhanced (default)” or

“Compatible” in the BIOS configuration. Windows* 98SE and Windows* Me operating

systems do not support Enhanced mode IDE/Serial ATA resources for more than four

devices. If the ATA/IDE option is set to Enhanced mode, the operating installation will

not be able to recognize the drive, and the installation will fail. Before installing 98SE

or Me, the ATA/IDE configuration must be changed from Enhanced to Compatible

mode

Regarding the drivers, there is no Windows 98 driver for USB2.0 and for the on-board audio.

There is a 3rd party driver for on-board graphics controller: http://my.scitechsoft.com/

Petr

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Using USB2 drivers by orangeware for mine... unless orangeware doesn't supply usb2 drivers for his board?

The site that shows his mainboard supplies drivers for his onboard audio for 'all windows versions'. Just click the drivers link for that board. http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Products/Prod...tailName=Driver

--------------

Anyway, The problem might be limited to the fact that you need to limit your ram for the time being until you get everything setup up. Including installing the Unofficial service pack. You can do that in safe mode (since thats as far as you can get) by...

Going to run -> type 'msconfig' -> press enter.

Click the adavanced button.

Put a checkmark in the 'limit memory to' entry and type in 256 for the limit.

Then click ok twice and reboot.

512+mb of ram on a base install can give some abnormal results untill a few tweaks are made.

Edited by Chozo4
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Using USB2 drivers by orangeware for mine... unless orangeware doesn't supply usb2 drivers for his board?

The site that shows his mainboard supplies drivers for his onboard audio for 'all windows versions'. Just click the drivers link for that board. http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Products/Prod...tailName=Driver

Orangeware driver version 1.1.0.3 supports ICH4 and ICH5 southbridges only, i915 chipset contains ICH6 southbridge that is not supported and never will be.

"All" means Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

There is no support for High Definition Audio in Windows 98, in fact there is even no support for HDA bus in Windows XP and additional driver supplied by Microsoft has to be installed: Universal Audio Architecture (UAA) High Definition Audio class driver version 1.0a available for Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, and Windows 2000

Petr

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Thanks guys for your detailed replies.

Yes, the ECS website does provide drivers for all windows series including Windows 98:

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWeb/Downloads/Pro...=35&LanID=9

I will try the limiting RAM size you have suggested. There were many other issues people have suggested, such as NSIS.vxd file version, etc. But I haven't seen any errors saying this.

You mentioned unofficial service pack for Windows 98SE? Where can I get this?

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Why do you want to run Windows 98 SE on a machine with that spec ? Does windows 98 se run on a machine with a 3 ghx cpu on it bearing in mind it was released during the Intel Pentium and Pentum II cpu's with a max of about 200 mhz cpu's.

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Here's a progress update. I ran drwatson in safe mode and got the response:

display adapter not Windows 95 compatible plug-n-play device.

I decided to take out my Nvidia GeForce 4 440 Ti AGP card and set in BIOS to use OnBoard VGA. I followed some procedures on http://www.usbman.com/win98seusbguide.htm about BIOS setup (disabling ACPI, APM, etc.). I formated C: and clean reinstalled Windows 98 SE with the command "E:\setup.exe /p i". It fully installed

But still same old hanging during bootup. I boot into Safe-mode and drwatson says same old thing. I even tried installing Unofficial Service Pack 2.1a from

http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html

But still something about the onboard graphics card.

Someone mention they got their Nvidia card working by using Microsoft own drivers instead of Nvidia. I guess my only chance now is to get my Nvidia card working. I set BIOS to use AGP EXPRESS and still same old problem.

Yes, the www.ecs.com.tw lies. It states that the sound, network, video drivers supports Windows 9x. Even the drivers have a sub-folder called Win95, Win98. But when I ran them in safe-mode, it says 'your OS is not supported'.

What HDD was used and what was the BIOS setting? I cite from the manual:

ATA/IDE Configuration (Enhanced)

Regarding the drivers, there is no Windows 98 driver for USB2.0 and for the on-board audio.

There is a 3rd party driver for on-board graphics controller: http://my.scitechsoft.com/

Petr

Not sure about ATA/IDE configuration, but I remember it being enhanced. I only got one IDE HD and one IDE DVD-ROM drive and no SATA.

As for the scitechsoft.com, that's great. However, I installed the drivers in safe-mode, and still my PC won't boot. drwatson still says display adapter not compatible plug-in-play. I guess my best chance is to try to get my nvidia card to work in the AGP EXPRESS port, but still no luck..

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Is there a specific reason why you chose Windows 98 SE? If you can't get Win98SE running on that hardware, then I think you should consider trying Windows 2000 Professional. Another possibility is to install Linux and use that as the host OS. Then install Win98SE into a virtual machine using a program like qemu. Since that computer of yours is fast and has lots of RAM, Win98SE should run well even if it's running inside a virtual machine.

Phil

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