Hello all. I'm new here, hopefully a 98 expert here can help me.

First, here's the system specs...

Asus A7S8X-MX Motherboard
SiS 741GX Northbridge
SiS 964 Southbridge
AMD Sempron 2300+
512MB Corsair DDR400 (running at 333)
400Watt PSU
Maxtor 80GB ATA133 HD
Samsung DVD/Burner Combo

That's it, using integrated video/audio, no add on cards.

So here's the problem. From the time 98SE is first installed, i get a yellow exclamation point on the "Motherboard Resources" indicating a resoure conflict, the exact error code is "Code 15 This device is causing a resource conflict". However, when i bring up the Resources tab, it says, "No Conflicts" WTF???

This is the only device with an exclamation point.

I have installed all the latest drivers from SiS and ASUS including:

SiS IDE Driver 2.04
UniVGA Driver 3.67
AGP GART Driver 1.21
Integrated LAN 1.18
SoundMAX Audio Driver 5.12.01.3665

There are no more drivers necessary with the exception of the USB 2.0 driver. SiS says they can only offer it on CD due to an agreement with M$. They said that the driver is licensed out to Orangeware. I happened to acquire a driver from them, and they had SiS USB 2.0 listed, but the driver did not work. This is less important than the motherboard conflict as it's for my grandmother and she won't be using anything USB anyway. All the USB 1.1 drivers install by defalut without problem.

The system seems to be 100% stable. It's been updated, and for all the use of put it through so far, not one lockup or restart.

So does anyone know how to resolve this so called conflict? I booted into safe mode looking for double instances of any devices and found none. I have removed the Motherboard Resources a few times and let it reinstall on reboot, but it's the same story.

Any help anyone can offer is greatly appreciated. The motherboard resources conflict is my main concern, but if anyone does happen to know of any USB 2.0 drivers that work for this particular chipset, those would be appreciated as well.

Thanks in advance!

Dunno if this will help at all as it seems like you've done alot to get it sorted but.....

You been to windows update and got all the updates?
(after installing A/V & Spyware protection)

Regards,
N.

Not to try and back out, but you have to take into account the possibility of bad hardware...as a tech, seeing that and knowing what you have said, that would be my next guess. That, maybe a BIOS update, or possibly that chipset just doesn't like Win9x.

Could also be a driver issue...as much as Win9x is still in the market, it's mostly on old hardware. So new hardware might not have the best Win9x support...hell, some don't even offer it anymore!

It wouldn't hurt to install the USB 2.0 drivers, might fix the motherboard resources problem. Could be resources for the USB 2.0 support, eh?

Go to http://www.driverguide.com The old login for everyone still works. Username is drivers and Password is all.

Now go to Advanced Search, drop the first box to Names starting with A, then drop to ASUS.

Drop the next box to USB then click Search Database to bring up everything there for ASUS and USB. There are some USB 2.0 drivers listed, dunno if any will work with your board.

There are two hits for a 1.3 meg file listed as being for 98SE USB2.0

Make sure u install newest drivers for your SiS mobo chipset:
http://www.sis.com/download/

Make sure u have newest ASUS BIOS firmware installed 4 your mobo:
http://www.asus.com/support/download/download.aspx

U may want to try these USB 2.0 drivers:
http://www.msfn.org/board/?showtopic=43605
They seem to work in most cases.
But I'm not familiar with SiS mobos.

I also recommend to install 98SE2ME option 2 [but backup your OS from within 98se2me.pif just in case] for the USB native drivers "borrowed" from WinME [in my experience they work much better than older 98SE USB drivers]:
http://www.msfn.org/board/?showtopic=37302
For this u need a WinME setup CD.

Make sure your USB/USB legacy/USB IRQ options or similar are enabled in your mobo BIOS setup.

How to fix USB problems in 98SE:
http://www.mdgx.com/98-5.htm#FWUE

Make sure IRQ steering is enable in Control Panel -> System -> Device Manager -> System devices -> PCI bus -> IRQ Steering tab -> check "Use IRQ Steering" box -> reboot.

Make sure u install all 98SE USB + ACPI/APM related fixes:
http://www.mdgx.com/web.htm#98SE

Hope this helps.

I tried that. According to SiS, they aren't allowed to host USB 2.0 drivers for XP due to some agreement with Microsoft. (I found this on SiS's website). It also said that SiS has a third party (Orangeware) write these USB drivers for them. After some digging in driverguide and on the net, i found some SiS USB drivers for 98 (showed up as Orangeware while installing). These did not work either. I also found another package with 98 USB drivers for SiS, but they were for the 963 SB, not the 964. They didn't work. So no USB 2.0 for now.

@MDGx

All the latest drivers are installed.

The BIOS was already flashed to the latest version upon purchase. This is usually one of the first things i check.

I did install Maximus Decim's USB drivers, but that did not work either.

After trying a "regular" install with MS updates, and trying to fix the problem to no avail, i done a reformat and reinstall. This time with the Unnoficial 98SE SP2.0, then all the MS updates, then the 982ME option 2, and also the option to replace the shell (option 3 i believe). (I actually stumbled across this site not long before i built this computer) Still the same problem.

The BIOS options on this board were pretty bare. No assign IRQ for USB anywhere. USB is enabled in the BIOS though. I tried setting USB legacy to both enable and disabled with no change in either. I did disable PNP OS though. I generally never enable it. Also IRQ steering is enabled and functioning properly.

The only thing i may have missed was the "Microsoft Windows 98 SE USB Driver HIDCLASS.SYS build 4.10.2223 Fix" unless it was included in the Unnoficial service pack or Microsoft update. I will try this later.



Well, with the exception of the motherboard resources conflict, and lack of USB 2.0 drivers, everything functions nicely. Ran the system for a few days straight, played games, surfed the net, and subjected it to a few bootable hardware diagnostics. All dagnostics came up ok, and not one single reboot, blue screen, or any other error through all its use. It's a dual boot with WinXP and no USB problems or anything else under XP naturally.

The motherboard resources issue could be due to the lack of USB 2.0 drivers, or the fact that the motherboard is "highly integrated". Some digging on the net brought up some information on problems with 98 and integrated motherboards.

Well, thanks for all the help and information everyone. As everything seems to be 100% stable i'm not too worried about it, but i am going to try that HIDCLASS fix and see if that don't help. If it doesn't i'll continue to search but in the meantime the computer isn't unusable. The USB does work, it just won't get the extra bandwidth from USB 2.0. And under XP everything is fine, and XP will be used most of the time so it's okay for now. But i'll let you all know if i come up with a fix.

Thanks again for the help!!! It's appreciated.

That sucks, man...

Well, eliminating the defective hardware option, have u tried to install in this order:

1. Gape's SP 2.0:
http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html
2. 98SE2ME:
http://www.msfn.org/board/?showtopic=37302
3. Maximus-Decim's Unofficial Native USB Drivers:
http://www.msfn.org/board/?showtopic=43605
4. Whatever drivers are necessary for your hardware.

And don't forget to enable *all* USB settings u may have in the mobo BIOS.

Beyond that, options become pretty limited, I'm afraid.

I just got the same motherboard (asus a7s8x-mx rev 1.01) a couple days ago. Ill be installing 98se on it the next couple days. I will let you know how it goes. Could you post a screenshot of your device manager showing the conflict(s)?

In the Device Manager, Im seeing a yellow exclamation mark beside "Motherboard resources", which is under "System Devices". I also see a second mark beside "PCI Universal Serial Bus". Id gladly post a screen shot, but for some reason I dont have the option to attach a file when I add a reply to this thread. I did try installing 98se in APM mode though, and I didnt get any conflicts.

I have another question for you. I have been testing win98se on this board a lot, using both APM and ACPI installations. When doing simple operations like double clicking a music file, navigating through windows explorer, the system immediately halts for a second or two. During this brief time I cant move the mouse cursor, or switch applications. I also witnessed the same type of behavior in windows 2000 sp4. Another weird thing is that this board refuses to run my RAM at anything other than 100 MHz. Ive tried manually setting the fsb/ram ratio, but that bios setting changes nothing. I am verifying the mem speeds with sisoft sandra. I was talking to another person who has this board having similar problems getting memory to run above 100 MHz. Have encountered either of these problems with your board?