[Tbird885]

Hi, I would appreciate some help here. I have been dual booting WIn 98 and XP for a long time, mainly because I am still pretty attached to the old OS and it does pretty much everthing I want.

After a recent major hardware upgrade I am trying to reinstall Win98, but the setup crashes out with some fatal disc error.

I am running an Intel Core 2 duo and an Asrock mobo. I have tried lowering the speed of the CPU, and also played around with the hard disc settings in the bios, without any luck.

I am seeing a lot of conflicting information about whether or not Win98 will run on a core 2 duo ( I know it won't work both cores, I just want it to install/run).

Am I wasting my time with this I would hate to think that my new CPU has cut me off from the older OS.
TIA

This post has been edited by Tbird885: 20 July 2007 - 03:22 PM

[risproblems]

I am really sorry to say it but you're living in the past. Save your grief and use XP.

You are right though windows 98 should load on a dual core machine but your problem could be with other parts of the system. Windows 98 was engineered 10 years ago and modern pc makers do not test their stuff with older os's. You may be running into problems because windows 98 just won't run on the hardware. I could be wrong though.

[marxo]

The man said that is does pretty much what he wants. Converting him to NT* is not a solution to the problem nor it will ever be. His problem is that his PC probably doesn't support running W98 or W98 cannot work with some parts of his new PC.

But Tbird885 it is mainly your mistake because there are lots of threads like this http://www.msfn.org/...howtopic=101341 that can give u some valuable information about which hardware will not cause any trouble with W98.

[Tbird885]

Thanks for the replies.. I am already running XP, no problem, but I would like to be able to dual boot with Win98. Maybe it is just as nostalgia thing.. 98 Was running fine on my PC before I switched the CPU from a P4 3.2ghz to a core 2 duo 2.66ghz.

I will play around some more with it. If it's possible, I'll get it working.

[Witt3439]

If I remember correctly, XP is the oldest operating system that the C2D processors will support. They were "future-designed" and not compatible with older operating systems, and I've heard that it's partially because of the architecture of the processor iteslf.

In a nutshell, if you are ever able to install 98SE on a C2D system and it runs correctly, consider yourself very lucky.

[submix8c]

98 must be installed BEFORE XP for dual-boot! Clear your HDD and start over.

When you install 98 FIRST, just FDISK an appropriate size leaving oodles of HDD unused-space for the XP install (AFTER). XP must go onto a second partition. This is an option that will be provided during the XP Install (detects a previous OpSys). XP NTLDR will then list 98 as another start-up option (BOOT.INI). Also, be wise and install the XP Command Console after XP installation ("WINNT32 /cmdcons").

Did you do this? (keywords are MultiBoot or Dual-Boot)

As for the hardware, you'll need appropriate drivers for the 98 system. Problematic as previously noted by others. Also a setting in an INI file (a cache setting in SYSTEM.INI?) if gt 512mb RAM.

Topics/threads available on MSFN (or Google). Sift through them, try it, come back and post the results.

HTH

[marxo]

submix8c, on Jul 21 2007, 07:57 PM, said:

98 must be installed BEFORE XP for dual-boot! Clear your HDD and start over.

I don't think he forgot that? Did he?

If he did that would be an amateur mistake man....

[submix8c]

Tbird885, on Jul 21 2007, 11:46 AM, said:

<snip>I am already running XP, no problem, but I would like to be able to dual boot with Win98.<snip>

There's the answer. Some folks just don't know...

edit - go here for several links on the RAM thingy...
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=672362

This post has been edited by submix8c: 21 July 2007 - 12:30 PM

[marxo]

Oh..... Oh..... Man! I just didn't see that... That is an amateur mistake man

[Tbird885]

It works..

I disabled the second core in the bios, and did a clean install on an old hard disc. When it got to the reboot stage the install fell over (out of memory, ironically I have 2gb).

So I edited the system.ini as suggested above and got it to complete the install. Then I enabled the second core and Win98 SE works just fine. My previous attempts were with FE, maybe that made a difference.

I used a 2gb FAT32 partition. I have the same first partititon on my main HD, the rest is NTFS, so I am going to try to clone the working partition onto my main disc for a dual-boot.

Thanks for all your help.

[Tbird885]

Update. turns out my primary hard disc was going bad, that was why I was having trouble installing an OS.
With a new HD I did a clean install of W98SE with no problems (other than having to edit system.ini) and no bios tweaks.

before I did that, I copied my working XP partition from the primary to the secondary master, than copied it back again after the disc swap.

[j7n]

submix8c, on Jul 21 2007, 07:57 PM, said:

98 must be installed BEFORE XP for dual-boot! Clear your HDD and start over.

XP must go onto a second partition.

In fact both OSes can live together on a single partition, even sharing the same Program Files could be possible in certain cases. And a complete reinstall of XP is not necessary at all. Just after the NT bootsector has been written you can return your old XP files (it would have been wise if you have installed XP to \WINNT before, but not necessary).

[submix8c]

j7n, on Dec 31 2007, 11:52 AM, said:

In fact both OSes can live together on a single partition, even sharing the same Program Files could be possible in certain cases.

Possible, yes...
Problematic, yes...
Nightmare, definitely...

It's also possible to install several Win9x systems on a given partition, but not recommended...

[Tarun]

The best bet would be to use a Virtual Machine (VirtualBox for example) to run Windows 98 in. Far less hassle, easier to boot and a lot more reliable.

[Fredledingue]

Yes, but what would be the point? The sport here is to run w98se natively on the most modern hardware. Not cheating around.

I'd bet $100 that w98 will run on yet-to-be-invented quantum processors which will render dual-core obsolete barabaric technology.

[soporific]

Tarun, on Jan 2 2008, 02:38 PM, said:

The best bet would be to use a Virtual Machine (VirtualBox for example) to run Windows 98 in. Far less hassle, easier to boot and a lot more reliable.

do NOT use virtual box, they HATE us Win98ers.