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Win98 Installation Trouble (Slow Splash Screen)


scrapser

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Well after over a year I am back. Please ignore the last post I made regarding not having Win98SE installed on these components. I'm now giving it another try. I'm using one of the original IDE hard drives (120 gig) I had used previously to install Win98 and the update CD for SE. I'm at the point where I installed Win98 and got the stutter/lag behavior each time it reboots. I then tried the SE Update CD and still get the "not enough conventional memory" fail. I checked and I have 573K free conventional memory. Right now I'm trying the "setup /is" approach to install SE. On the first restart, the splash screen ran normally for about 3 seconds and I saw the hard drive light flicker during this time. Then it bogged down again. I'll let it sit and run through for a while and see if I can get past this.

I don't have it yet but I just bought a brand new Win98SE CD factory sealed. I will probably clear off all this and try running that on a clean reformatted and scanned hard drive (20 gig partition to start).

Please let me know if you have any other tips I might try. I am not giving up on this. I think it's just a matter of identifying what the problem(s) is.

Editted to add:

I finished installing the SE Update CD. The stuttering splash screen behavior continues on each restart as it did previously.

Edited by scrapser
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Gave that a try but made no difference.

I have to say something here about what I remember. I originally built this computer with 1 gig of RAM. I clearly remember removing one stick to install Win98/SE when I first put it together in 2005. After it installed, I changed the win.ini file [vcache] to 524288 and then re-installed the second stick to be available for my WinXP OS which I installed 2nd. I don't remember touching the [386Enh] but could have.

Also, right now I have the installation on a 20gig partition to avoid the limits of Win98.

It's odd the way this is playing out. Once Win98 finishes booting it runs fine. I keep trying to remember what it was I had to do to eliminate this issue which is why I'm hoping someone else may know the answer.

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Hi,

regarding the IR-entry: I had that myself - although i did't have any IR-Adapter in the first place.

While strolling through the BIOS, near the config of the COM-Ports, i found it, and switched it of. Thereafter, the exclamation mark was gone (of course).

Another source of IR may be some types of soundblaster. I have an Audigy 2 Platinum, which has a 5,25" bay with quite a number of ports, among them that IR-port. I installed the driver, and that was it.

Regarding the memory and your original W98FE: I was able to install FE with 512 MB only, and added the other 512MB thereafter. Perhaps you did that, after installing the SE? Just an idea, not that it matters, now that you have SE full version... :)

If you get your NF4-Mobo running with that 7800 with W98SE, you'll be my hero. Good luck! (Tread carefully now, you are on slippery terrain... :angel )

Regards,

Ragnar G.D.

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I thought I would explain something here to help clarify how I'm approaching this project. I know it sounds hokey but we all operate in our own way.

This computer was my first homebuilt which I purchased in 2005. Prior to this I had a Gateway GP6-450 that had a geForce 6800 Ultra graphics card that I bought later to upgrade from the original geForce 4400 ti. I purchased a BFG 7800 GTX graphics card for my first homebuilt. I mention this because I have a memory trigger (something I clearly remember) when I upgraded to my second homebuilt in 2007. My second computer was a socket 775 with a E6600 dual core CPU. When I bought these components to upgrade, I also bought a BFG 8800 graphics card. I clearly remember discovering with the 8800 graphics card I would no longer be able to use Win98 since it did not come with Win98 drivers. I remember being disappointed like it was yesterday.

I also have a distinct memory of struggling in the confines under my desk to pull the second 512 MB RAM stick when I learned Win98 doesn't work with more than 512 megs of RAM...then having to go back and reinstall it after I was done and had set the win.ini file to limit recognized RAM to 512.

I just don't remember what it was I had to do to get it boot without the lag. I don't remember if I even had the lag issue back then. I have a vague memory of finding something in a forum (I think it was DFI Street which sadly no longer exists) but the only thing I clearly remember was learning what I had to do in the win.ini file to limit the RAM recognized. I was hoping whatever the solution was would not be so hard to find again. I have my order history at NewEgg to reconstruct which parts I ordered and when. This also helps recall of what I did.

I think this computer's hardware is okay. I have tried installing WinXP Pro using a SATA HD with no issues at all.

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Hi,

regarding the IR-entry: I had that myself - although i did't have any IR-Adapter in the first place.

While strolling through the BIOS, near the config of the COM-Ports, i found it, and switched it of. Thereafter, the exclamation mark was gone (of course).

Another source of IR may be some types of soundblaster. I have an Audigy 2 Platinum, which has a 5,25" bay with quite a number of ports, among them that IR-port. I installed the driver, and that was it.

Regarding the memory and your original W98FE: I was able to install FE with 512 MB only, and added the other 512MB thereafter. Perhaps you did that, after installing the SE? Just an idea, not that it matters, now that you have SE full version... :)

If you get your NF4-Mobo running with that 7800 with W98SE, you'll be my hero. Good luck! (Tread carefully now, you are on slippery terrain... :angel )

Regards,

Ragnar G.D.

Thanks. I'm not giving up. It would be sweet to get past this issue. I will look at the BIOS and see if I can find the IR-Adapter entry. My SoundBlaster card is a 5.1+MP3 Live!. I bought it factory sealed off eBay.

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Well, don't this beat all...

Have you guys looked here, particularly here?

Thanks for posting those links. After doing some extensive research I have found only two other forums/threads where the owner discusses installing Win98 on the nF4 Ultra-D board. In one case, the owner asks as I did about the slow start up at the splash screen. Nobody replies to his question for help and in the end he too mentions his own finding there is no support for Win98 on an nF4 board (but then asks why does Win98 install?). The second post has the owner asking about the same problem but the thread goes nowhere.

All I can say is I installed it on my board back in 2005 and there was some setting in the BIOS that eliminates the stalled startup issue. I wish I had made a note of it. I got a response on the Clunk forum where a member states he used the same trick and will dig through his notes and try to find what it is and post it. But even so, I'm starting to wonder at the wisdom of forcing it to work now that I know it was never meant to be installed in the first place. Back in 2005 I was naive about chipset drivers and never even thought to install them on that Win98 installation. The mobo utility CD came with WinXP drivers and I did install them there only because I explored the CD contents, found them, and asked about it. Oddly, it never occurred to me there should be a set for Win98 as well. I guess I just assumed they were something special above and beyond what was normally required by an operating system since up till that point I had never had to deal with chipset drivers on my computers (they were all store bought).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Update

I ended up buying an old Gateway 700C tower off eBay. It has a socket 473 CPU and the 850 chipset. I completely dismantled the tower and all components inside, cleaned everything thoroughly (even dismantled the PSU for cleaning), put it all back together and it works famously.

So now I have:

Intel 1.8 gHz CPU

512 megs PC800 RAM

Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 (brand new off eBay and not an OEM card)

geForce 2 MX400 graphics card

Monster 3D2 (Voodoo 2) 3D accelerator (glide)

Gateway VX920 19" Diamondtron NF monitor (used less than a month and in pristine condition)

Thanks to all who have given me what help they could.

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