[98] OS Won't Install On New Machine

On my new Dell system I have made a FAT32 partition to install Win98SE.

Ran setup and the first stage runs just fine.

Comes to the first reboot and afterwards it will not continue from the 'getting ready to run windows for the first time' screen.

It hasn't hung because the bar at the bottom is still moving just very slow and jerkily (like shifting along every 1 second as opposed to continuoulsy).

I left it for about 10 minutes and it was still the same.

My guess is that the new system is too modern \ powerful for Win98SE ?

ie SATA drives, 1GB Ram, USB mouse and keyboard etc and Win98SE can't enumerate everything ?

I did a bit of a search on the WWW and found http://www.computing.net/windows95/w...um/167008.html which is the same thing except I don't want to install XP afterwards.

Any suggestions.

Found this http://www.computing.net/windows95/w...um/102103.html and http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;q253912

Si it could be because Win98SE can't handle the 1GB memory ??

I think that 1GB of RAM will make 98 throw its hands up in horror, and then go into a sulk. If you really need to use Win98 you'd be far better off installing it as a virtual machine and then you can run it froim within XP, Virtual PC 2004 is now freeware too :)

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtualpc/default.mspx

I just have a similar problem: adding 512MB to a Win98 machine which already has another 512MB. I crashes during bootup but can be boot to Safe mode. I thought it was the 2 module not compatible (old is DDR333, new is DDR400). Exchange a DDR333 at the same price, no luck.
I post this to the forum, and jdc2000 advice me as below

Windows 98 w/1024MB will work if you limit the vchache to 512MB maximum. Enter this in the system.ini file under [vcache]

maxfilecache=512000

Try this to see whether the problem is solved.

Tried the vcache setting and it didn't help.

Removed a stick of ram so there was just 512Mb and tried a fresh install.

No joy.

Looks like I might need to check out Virtual PC.

Tried removing all usb attached devices ie Mouse and Keyboard, and it still did the same.

I'm now leaning towards the fact that there are no IDE drives, just SATA so it doesn't know how to detect them.

I tried a WinMe install out of curiosity and it basically did the same thing.

Checked out Virtual PC and it preinstalls virtual grapics and virtual sound cards and doesn't have the capability to run 3D games. ie ones that won't run in XP even using compatability mode so wanted to run them in Win98SE.

Anyway wil continue to search for a solution and tinker away.

Reading here a while back that newer mobos will support the old DOS based OSs.

Might use a ATA100/133 card as a work around.

Can you connect Sata drives to ATA controller card ?

I don't know if this will help, but when I put 98SE and XP on this system last year I loaded them with 512MB RAM installed, then set the VCache limit and added the rest of the RAM. It was coincidental; the reason I used 512 was because with this mobo, using all three RAM slots limits the FSB to 333MHz and I wanted the 400MHz FSB so I had different RAM on order when I did all this. I never had a problem loading 98.

How big a partition are you using for 98?

SATA drives need to be connected to a SATA socket on the mobo or a SATA controller card. The ATA and SATA interfaces are completely different.

I'm getting closer http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/HDDProblems3.htm#sata98

Now i have just have to find this IDE Emulation mode in my BIOS.

There are controllers which have both.
Here is a EXAMPLE of one.
Description:
Serial ATA PCI Card with 2 Serial ATA ports (1 internal, 1 external) + 1 Ultra ATA port
http://safecom.cn/code/sub/category....93&subcatid=13

And from this page http://www.pcbuyerbeware.co.uk/IDE.htm

Quote:

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SATA device drivers for Windows 98 or Windows Me

This is advice I found with regard to an SATA drive in the motherboard manual for an AMD Socket 939 motherboard from MSI that runs Athlon 64 and 64 FX processors:

"MSI Reminds You... 1. Please note that users cannot install OS, either WinME or Win98, in their SATA hard drives. Under these two OSs, SATA can only be used as an ordinary storage device..."

This means that SATA drivers that can be transferred to a floppy disk, as described above for Windows XP, are not available for Windows 98 and Me. However, the boot IDE ATA hard disk drive will be able to access the SATA drive and allow files to be transferred to and from it, etc.

In short, in order to use an SATA hard drive in a PC running Windows 98 or Windows Me, the motherboard manufacturer must make the drivers for those versions of Windows available. If it doesn't you can't run those versions of Windows from an SATA drive.

If the motherboard manufacturer provides the drivers, and you are still having trouble using an SATA drive, read the information on this page:

SATA Troubleshooter - Drive Setup Instructions [Windows 98 and Windows Me] -

http://www.seagate.com/support/ts/sa.../win98_me.html

You can find information of your own by entering a search, such as "windows 98" + sata + support (as is), in the Google box provided at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled).

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Wow, I'm glad I didn't know that last year. If I had, I wouldn't have been able to install 98. :confused: :)

I have no idea what I did, I know I didn't do anything special and I didn't have a single problem. The only thing I did deliberately, in case partition size was a problem, was to put 98 on a 20GB partition because our old HP had a 20GB HDD. I used the SATA install floppy that came with the Maxtor HDDs. I just dug out that floppy and it has 2000 and XP drivers for Silicon, Intel and Via chipsets.

I'm stumped.

Do you have an external hard drive at all Nix? If so, you could try installing W98 on that, as most BIOSes will allow you to boot from an external drive these days. Maybe Win98 will be happier with that?