Computer Hope

Greetings CH!

Its been a while, but I have finally completed (at least the hardware part) of my classic gaming PC! I will list specs down below for those interested, but I need your help in the software department a bit.

The computer seems to struggle at unzipping files, odd for a 1ghz Coppermine CPU, and often times even freezes. So far, I've installed Windows 98 SE, got USB drivers, GPU and Chipset drivers installed, Got DX9c installed and attempted to install the unofficial windows 98SE Service pack update, when I received an error that states the following,

"Extracting File Failed. It is most likely caused by low memory (low disk space for swapping file) or Corrupted Cabinet file."

Now I've used computers with slower Cpu's in Windows 98SE and I had no issues like extracting the update, opening files on USB, or in the case of this computer, it freeze when even coping data from my USB.

I have one suspicion and thats my CF card "hard drive" but im not sure how id fix the issue. Instead of using a traditional hard drive, I decided to get a IDE adapter, and it has a 16gb CF card for its drive. I had my last two IDE drives fail on me, so im not really in the mood to trust any more.

Specs are

Spacewalker AV11 Motherboard
1ghz Coppermine Pentium 3 CPU
Chaintech Nvidia 4200Ti GPU @ 128mb
16gb CF card
256 + 128MB of SD RAM
And I think its a AWE 32 SoundBlaster card.

I plan to use this rig to play some of my classics like my classic need for speed collection, GTA VC, DOOM series, Titanic adventure out of time, GTA2 etc. So getting it running smoothly would be great. Appreciate your help in advance. Thanks.

It's the card...suprised you even got it to work on that setup

2 choices,,,back to an IDE HDD...or give up the ghost

The motherboard is of the vintage it may have bulged capacitors.
Also your ram of 256mb and 128mb seems a little strange  for the motherboard when it was most likely to have worked best with 3 * 64 mb  modules. If the motherboard supports the 384 mb of memory you will need to set the swap file size to at least this size.
I seem to remember running Windows 98 on 32 mb of memory. So perhaps try with just the 128 mb memory installed.
this link may give you some info  https://www.techrepublic.com/forums/discussions/max-ram-for-windows-98-se/

Quote from: patio on September 02, 2019, 07:21:05 PM
It's the card...suprised you even got it to work on that setup

2 choices,,,back to an IDE HDD...or give up the ghost

See I thought this myself, and know that CF cards are a hit or miss. As I see many Youtubers including Lazy Game Reviews using them.

That could be part of my problem. Not denying that. however I know im also having some sort of issues with DirectX.

I'll do an install with a regular old spinner, and see how my results vary.

Quote from: Lisa_maree on September 02, 2019, 08:12:40 PM
The motherboard is of the vintage it may have bulged capacitors.
Also your ram of 256mb and 128mb seems a little strange  for the motherboard when it was most likely to have worked best with 3 * 64 mb  modules. If the motherboard supports the 384 mb of memory you will need to set the swap file size to at least this size.
I seem to remember running Windows 98 on 32 mb of memory. So perhaps try with just the 128 mb memory installed.
this link may give you some info  https://www.techrepublic.com/forums/discussions/max-ram-for-windows-98-se/

I read that as well, hence why I went under the 512mb limit. I also happen to still have the manual to this motherboard. The book claims it can take a maximum of a 256mb stick per slot. so thats 3x 256mb. I went well under that limit. However, I plan to run a mem test to see if I have any ram issues. currently running 98 on a spinner. lets see how it goes.

Millions of industrial machines boot and work from CF cards. Although they are normally industrial  CF cards and  cost heaps.  It is a good idea to run the memory test  .
It is not so much the amount of memory more that they are different sizes, if you have the manual is that configuration supported?
I would also check that the memory test is seeing the full 384 mb.
Also if you have jumpers for the FSB try installing Win 98 with a 66 Mhz FSB  * 3 i.e 200 Mhz and after you have the drivers  loaded  then set for the correct FSB/multiplier.

I haven't had much luck with CF Cards and Adapters. The problem is most of the ones you can get nowadays still identify as a removable device which seems to mess up some Operating Systems. In my case, I didn't run Windows 9x on it but neither 2000 nor XP were able to create or use a pagefile and any Windows Installer installation would always fail. You may be running into a similar set of limitations with your CF Card and adapter setup.

memory scan won't cost you anything but time. Getting another Standard IDE drive to try could verify if the problem is related to the CF Card or CF Card Adapter.

Alright.

Small update. Swapped for a spinner drive and had the same issues. Got the low memory issue. So I swapped ram for a stick of 256mb PC100 ECC stick and those issues went away. So thats one problem solved.

However, im still getting crashing in video games. Tried NFS Porsche 2000, and it gets to the "Create Profile" Screen and freezes the PC, or the screen goes blank. Ive tried an ATI Radeon 9700 Pro and even 3 different Power supplies and still the issue persists. and yes. I do need the min requirements of 600mhz and  recommended of a 800mhz CPU.

Quote from: BC_Programmer on September 03, 2019, 12:55:27 PM
I haven't had much luck with CF Cards and Adapters. The problem is most of the ones you can get nowadays still identify as a removable device which seems to mess up some Operating Systems. In my case, I didn't run Windows 9x on it but neither 2000 nor XP were able to create or use a pagefile and any Windows Installer installation would always fail. You may be running into a similar set of limitations with your CF Card and adapter setup.

memory scan won't cost you anything but time. Getting another Standard IDE drive to try could verify if the problem is related to the CF Card or CF Card Adapter.

This is my first time personally owning one of these CF adapters, but the BIOS sees it as a hard drive, and confirms its primary boot IDE and boots no problems from it.

Hi

You would be better sticking with the Chaintech Nvidia 4200Ti GPU @ 128mb  as it has drivers for Windows 98.
Surprised you were able to get the ECC memory working in your motherboard. Perhaps download and make a CD of Hiren's from here  https://www.hirensbootcd.org/hbcd-v98/
This contains all the diagnostic testing tools you need to check your various configurations. And perhaps find out where the problem is.

Quote from: Lisa_maree on September 03, 2019, 03:29:33 PM
Hi

You would be better sticking with the Chaintech Nvidia 4200Ti GPU @ 128mb  as it has drivers for Windows 98.
Surprised you were able to get the ECC memory working in your motherboard. Perhaps download and make a CD of Hiren's from here  https://www.hirensbootcd.org/hbcd-v98/
This contains all the diagnostic testing tools you need to check your various configurations. And perhaps find out where the problem is.

At this point of the night, im not longer getting the Low disk space issue, again after getting ECC ram. Not sure why it wouldn't work if the board's manual claims it supports it. However, the games run for a few minutes and the screen goes blank.

Im starting to think it might be a board issue, but my last idea is to install windows XP on it, and see if I still have problems there.

I completely forgot about Hirens. I have a copy somewhere. its been forever.

Final update. I might post a new Thread in assistance with what I need software wise.

After ironing out my disk space issue, and unzipping files, I successfully got Directx 9 installed and a got a few games installed and kept getting freezing and black screens. Computer would even restart at times. Swapped a new Powersupply, and tried an Anti 9700 Pro, as well as a 9000 card and things began to work with the 9000, but only briefly.

After numerous restarts, somehow Need for Speed Porsche 2000 began to play. so I thought, lets try GTA VC. Big mistake. same issue. However I noticed the heatsink felt hot to the touch. So I gave it and the GPU fresh paste. No difference. Sometimes I can play for 5 minutes, other times for about 15 and then it will die.

I then tried to see if the unofficial update would help stabilize things, but that ended up bricking file explorer.

I gave up with Windows 98SE at this point.

Grabbed my Windows XP home (no service pack) disk, installed XP. Got my sandblaster working, the Radeon 9000 working, and the chipset drivers. Installed GTA Vice City, and played a solid 30 minutes with absolutely no problems what so ever.

So can someone make a suggestion? Did I simply install Windows 98SE incorrectly? Or miss something? I did a clean install on a hard drive, got drivers, and installed DX9c (I think it was December 2006 last edition for win98SE). Maybe Bad ram had something in the install corrupt. I'll be doing another fresh install of 98SE and trying my GPU's in XP to see if that all runs.

Thanks for everyones help, and installation suggestions for Win98SE would be greatly helpful!.

Not sayin i'm confused but if all runs well on XP why be stubborn about gettin 98 to do what works ? ?
Just sayin.

Quote from: patio on September 04, 2019, 05:27:07 PM
Not sayin i'm confused but if all runs well on XP why be stubborn about gettin 98 to do what works ? ?
Just sayin.

LOL. Well the point of this system was to have Win98 so I can run a mix of DOS games and early windows titles. Perhaps I should have cleared that up. I have hardware that is better than this, and could run XP with a breeze. However, I choose this hardware (specifically under 512mb ram and a Sandblaster card) for classic dos games, such as Doom, Prince of Persia, Test Drive, and others that won't run in XP. Or might but are not being emulated properly. I gamed on a 486 for some of these PC's for a while, but it was a pain to get files on and off it without USB and the 486 I had obviously was too weak for some other titles I had. So I figured a high end P3, that still offered ISA slots for proper Ad-lib sounds and running Windows 98SE would be a perfect spot in the middle to run all the games I want both lower end, and higher end of the decade.

So im a bit stubborn as you say in wanting to run windows 98SE cause that's the whole point of this system. I have a Core 2 Quad that would work better for a XP gaming machine than this haha. Worst case scenario, I can dual boot the OS's, but id like it all to be in one environment.

Then save tons of grief and test all titles in DosBox in the WinXP enviornment...you may be pleasantly suprised.

Again Patio. most run in Dosbox. However, most do not receive the proper Ad-lib sounds from the games, or receive proper speeds. Therefore pushing older hardware might have a small advantage.

Got it...