Windows 98 can't use disks bigger than 137 GB. A fix can be found here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=78592

thanks Svenne, I had no idea...! I thought the unofficial service pack 2.1a would fix that... will try again...

in case anyone needs it, for win98SE there is this package:

http://www.mdgx.com/files/BHDD31.ZIP

made by MDGX 😊 and it includes the fixes for proper >137GB HDD support...

thanks for the pointer Svenne!

Glad I could help 😀

For future reference, I'd recommend hunting down a copy of Autopatcher 98. I use that in combo with the SP 2.1a (or, more recently, 3.0 beta)... it's a much more complete solution than the service pack alone.

allright I located them files 😀

so is it safe to install 1. the ide patch, then the 3.0beta sp and then autopatcher and update???
too much updates.... :x

Well you could also just not use a 200GB partition! 😁 I usually just go with a 20GB partition for Windows and another partition for storage. In 2000 I think I had a 15GB total hdd space...

Also, if scandisk needs to run, it's faster on smaller partitions.

no can't do! 😜
seriously, all that space is to have isos of my own collection , in many cases I just downloaded the "scene" releases... why you might ask? because my precious originals are stored safely 😁
a big hdd is a must nowdays, since the 200GB I am using now is peanuts for todays standards but HUGE for our retro-gaming 😁

I tend to use network storage to access ISOs. FAT32 filesystems being accessed by Win9x are not a great place to store things you don't want trashed. I just had to format my Windows 98 partition last night because I started getting a mysterious BSOD on boot up, surely caused by some system file being corrupted during one of the many random driver/game related lockups recently. Fun w/ Win98! 😁

keropi wrote:

allright I located them files 😀

so is it safe to install 1. the ide patch, then the 3.0beta sp and then autopatcher and update???
too much updates.... :x

MSFN has a guide on the proper installation. If you can't find it then just start a new topic and ask.

so is it safe to install 1. the ide patch, then the 3.0beta sp and then autopatcher and update???

It's probably safe to do it that way, but... Autopatcher includes the IDE update. I think it might be deselected by default, but it's there, along with pretty much every other update you could need. I usually go: fresh install -> Autopatcher -> service pack -> done.

from what I read you must actually replace the ide driver in the 1st reboot win98 does during it's install... you insert a bootable diskette to prevent hd boot and you manually replace....

since I got no replies as of now in the MSFN forum, I am gonna go ahead and replace the driver in the 1st boot... seems the logical thing to do 🤣 and then just run autopatcher...

Hm, you could be right. I've never actually tried running 98SE on a large hard drive, so I'm not sure on all the details. I know Autopatcher does include the LBA update, but I'm not sure if it's implemented in such a way that you could properly boot from a large drive.

yes it can be used to boot/use large drives... the key to higher success is to manually update the driver on the 1st boot of the windows installation...
I have installed win98SE and 48bit support, autopatcer etc and so far so good.... though all those updates (ie, xml, media player etc) seem a bit of an overkill for a gaming 98se pc... 🤣

You can deselect the updates you don't want. It takes a bit of effort to go through all the menus and choose everything to your liking, but at least you can save the configuration for future installs. It's still better than hunting down a dozen different update packages.

yes, ofcourse it is better than individual packages ... those packages are intended to make a win98se installation usable with the latest updates, I did not mean to say they are bad (on the contrary!) - just without importance for a retro-gaming system 😁
I have seen the selection menu, but being lazy I just auto-updated 😁 😁 😁