-sigh- Well been a while ... the PC build is finished, everything works .. except the OS.

I have no idea what is going wrong, if I am doing something wrong but neither windows 98SE or Windows ME will install properly.

Windows 98SE I can get installed, install graphics drivers fine.. but soon as i install audio or a game it won't boot anymore.
Windows ME .. installed up to a point then game errors while installed like RUN32DLL can't install/load properly during install with a list of many others. Boot into ME but can't do anything as all the DLL files are fucked 😖

Try running memtest on it.

You may have your memory timings too tight or bad memory stick.

Also, the nvidia 6200 is not a good card to start with. Try an AGP card that is a bit older, with better windows 9x drivers.

canthearu wrote:

Try running memtest on it.

You may have your memory timings too tight or bad memory stick.

Also, the nvidia 6200 is not a good card to start with. Try an AGP card that is a bit older, with better windows 9x drivers.

I did have 512mb of memory but every time windows 98se gave me internal / external MS-dos extension error. Removed one stick and no more error everything installs and boots fine ^^
What AGP card should i be looking for, some are going for stupid money while others are going for pennies 😖
I do have the drivers for the 6200 on win98/me and it seams to work fine, not sure if that is causing the or if it is the audio drivers but the main error i get is a blue screen saying "VxD Dymanic link call : NETKERN (01).

The system seam to rally fail as soon as i install this one game "My Teacher Is An Alien" 50mb install, soon as i restart then its reinstall time -.-

512meg memory should work with windows 98se, but if it gets you up and going, that is more important.

Have you tried running a few of the old futuremark benchmarks on it to test working 3d accel?

Next thing to check is that devices are not sharing IRQs, especially the sound card. Creative sound cards on windows 9x don't like that very much, so feel free to try different slots.

As for an alternative video card, I got myself a Geforce 3 Ti200 for $20 us excluding postage on ebay. Also geforce 4mx is good for a really cheap card.

Well the memory came with the board so not to bothered if one is bad (Value kingstone memory)

Can try downloading one and seeing what happens, hope nothing bad bad is wrong 😖

How do i check is devices are sharing IRQs or not ? I only have the 6200 in the AGP slot and my sound card in the PCI slot, nothing else is installed.

Will have to have a look on Ebay, being in the UK the pickings for old hardware is not as good as the US, Hell a voodoo 2-5 cost between 80-300 here 🙁

Normally as the computer is booting through POST, it will list the devices and the IRQs they are assigned. You can use that to make sure that the SB audigy isn't on a IRQ with another device.

When the computer starts it first shows the 6200 with 512mb ram, then I get my memory check with what drives I have as master and slave...after that it just boots into windows 98se another screen does show but only for a second.

Set the bios to boot floppy first and put a non-bootable floppy in. Then you will get time to see the screen.

canthearu wrote:

Set the bios to boot floppy first and put a non-bootable floppy in. Then you will get time to see the screen.

Here is my pic device listing with all the Irq numbers.
Hope this helps.

Disable USB in your bios, then verify that IRQ 10 and 11 are now only on single devices.

Then see if your problems with sound/video improve. You will obviously need to use a PS/2 keyboard/mouse.

Edit: if you are using a USB 2 PCI card, you will want to invest in an NEC based card. They generally have fewer problems than the chipsets from other vendors. Can get them very cheaply off ebay.

Well I disabled usb legacy support but no change with the IRQ. I’m already using a ps2 mouse and keyboard even though I plan on getting a ibm keyboard as mine is cheap and nasty china stuff.

No, you need to disable the USB controllers entirely.

Goto PCI configuration on the Advanced tab of your BIOS and change USB IRQ from enabled to disabled.

If this fixes your problem, you can change settings around on this screen to select an appropriate IRQ for your sound card.

Ah I have no idea what’s going on, disabling the usb removed on IRQ of 10 but that is all.
I actually got windows ME installed with display and audio drivers. But now the only error I’m getting is Windows protection error , you need to restart your computer. System halted

How much memory do you have installed?

I have tried it with 512mb which worked for some reason and 256mb (one stick)
Doesntvseam to make a difference .

Hmmm, have you run memtest86 yet? Just to make sure memory is working right.

Also, do you have ANY other AGP or PCI cards that you can test with?

Tried memtest86 when I noticed win98 didn’t like 512mb. couldn’t find a problem though, unfortunately the only stuff I have is what is in the pc already.
Now I did hear the Nvidia driver cam cause the issue and using an older one fixed the problem for some people.
Reinstalling ME now but this time only audio driver and see what happens.

Well i have good news, i moved my sound card and everything seams to be working fine, Windows ME installed without an issue ( will mod it later to add full ms-dos support )
However i still have one problems left I need help with 🙁

Upon every start up i get a blue screen error message (pic uploaded) Selecting yes i boot into windows ME no issues 😖
Also when I try to shut down the PC i just get a blank screen with a flashing underscore looking thing.. dno if it is related or not but these are my last problems.

I have already installed games like Age of Empire II with expansion and they work perfectly, sound and all ^^ so pleased with my progress so far.

I think the blue screen you are getting, as well as the failure of the computer to shut down properly, are due to the Nvidia 6200.

At the very least, the failure to shutdown problem is a known bug with later win9x nvidia drivers.

canthearu wrote:

I think the blue screen you are getting, as well as the failure of the computer to shut down properly, are due to the Nvidia 6200.

At the very least, the failure to shutdown problem is a known bug with later win9x nvidia drivers.

Dam Nvidia 6200 more trouble than it is worth, paif £30 for it boxed so not to annoyed.
Did have a look at the graphics card you mentioned..sadly people here want £50 and up for it 0-o

Honestly wondering id i should just pay out for a 3dfx voodoo card or something.
The error is an odd one, looked on google and people were saying it is due to the network card.. I dont have one, or bad ram again :s