Should be ok, just remove any of the entries in the registry that call utilities specific to that card on windows launch.
You can also use MSCONFIG to disable these.
And if you want to be anal/through, reboot in safe mode and remove the now "missing" hardware from Device Manager but this step is purely optional.

Drivers only get loaded if the hardware is present.

I think it varies with the drivers.
When I switched out a failing S3 card for a Matrox Mystique in a computer with Windows 95 I don't remember a driver cleaner being necessary. However I was using S3 drivers from the Windows 95 CD.
When I switched a Geforce 2 for a Radeon on a computer with Windows 98, I did use a driver cleaner before installing drivers for the new card -- it was recommended in the instructions at the time.

If you have problems after replacing the card, maybe something like this would help remove the older drivers
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/drive … ofessional.html
The description says it will work with 9x.

Can I safely replace say an S3 card with an ATI one without bothering to remove the former from the device manager?

To some extent. But after switching a dozen of various video cards (AGP, PCI, ISA) in one system I had to remove them all manually in safe mode. Windows 98 just refused to boot properly.

are there any decent Win9x software for removing residual deiver files that may cause issues and conflicts?

DriverCleaner 3. Won't work with super old or unpopular drivers though (GUS, Yamaha ISA, Rendition, etc).

The Serpent Rider wrote:

Can I safely replace say an S3 card with an ATI one without bothering to remove the former from the device manager?

To some extent. But after switching a dozen of various video cards (AGP, PCI, ISA) in one system I had to remove them all manually in safe mode. Windows 98 just refused to boot properly.

By “uninstall them all manually” are you refereing to simply removing said devices from device manager while in safe mode? Will they even appear without the hardware being physically present?

appiah4 wrote:

By “uninstall them all manually” are you refereing to simply removing said devices from device manager while in safe mode? Will they even appear without the hardware being physically present?

Yeah, that is the way.

It can be necessary if you go through a lot of video cards.

But an S3 is pretty generic, normally don't need to do to much to move to a different driver.

canthearu wrote:

Yeah, that is the way.

It can be necessary if you go through a lot of video cards.

But an S3 is pretty generic, normally don't need to do to much to move to a different driver.

Well, I replaced a Mystique 220 PCI with an S3 Virge/DX PCI and now I hate the 2D quality so I am banging my head on the wall for doing the Mystique vs Cirrus Logic VLB swap considering replacing the Virge with something else again, maybe a Millennium I PCI, TNT2 M64 PCI or a Rage Pro PCI.. Just don't want to mess up the Windows installation and reinstall the 20+ games all over again.

Should be fine. I swapped about 20 video cards doing benchmarks on a windows 98 install.

The install was a little worse for wear after it (no longer automatically installed the VGA driver when you boot it with a different card), but otherwise works fine.

Besides, it is windows 98, it will always need a reinstall.

Besides, it is windows 98, it will always need a reinstall.

Exactly.

If you're just doing a single change after buying new hardware, it's generally no specific problem. But if you're planning on doing a lot more, i.e. when doing a benchmark run, it might be worth imaging your OS disk and restoring it (A second hard drive (partition) with Linux install and the dd tool works simply and easily) before every run. That way you know every card will get the same environment and performance or behaviour won't be influenced by earlier installs. Not much of an issue with old 'simple' drivers, but big beasts like later ATi and nVidia drivers could have all kinds of fun together, even within the same vendor.

I usually just copy (or rar) entire Windows directory. When needed just unrar to original location. Although it's just a few INF files that need to be restored.

kixs wrote:

Although it's just a few INF files that need to be restored.

No, drivers are not only INF files. Some drivers are updating OpenGL32.DLL, and other device drivers (not for graphics card) can even change some kernel files so the system will no longer boot when the device gets removed.

But in most cases, Windows 9x will continue to work after 100 card change. Only some 3dfx drivers was buggy and required manual registry cleanup on any 3Dfx driver or device change (it can be do almost easily via RegEdit when an other VGA driver is in use).

Also Win98 does not like to travel between PnP and non-PnP motherboards. It may turn off Plug-and-Play stuff inside and stop detecting any PCI hardware at boot time. Even if it is returned to a PnP-capable system with modern PCI/PnP BIOS. Note that older 486s with PCI wasn't fully compatible with PnP, and I was forced to replace Win98 to Win95B on such system (PC Chips M915i) to get plug&play working correctly.

If you keep swapping hardware you will want to do a clean install eventually but if its stable enough hold off till you have settled on the system spec.
Installing your games to a separate partition or drive is also a good idea. The majority of my games don't need reinstalling after a fresh install of Windows, sometimes its even beneficial as it kills off those games that insist on installing long dead online add-ons (westwood chat or similar type programs)