Two very generic thoughts:
1. Have you tried running all this hardware under XP for a while? Just to confirm that the hardware is all healthy and good...
2. For the theory about DVI vs VGA, could you... dig up another monitor and plug it into VGA and see if anything happens?

More existentially, I wonder if this was the right platform for DOS. If you were doing this with, say, a 1999-era slot 1 machine with a factory 98SE image, you'd probably have all the DOS drivers loading in config.sys/autoexec.bat and you'd get the impression that somebody had actually thought about how the system would run in MS-DOS mode (i.e. without Windows/the Windows drivers). But... while everything you're running has Win98 SE drivers I think, I wonder if perhaps... people assumed that MS-DOS mode would never, ever be used on all this ~2003-era hardware.

Also, do you have any older video cards around? Especially the ones referenced here regularly for their excellent DOS compatibility?

What LCD monitor are you using ? Some do not have all the proper DOS modes, specially thru DVI or HDMI. That could be why the game complains of video but the having to reset cmos and wait seems a bit more like the motherboard is not acting proper. I would do as VivienM suggest and try a different vid card first.

Horun wrote on 2023-10-30, 00:24:

What LCD monitor are you using ? Some do not have all the proper DOS modes, specially thru DVI or HDMI.

I hadn't thought of that but that's a good thought too. One observation based on a very small sample: when dealing with newer monitors, the more obscure brands tend to have more backwards compatibility with really old stuff. Whereas the big-brand-name monitors might be more likely to say "uhhh, this hasn't been a thing for 10-15+ years, we don't need to support this." I remember reading about a similar thing with PS2s and newer TVs too - newer TVs may have component inputs, etc, but many are apparently missing some specific modes that the PS2 uses.

I've used a Lepow C2 for a lot of retro projects; in some ways, it's a completely ridiculous retro monitor (15.6" 1920x1080 LCD?!? that's more appropriate for a ~2010 laptop). But... I will say this, with a DVI to mini HDMI adapter, it has so far handled every vintage DVI-outputting system I could throw at it, including ~2002-era Macs with unusual display modes (particularly for firmware/boot screens) that everything else I had accessible nearby couldn't seem to handle. Now, if only I could get my 98SE system working...

VivienM wrote on 2023-10-30, 00:41:

I've used a Lepow C2 for a lot of retro projects; in some ways, it's a completely ridiculous retro monitor (15.6" 1920x1080 LCD?!? that's more appropriate for a ~2010 laptop). But... I will say this, with a DVI to mini HDMI adapter, it has so far handled every vintage DVI-outputting system I could throw at it, including ~2002-era Macs with unusual display modes (particularly for firmware/boot screens) that everything else I had accessible nearby couldn't seem to handle. Now, if only I could get my 98SE system working...

Thanks ! never considered one of the newer portables, I always haul out the old Dell or Samsung LCD's (they do those old odd DOS and MAC formats). Be nice to have a lighter easier to move around version 😀
I know the MAC 832x624 mode is a bit hard to find like the DOS 720x400 mode. Will look into Lepow C2 !

wutang61 wrote on 2023-10-29, 23:40:

Absolutely will not reset without a 24 hour power and CMOS battery pull.

That is almost certainly a mobo problem. But worth swapping video cards to quickly rule that out as a cause.

Horun wrote on 2023-10-30, 01:32:

VivienM wrote on 2023-10-30, 00:41:

I've used a Lepow C2 for a lot of retro projects; in some ways, it's a completely ridiculous retro monitor (15.6" 1920x1080 LCD?!? that's more appropriate for a ~2010 laptop). But... I will say this, with a DVI to mini HDMI adapter, it has so far handled every vintage DVI-outputting system I could throw at it, including ~2002-era Macs with unusual display modes (particularly for firmware/boot screens) that everything else I had accessible nearby couldn't seem to handle. Now, if only I could get my 98SE system working...

Thanks ! never considered one of the newer portables, I always haul out the old Dell or Samsung LCD's (they do those old odd DOS and MAC formats). Be nice to have a lighter easier to move around version 😀
I know the MAC 832x624 mode is a bit hard to find like the DOS 720x400 mode. Will look into Lepow C2 !

I bought the Lepow C2 originally for a different purpose - I have a bunch of headless machines running as servers and I wanted something portable with DisplayPort inputs so I could plug in a monitor if those machines needed something. Most portable monitors from the bigger brands (e.g. Lenovo) are USB-C only, but the Lepow has mini-DP, mini-HDMI and USB-C inputs.

But then I started exploring vintage things and, so far, I have found that it has worked well with the vintage things I've tried. I've made it a point so far to avoid vintage things with analog (VGA or otherwise) displays and stick with things that have DVI though. (Although... sometimes I am almost tempted to add either a late beige Mac or a nice DOS/Win3.11 machine to the collection, either one of which would force me to deal with analog video)

I do actually have older Dells and one Samsung stored in their boxes, etc, and I think I came close to digging them up when I was trying to fix a Power Mac MDD (let's just say it is a very very very bad thing to set that machine to boot OS 9 if the drive is not properly formatted for OS 9 use... and it is very hard to fix without being able to display boot loaders, OS X CDs, etc.), but after spectacularly failing with a TV and a Lenovo 27", the Lepow was easier to grab and... surprise it worked great.

Came home today, system was able to post. Went into the BIOS reset the time AGP memory to 256mband enabled full speed USB 2.0, save and Restart and it’s back to no post.

Motherboard is on latest drivers (p34). Very odd. It seems there’s a bug somewhere that’s absolutely breaking the system. I will say, before I F’ed around and found out, it’s been dead nuts stable and predictable in win98. No issues whatsoever with plug and play USB or any 9x gameplay.

The monitor is a CR9 49” ultra wide. It’s able to run HDMI in “AV mode” so it keeps the 4:3 scaling. Actually works remarkably well.

Will try it one more time tonight. But I may need a new board. Just can’t understand what is causing such a massive hang.

wutang61 wrote on 2023-10-31, 02:17:

The monitor is a CR9 49” ultra wide. It’s able to run HDMI in “AV mode” so it keeps the 4:3 scaling. Actually works remarkably well.

What's the absolute oldest monitor you have lying around?

(In my case, it would be a Dell 1704FPT that probably hasn't been touched in 5-7 years. And that's almost too new for what I'm suggesting for you here... I have no idea whether that thing would be passable for DOS games.)

Also, I'm not sure you answered my question - have you tried this hardware in XP? And stress-tested everything in the OS it was actually designed for?

wutang61 wrote on 2023-10-31, 02:17:

Will try it one more time tonight. But I may need a new board. Just can’t understand what is causing such a massive hang.

Also... crazy radical thought, but if your goal is to run DOS games from the mid-1990sish, maybe you should look for a much older system. Happened to see someone on reddit who picked up a Dell Dimension 4100 and that got me thinking about you; I actually think the 4100 might be a teeny bit too new, but why not look for a Dell/Gateway/etc PII/PIII with ISA slots, the most compatible video cards for DOS, etc?

(Around here/eBay at least, I would tend to think it's easier/cheaper to find a full PII/PIII system than to find an ATX Slot 1 motherboard from the major suspects...)

I got an FX5900 too for my 98SE project that's even more unsuccessful than yours so far, so I get the appeal of that card, but... that just seems like a really, really, really new video card for DOS.

I think you are on to something both in vid card and bios, as a test leave the AGP Apature alone and see what happens.

VivienM wrote on 2023-10-31, 02:48:

Also... crazy radical thought, but if your goal is to run DOS games from the mid-1990sish, maybe you should look for a much olde […]
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wutang61 wrote on 2023-10-31, 02:17:

Will try it one more time tonight. But I may need a new board. Just can’t understand what is causing such a massive hang.

Also... crazy radical thought, but if your goal is to run DOS games from the mid-1990sish, maybe you should look for a much older system. Happened to see someone on reddit who picked up a Dell Dimension 4100 and that got me thinking about you; I actually think the 4100 might be a teeny bit too new, but why not look for a Dell/Gateway/etc PII/PIII with ISA slots, the most compatible video cards for DOS, etc?

(Around here/eBay at least, I would tend to think it's easier/cheaper to find a full PII/PIII system than to find an ATX Slot 1 motherboard from the major suspects...)

I got an FX5900 too for my 98SE project that's even more unsuccessful than yours so far, so I get the appeal of that card, but... that just seems like a really, really, really new video card for DOS.

I do have an older video card. Actually bought it exclusively for playing the 3D rage edition of mechwarrior 2. It’s an RAGE 2 +DVD.

Using the system for DOS stuff is a fallback. It’s not a must. Just wanted to play with the different versions of Mech 2 including the DOS version. But that game is completely capable of running in DOSBOX with stick support so it’s not a deal breaker. I may have an old LCD that has VGA, but DVI does work absolutely fine when the system wants to post.

It will actually run much newer and unsupported VGA’s with generic drivers in 98. 2400xt will run in limp mode on the desktop with no issues.

I just seem to have an underlying issue. Just can’t seem to find the root problem.

Installing XP hasn’t happened. I would have to “locate” that software. But If I can’t post I can’t do much. Frustrating.

You could buy a post card, port 80 test card, and identify at which code the computer hangs on boot after a restart.

Have you tried doing a clean install on another hard drive, thus preserving your old install, and testing if the computer still behaves the same, ie, no boot for a long time after a restart or hard crash ?

weedeewee wrote on 2023-10-31, 05:53:

You could buy a post card, port 80 test card, and identify at which code the computer hangs on boot after a restart.

Have you tried doing a clean install on another hard drive, thus preserving your old install, and testing if the computer still behaves the same, ie, no boot for a long time after a restart or hard crash ?

I did order a post test card last night. I do have another CF I could fresh install on as well. Should be here in a day or so. Once I can get the thing posting I probably will attempt to start over with 98SE on a new drive.

wutang61 wrote on 2023-10-29, 23:40:

The next day after it sorted itself out, I booted into DOS from the shutdown menu and got the prompt but realized USB support is non existent (my mistake) and restarted the system. Back to no video out until the “24 hour” mark and things reset. Which is where I am now.

It could be an electronic component failing in the board or the PSU.

Did you try using a different PSU?

As an aside, USB on DOS is possible with VIA and INTEL chipsets using Bret Johnson's drivers https://bretjohnson.us/