Are you using a "stock" DOS 6.22 install without third party utilities in config.sys or autoexec.bat ?

Random idea to look through the forum for some of the slow-down tools works best on a Pentium 4, and try slowing down your system a bit before doing the install.

Also perhaps try removing Smartdrv from autoexec.bat which DOS 6.22 has by default. What it should be doing after reading all those files from disk 1 is flushing the cache to write them all out to the hard drive. Perhaps something is going wrong at that point.

Stock MS-DOS 6.22 installation. Nothing else done to it, just a straight install, then running the Windows 3.1 disk.

I tried removing smartdrv from the autoexec.bat . No change.

I tried doing a custom install instead of express. It has no problem with the screen to set the installation folder. Then the next screen that comes up shows the list of detected hardware (which includes my US keyboard), but once it hits that point, it's lost, no keyboard functionality anymore.

And yes, I'm the same JonnyGators from other forums, and my account here is new, so while I can receive PMs, I can't reply to them. I've kinda given up on the 486 build project for now, and am rethinking what to do with the parts I have for that project.

I wonder if it probing for your hardware is causing a problem. Try setup /i
https://jeffpar.github.io/kbarchive/kb/083/Q83194/

jakethompson1 wrote on 2020-07-13, 23:29:

I wonder if it probing for your hardware is causing a problem. Try setup /i
https://jeffpar.github.io/kbarchive/kb/083/Q83194/

This ^ also: how much ram do you installed ? Have seen Win 3.1 install puke on more than 32Mb though it should run fine on 64Mb.... just a thought.

jakethompson1 wrote on 2020-07-13, 23:29:

I wonder if it probing for your hardware is causing a problem. Try setup /i
https://jeffpar.github.io/kbarchive/kb/083/Q83194/

Yes, that did the trick. Thanks.

Nice, hopefully it will work. It may involve some messing around in system.ini especially the [386enh] section as those settings are tuned for contemporary 386/486 hardware. But people definitely ran Win98SE on P4 hardware, part of the same family tree as 3.x 386-enhanced mode. You may be stuck with 16-color VGA graphics unless there is somehow a driver for your video card, although there is a hacked SVGA driver intended for use inside VMware out there.

Hi, are you running Windows 3.1 or WfW 3.11?
If it's old 3.1, you can try Standard Mode via Win /S or Win /2.

As for the Pentium IV..
Well, it was very fast. Especially with the LOOP instruction.
Maybe that's in part the reason why you're having trouble.

http://www.os2museum.com/wp/those-win9x-crash … -fast-machines/

Edit: "Update: Intel Pentium 4 (tested on Irwindale Xeon) appears to execute the LOOP instruction in two cycles, noticeably faster than older and newer Intel CPUs."

I wouldn't even bother using Dos/3.x on a P4. P1 yes, any later no.

Oh, I"m not planning on using it. Or using it very seriously. Just more of an exercise in going through the install process, seeing if it could be done, and then when I ran into a problem it made me more curious.

I can play solitare without sound, but that's about as much as I expect to do with 3.1 on this machine, as I doubt I can find 3.1 drivers for the video card and sound card in this machine.

Now onto the next one....figuring out why Windows 95 installs keep failing on this machine, even with the patching process for faster processors.

JonnyGators wrote on 2020-07-14, 14:35:

I can play solitare without sound, but that's about as much as I expect to do with 3.1 on this machine, as I doubt I can find 3.1 drivers for the video card and sound card in this machine.

Well, you could try using the PC-Speaker driver..
Or the built-in Sound Blaster 1.x drivers, provided, that you have a PCI soundcard with DOS drivers..
Both should work in Standard Mode.
In fact, you could also use 286 Standard Mode by using DOSX (C:\%windir‰\> system\dosx.exe)..
Last, but not least, you can build a Covox DAC for your LPT-Port.
There are Windows 3.1 drivers made by Covox..

JonnyGators wrote:

Now onto the next one....figuring out why Windows 95 installs keep failing on this machine, even with the patching process for faster processors.

I wished I could help you, but I mainly used Win95 RTM on a 386DX back in the days..
Win98SE should work o-kay on the IV, though..

Jo22 wrote on 2020-07-14, 15:30:

Well, you could try using the PC-Speaker driver.. Or the built-in Sound Blaster 1.x drivers, provided, that you have a PCI soun […]
Show full quote

JonnyGators wrote on 2020-07-14, 14:35:

I can play solitare without sound, but that's about as much as I expect to do with 3.1 on this machine, as I doubt I can find 3.1 drivers for the video card and sound card in this machine.

Well, you could try using the PC-Speaker driver..
Or the built-in Sound Blaster 1.x drivers, provided, that you have a PCI soundcard with DOS drivers..
Both should work in Standard Mode.
In fact, you could also use 286 Standard Mode by using DOSX (C:\%windir‰\> system\dosx.exe)..
Last, but not least, you can build a Covox DAC for your LPT-Port.
There are Windows 3.1 drivers made by Covox..

JonnyGators wrote:

Now onto the next one....figuring out why Windows 95 installs keep failing on this machine, even with the patching process for faster processors.

I wished I could help you, but I mainly used Win95 RTM on a 386DX back in the days..
Win98SE should work o-kay on the IV, though..

Cool, I will have to play around with those driver options.

The machine works great as a 98SE/XP dual boot machine. In order for it to use 98, though, I had to set it to a legacy mode, and it's set to only use SATA and secondary P-ATA to do that. Which leaves the primary P-ATA free to play around with, and manually switch over to from the BIOS. So that's where I've been doing this tinkering around with DOS/3.1/95, by setting it to P-ATA only. And then setting it back to SATA and P-ATA secondary when I want it back to my 98SE/XP setup.

You're welcome! 🙂

Some Win 3.1 drivers can be found at:
https://remember.the-aero.org/speaker/index.htm

Cool.

I managed to fix the 95 issue, needed to run that one setup /p i (in addition to the high processor fix on the reboot) to get that to take. I managed to do it as a 3.1 to 95 upgrade. I might roll it back and play more around with the drivers at another time. I'm just playing around. At this point I'm wondering how wide of a range of windows versions could I upgrade on this machine...that could be a fun video. I've seen plenty of videos doing things like that in VMs. I know this machine should comfortably go up to 7. Not sure if I can manage the upgrade path on the same format/partition though. Anyways....thanks for the help, it's great now to know how I can get 3.1 on this machine.

Getting 3.1 to install properly on this machine (and also getting a 95 upgrade install to take) has inspired me to start a series of youtube streaming related to this. I've realized that, now that I've managed to get my Pentium 4 to accept a Windows 3.1 install, and upgrade to 95, that I may have a machine that is capable of installing Windows 1, and upgrading it through various versions up to 10.

I did find an over 10 hour video where something like this had been done, which tells me this is something that will require more than 1 live stream to do. But also, I do want to take some time with each version to install apps, play around, explore each version, and see what continues to work from version to version, so this will be a weekly series on Friday nights, 8pm EST.

This will be streamed on my tech related youtube channel "The Computer Bar" - feel free to check it out and subscribe. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwzGycIpr-kaczZFM-ay7Gw