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Having Issues running Windows 98SE on my Dell GX150

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First post, by KCompRoom2000

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Hello. Lately I've been having some strange issues regarding Windows 98SE on my Dell Optiplex GX150. Whenever I try to run certain games (Monster Truck Madness 2, for example), the computer restarts or it freezes. Oddly enough, I don't have this issue on Windows ME, but I'd really like to get Windows 98SE working properly on this computer due to the bad reputation Windows ME has.

Specifications

- Intel Pentium III-S 1.4 GHz
- 512MB (2x256MB) PC-133 SDRAM
- nVidia Geforce4 Ti 4200 64MB AGP graphics card
- Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS PCI sound card
- Pioneer IDE DVD-RW Drive
- HL-DT-ST IDE CD-RW Drive
- 3.5" 1.44MB Floppy Drive
- 40GB Seagate IDE hard drive

Here's what I've tried:
- Replacing one of the memory sticks since one of them was bad - still no change.
- Running Memtest86 and Prime95 for a few hours.
- Removing one stick of RAM to reduce the amount to 256MB.
- Reducing the RAM in msconfig.exe
- Visually inspecting the motherboard and power supply for bad capacitors - there were none.
- Changing the AGP Aperture from 64MB to 32MB.
- Disabling Serial Ports, the Parallel port, and USB Emulation.
- Replacing the power supply, CPU fan, and optical drives.

Here are the drivers I'm using:
Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS Drivers
nVidia Forceware 45.23 Drivers (the most recommended version for my graphics card)

The only updates I have installed are DirectX 9.0 (came with the sound card driver) and NUSB33E.

If anyone here has any ideas on how I can fix this computer and get Windows 98SE to work properly on it, I would really appreciate it.

Reply 1 of 3, by KCompRoom2000

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I've just installed Windows ME and I'm still having issues running Monster Truck Madness 2. I've also tried the Microsoft Windows Security CD February 2004 when it was running Windows 98SE and it still didn't help. So, what could be the problem? Bad capacitors (even though I've already stated that there were no visibly bad capacitors)?

Reply 2 of 3, by Warlord

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when things crash with games only and nothing else, usually it points to the graphics card. Either the driver version you are using is crashing that specific game, or the card is going bad. If no other games crash and its just that one, it points to driver incompatibility. So you can try using a older driver. You can try using a differn't card, just to test that it has nothing to do with the rest of the system.

Reply 3 of 3, by KCompRoom2000

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Warlord wrote on 2022-03-02, 07:20:

when things crash with games only and nothing else, usually it points to the graphics card. Either the driver version you are using is crashing that specific game, or the card is going bad. If no other games crash and its just that one, it points to driver incompatibility. So you can try using a older driver. You can try using a differn't card, just to test that it has nothing to do with the rest of the system.

Okay, I've replaced the graphics card with a spare nVidia Geforce4 MX440 AGP card (still using 45.23 drivers) and after playing for about an hour it seems to be working fine now. It hasn't frozen or shut down.

I'll test the problematic card in my Dell Dimension 4600 and run 3DMark '01 on it to see if it's a faulty video card. I remember having to replace its heatsink and fan since the original fan was too noisy. The heatsink was held onto the graphics chip by thermal glue, so I had to stick it in the freezer to make the glue breakable. I wonder if that impacted the longevity of the card.

EDIT: I've removed the heatsink on the faulty Ti4200 card and from the looks of it, the thermal paste I applied to it after replacing the heatsink has dried out. I'm thinking the reason why it was having issues was the graphics chip was overheating. Since the new fan is still noisy at times, I'm thinking about finding a broken graphics card that has the same mounting holes and use its fan. Either that or replace the fan with a Noctua fan of the same size. I haven't tested it again yet, but I will soon. When I do, I'll post about the results.

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