Ever since I got my new PC in January 2004 I have had several Windows and DOS games that refuse to work. Initially I planned to have a minimal install of Win98SE on a second hard drive and try to boot to it, however my attempts at a start-up hard disk selection thing proved futile, and I didn't want to install partition software or reformat and install 98SE followed by XP which apparently allows you to choose an OS when you start(?). So I gave up.

The other day my second drive was failing to boot up (as usual 🤣, I only use it to hold things that are backed up already!), however due to this error it managed to flip the boot up order in my BIOS. I discovered that it then tried to boot off the slave drive instead of the master hard disk.

So today I tested using an old hard disk with Windows98 on, and rather brilliantly it booted up when that hard disk was chosen as having boot priority! This is very cool as it means I only have to use the BIOS to swap to 98 rather than unplugging and replugging hard disks (as a mate of mine does!).

It's not quite all so clear as the old hard disk fails to boot Win98 with some memory error (though it is Win98 not SE and hasn't been set up for this computer) but it's a minor issue I'm sure now.

So I think it'll be reformat the second drive as FAT32, stick minimal 98SE on it, then I can play 98 games on there and also store my other stuff as before! Finally I will be able to play stuff like Pro Rally 2001, Jetboat Superchamps, Top Gun Fire At Will, NASCAR Racing 2 and more... as long as I can get Win98SE running okay on my 3.2GHz Extreme Edition, 1GB RAM, etc machine hehe!

Of course, for some people this is probably known information. Or rather a clunky way to go about things?

Ice