Nforce motherboards (or any Nvidia chipset-based mobo for that matter) are not a good candidate for smooth Windows 98 installation (even if claimed as "supported"), you may want to check this: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/97588-modern- … ith-windows-98/

A VIA-based mobo would be a better retro match for that XP-M.

If you still want to go through this, maybe try bare mobo/CPU/RAM (single)/VGA/HDD with onboard stuff disabled as much as possible.

You're going to loathe this suggestion although you do have a SBLive (which makes no sense for dos gaming with anyway), but... have you tried Windows ME?

Two suggestions: 1) Switch off as much "power/performance" stuff as you can find inside the BIOS set up area, including anything else you don't need. Isn't there some kind of "file handing performance" setting associated with some nForce2 based mobos? I vaguely recall having to switch that setting off, when I tested an nForce2 mobo with Windows 98.

2) Replace the XP-M with a different CPU. If the mobo can accept them, try a Duron. If not, try a T-Bird.

Good luck.

Edit: Please note that the CPU replacement idea above is just for the Win98 installation. If that works, after the installation has completed, you can put the XP-M CPU back in the mobo.

leileilol wrote:

You're going to loathe this suggestion although you do have a SBLive (which makes no sense for dos gaming with anyway), but... have you tried Windows ME?

Nope, I don't have. I did buy it back in the day and then uninstalled it a couple days later.

I already have a couple of DOS machines. 😁

Well I disabled all I could in the BIOS and yanked the Geforce out and replaced it with a Virge. Still no go. 😢

I'm looking at cheap Durons on ebay at the moment.

Take a look at this: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/224836

Similar issue: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=1270193

They are talking about mainboard and memory. Have you memtested the RAM?

Yeah ran memtest64+ and passed with flying colors. Also tried to install with only 1 stick.

Cut memory below 512 MB!
Take the Voodoos out for the installation, the need no irq anyway.

bushwack wrote:

Well I disabled all I could in the BIOS and yanked the Geforce out and replaced it with a Virge. Still no go. 😢

I'm looking at cheap Durons on ebay at the moment.

Don't forget looking for another board (especially VIA-based one for Win98 on AMD).

An error like that might also be caused by a defective mobo, but of course we can't RMA a retro mobo... 😐

I played with ubunto live CD and there were no issues my system, everything ran fine. I'd have to say the mobo is not defective.

Hmmm

What else could it be...

Just a thought:

- Try a different Windows CD / DVD (maybe a file is faulty)
- Try a different HDD and storage cable (maybe a corruption issue)
- Are there switches for the installation program (like a compatibility switch or something)

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Hmmm […]
Show full quote

Hmmm

What else could it be...

Just a thought:

- Try a different Windows CD / DVD (maybe a file is faulty)
- Try a different HDD and storage cable (maybe a corruption issue)
- Are there switches for the installation program (like a compatibility switch or something)

I tried to install Win98SE from my HDD by first coping the install dir onto a different partition on my HDD. (hint: Win98 will never ask for the CD to fetch apps and drivers there after, EVER) I also tried to install Win98 (first edition) directly from the CD. The Exact same error happens at the exact same place in the install both ways.

I might try a different dive tomorrow, good idea there. It's the same 80gig I was having fdisk issues with in another thread. I partitioned the drive fine with Partition Magic 5 and formatted with a Win98 boot disk.

Well it seems it's the 80gig HDD. I used a 6gig HDD with no issue.

I really don't think the 80gig is broken, everything went fine with Partition Magic and formatted fine with fdisk.

What am I missing?

bushwack wrote:

Well it seems it's the 80gig HDD. I used a 6gig HDD with no issue.

WOW 😳 Excellent!

[img]I really don't think the 80gig is broken, everything went fine with Partition Magic and formatted fine with fdisk.

What am I missing?[/img]

Time to do a surface scan on that HDD if you want. But if I where you, I wouldn't trust that disk with my data anymore...

Glad it's sorted! Awesome

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

bushwack wrote:

Well it seems it's the 80gig HDD. I used a 6gig HDD with no issue.

Glad it's sorted! Awesome

No, it's not sorted! I still want to install Windows 98 on that 80gig!

Well it's sorted in the sense of you now know where the issue lies...

Do a HDD surface scan (Ultimate Boot CD has a ton of these tools) and see if it spots anything.

But to be honest I would chuck that drive. I wouldn't trust any of my data with it anymore

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Well it's sorted in the sense of you now know where the issue lies...

Do a HDD surface scan (Ultimate Boot CD has a ton of these tools) and see if it spots anything.

But to be honest I would chuck that drive. I wouldn't trust any of my data with it anymore

Hehe, there is no data on it anymore!

Well almost not, I just finished installing Windows XP on it and everything went without a hitch.

Looking at my order history on newegg, I'm pretty sure Win98 has never been installed on this drive.

Update: Ran Western Digital's Drive Fitness Test and shows my drive fit as a fiddle.

The quick test or the long one?

Well if the drive checks out what are you going to do?

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

The quick test or the long one?

Well if the drive checks out what are you going to do?

Short test but everything points to the drive being fine, just somehow incompatible with the Win98 install routine. Might also have something to do with the motherboard controller too in conjunction with drive.

If anything, I'll install with the 6gb, make a image of my partition then put it on the 80gb. Wow such a hassle, never had such a pain in my arse before.

Ultimately I thought I would just throw a bunch of my spare parts together and make a kick ass win98 (and ho hum XP) machine. Now it's turned into a freaking nightmare. 🤣 I do have a IBM 30gb I know Win98 installs good on it, and use the 80gb with it.