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First post, by candle_86

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So my pentium 1 is finished, and i can install and use 98SE fine, I can use Dos and 3.1 just fine, but i decided to add a second HDD to run win95 on, and that wont work at all. System specs

Shuttle Hot-591P VIA MVP3
Intel Pentium-S 166
64mb PC100 @66 CL3 (tested with memtest its stable)
20gb HDD (win98 installs to this fine)
6gb HDD (DOS/3.1 HDD)
Matrox Millienium II 4mb
VIA USB 2.0 Card
Intel ISA 10mb/s Nic
Soundblaster 16 PnP
Lite-On 12x DVD-Rom

Trying to load Windows 95 OSR2.5, I've even tried reburning the disk, and did load the disk into VMware the disk not the ISO and it installed fine in vmware, so really unsure whats going on.

If i wanted a 98SE box I'd toss in my TNT2 Pro and K6-2 400 though

Reply 2 of 22, by candle_86

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none install finishes fine, does 3 reboots, then restarts after install is finally done, then it just crashes before desktop

Reply 3 of 22, by BeginnerGuy

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Have you tried letting a surface test go on the drive you're using on the off chance that it does have some issue, memtest on your ram?

Strange that win98 will work but win95 does not. The timing of the crash could be due to a conflict. After verifying the drive and RAM I would barebones the system and reinstall and see what happens without the extra cards (USB, Sound, etc), then add them back one at a time -- could be some conflict.

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Reply 5 of 22, by yawetaG

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Hardware conflict, check what hardware is disabled in Safe Mode and then try removing/disabling each of them one by one until you find the culprit.

VMware simulates a separate computer system on top of the actual hardware, so Windows 95 will be installed with settings for the simulated system...

Reply 6 of 22, by tayyare

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What exactly "crash" means? Does it mean "blank screen and nothing happens" just before the GUI starts?

It might be related to your monitör, i.e. display adapter asking for a refresh rate outside of your monitor's capability. Try redefining Matrox as a standard VGA in safe mode and check if Windows starts in normal mode like that.

EDIT: Bootlog also might help: https://www.computerhope.com/msdossys.htm

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Reply 7 of 22, by Jo22

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In situations like this (moving Win9x from one system to another) I often tried to start in safe mode,
go to system/device manager and delete all device driers with yellowed marks.
Sometimes, that even worked and Win9x started up in normal mode again (and reinstalled drivers for all system devices). 😀

In either case: it's wise to have all drivers at hand on the c: drive (plus the Win9x/driver folder from the Win9x install CD). 😉

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Reply 8 of 22, by candle_86

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No I didn't move the 9x install, i tested my disk to make sure the disk is working fine, its a clean load. By Crash I mean I get the windows 95 splash screen for the normal minute, then it crashes and im back at the bios screen.

Reply 9 of 22, by yawetaG

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candle_86 wrote:

No I didn't move the 9x install, i tested my disk to make sure the disk is working fine, its a clean load. By Crash I mean I get the windows 95 splash screen for the normal minute, then it crashes and im back at the bios screen.

So it reboots at the Windows 95 splash screen and starts loading again? Or does it actually go into the BIOS after rebooting?

Or do you mean you get a black screen with a DOS prompt instead of the desktop?
If that happens, try letting it sit for a while and see if it gets to the desktop properly after waiting some time (30 minutes to 1 hour - make a cup of coffee or something to pass the time). I've seen this behaviour on systems with misconfigured hardware (usually power management related).

"crash" would imply a BSOD or hard lock.

Reply 11 of 22, by Jo22

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Ah, I see. Maybe it helps to solve things in a Windows 3.1 style manner.
It's been a while, but I believe Windows 95 still has win.com, so the bootlog feature is still there:

When the Win95's DOS foundation is booting, press F8 to get to the menu.
Select Command line only (DOS7.x), switch to the Windows folder an run it by entering WIN /B.
That will create a BOOTLOG.TXT file which contains information up to the moment Windows crashs/hangs.

Sorry, it's been a while since I ran Win95. 😅
Maybe bootlog can be created from within the startup menu already (F8).

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In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

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Reply 12 of 22, by BeginnerGuy

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You need to rule out conflicts as suggested in my first post if you actually want somebody to help.

Sup. I like computers. Are you a computer?

Reply 13 of 22, by tpowell.ca

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candle_86 wrote:
So my pentium 1 is finished, and i can install and use 98SE fine, I can use Dos and 3.1 just fine, but i decided to add a second […]
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So my pentium 1 is finished, and i can install and use 98SE fine, I can use Dos and 3.1 just fine, but i decided to add a second HDD to run win95 on, and that wont work at all. System specs

Shuttle Hot-591P VIA MVP3
Intel Pentium-S 166
64mb PC100 @66 CL3 (tested with memtest its stable)
20gb HDD (win98 installs to this fine)
6gb HDD (DOS/3.1 HDD)
Matrox Millienium II 4mb
VIA USB 2.0 Card
Intel ISA 10mb/s Nic
Soundblaster 16 PnP
Lite-On 12x DVD-Rom

Trying to load Windows 95 OSR2.5, I've even tried reburning the disk, and did load the disk into VMware the disk not the ISO and it installed fine in vmware, so really unsure whats going on.

If i wanted a 98SE box I'd toss in my TNT2 Pro and K6-2 400 though

Most likely a hardware conflict.
Remove the Via USB card, ISA network card and sound blaster.
If windows starts fine, then add the sound card.
If it still starts, then add the network card.
.. go by process of elimination..

Also, MEMTEST86 is not an absolutely reliable test. It is one of the best, BUT there are cases where MEMTEST will pass all tests for hours of burn-in testing yet Windows will fail due to bad RAM; so don't rule out testing a different stick should the above hardware removal method not work.

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Reply 14 of 22, by AlaricD

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candle_86 wrote:

By Crash I mean I get the windows 95 splash screen for the normal minute, then it crashes and im back at the bios screen.

It almost screams DMA conflict. The one card you have that I know would use at least one DMA is that SB16 PnP-- remove it and see what happens. The Intel ISA NIC *might* use DMA, but I don't know much about that one. Pre-OSR2.1 won't have any USB support but it might probe the card, but I'm assuming it's PCI and so shouldn't have any ISA IRQ conflicts.

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Reply 15 of 22, by ATauenis

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Jo22 wrote:

Maybe bootlog can be created from within the startup menu already (F8).

Yes, Win95 have a "Logged (\BOOTLOG.TXT)" startup mode in F8-menu. Even Windows ME still can make the BootLog.txt for troubleshooting purposes.

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Reply 16 of 22, by candle_86

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BeginnerGuy wrote:

You need to rule out conflicts as suggested in my first post if you actually want somebody to help.

🤣, I was at work so I was anwsering what I could before i got home

Reply 17 of 22, by BeginnerGuy

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candle_86 wrote:
BeginnerGuy wrote:

You need to rule out conflicts as suggested in my first post if you actually want somebody to help.

🤣, I was at work so I was anwsering what I could before i got home

Sorry about that, I have a bad headache today and my other half was igoring me, then my boss was ignoring me, and then you were ignoring me and I felt ignored so I had an emotional outburst. I'm alright now. We're all gonna make it.

🤣

Sup. I like computers. Are you a computer?

Reply 18 of 22, by candle_86

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No where not, i tried to remove hardware and turn it on, then the motherboard started to smell like burning silicone 🙁

Reply 19 of 22, by tpowell.ca

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candle_86 wrote:

No where not, i tried to remove hardware and turn it on, then the motherboard started to smell like burning silicone 🙁

Shes dead Jim.
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Sounds like something is shorting or a bad power supply.
Most likely unrelated to the Windows 95 issue though.

Maybe you'll be lucky and it may not be fatal.
I'd suggest removing EVERYTHING, and triple checking for anything loose inside your case. Screws, slot adapters, badly inserted RAM...
Then start small.
CPU, RAM and Videocard.
Then Disk, CD-ROM
....

  • Merlin: MS-4144, AMD5x86-160 32MB, 16GB CF, ZIP100, Orpheus, GUS, S3 VirgeGX 2MB
    Tesla: GA-6BXC, VIA C3 Ezra-T, 256MB, 120GB SATA, YMF744, GUSpnp, Quadro2
    Newton: K6XV3+/66, AMD K6-III+500, 256MB, 32GB SSD, AWE32, Voodoo3