chinny22 wrote on 2025-07-04, 05:22:

Nice and simple IDE hard drive, that's good as it means we can rule out issues caused by adapters! :) […]
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assortedkingdede wrote on 2025-07-04, 02:39:

chinny22 wrote on 2025-07-04, 02:15:

What motherboard and hard drive are you using? How did you partition the hard drive? […]
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What motherboard and hard drive are you using?
How did you partition the hard drive?

Only time I've had similar issues was using adapters and partitions weren't aligned properly.
but are many other causes

My motherboard is a Asus CUSL2 rev 1.2. My hard drive is a Seagate ST3120025ACE that is 120 gb.

Nice and simple IDE hard drive, that's good as it means we can rule out issues caused by adapters! 😀

I'd run Seagate tools to check the drive health.
https://www.seagate.com/au/en/support/downloa … -legacy-support

How was the hard drive partitioned? Personally I only use fdisk it's not as fancy as 3rd party tools but you it'll setup the drive in a way compatible to windows
With 120GB you'll need the updated version
https://archive.org/details/windows-98-and-se … drive-fixes.-7z

Is this just a standard install of Windows or are you using something like the unofficial service pack or similar?

I ran some checks with seatools and the program did not seem to find anything unusual. Strangely, I am starting to notice a pattern of the faliure going back to the system files, one case Windows.com failed and currently, there is an issue with the registry that Windows was "unable to fix". I have also noticed my primary partition seems to have resized itself to be twice as big (likely partitioning mistake on my end setting up with fdisk).

Halofiber86 wrote on 2025-07-04, 20:50:

assortedkingdede wrote on 2025-07-02, 17:06:

The attachment IMG_8309.jpg is no longer available

If you would like an extra opinion: I've been using the Windows 98 a lot since, er, 1998... Back then I never had issues like that. Yes, a BSOD now and then, but never so intense. But when I've started using real hardware again about 5 years ago, I started having the symptoms exactly as you describe. And that was caused by the faulty hard drives (several real full-size ones and even one faulty Kingston A400 SSD). The modus operandi was as follows: fresh install, some poking around (mainly testing some music software and MSOffice). Then a full HDD surface test and standard Windows 98 defrag. Back then I was doing the tests often and defrags on the weekly, OK, monthly basis, nothing happened. Now - one drive died in the midst of the first ever defrag already. Others lasted a couple of weeks, a month maybe. Then I started getting BSODs and drive errors. Nothing unusual, plain Windows 98 setup formatting from the proprietary Microsoft CD, plain defragmentation. As I had about 5 drives ending up like that, the pattern is suspiciously familiar. And I know the difference as of now: having switched to 2,5" laptop 4200rpm drives, I do the very same routines and my user behaviour is the same, but the system is stable. Also I have somehow come across one WD 80Gb full-size Caviar, which apparently was very lightly used by the original owner.

If you have time and are out of other options, my suggestion would be running the standard Windows 98 surface test on your 120Gb hard drive. With the DMA 5 that you have that should not take more than 5-6 hours to complete. If you will get errors during that test, I would strongly suggest replacing the hard drive.

I ran a surface test though it did not come up with any errors, strangely I think defrag closed itself after I left it running for a while and I came back to see it gone. I haven't seen anything that indicates a deeper hardware problem however I notice there is a running them of system file problems that cause the system to fail to boot, all of which weren't happening previously with the same installation. All of my issues seem to start with a BSOD occurring for reasons like Fatal Exception.

I highly recommend starting again and install Windows 98 Quick Install. The installer runs Linux. Delete all the partitions (using the installer) and install Windows (takes 2 minutes literally). It includes Windows 98 updates. I’ve reinstall all my Windows 98 machines and it’s great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8V1bE43nbHM

https://github.com/oerg866/win98-quickinstall … o_directx81.iso

Zuldan's quick install is probably a good idea, at least for testing.

Fdisk isn't smart enough to resize partitions, so something isn't right at this low of a level.
I also don't trust Win98 on partitions larger than 40GB and even that feels way too big for me. I much prefer 4GB for Windows and a second larger partition for games.

Running the quick install and watching the associated video may take way some of the guess work.
Once that's installed and confirmed everything's working well you can always go back and try again manually if you wanted.

chinny22 wrote on 2025-07-21, 00:47:

Zuldan's quick install is probably a good idea, at least for testing. […]
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Zuldan's quick install is probably a good idea, at least for testing.

Fdisk isn't smart enough to resize partitions, so something isn't right at this low of a level.
I also don't trust Win98 on partitions larger than 40GB and even that feels way too big for me. I much prefer 4GB for Windows and a second larger partition for games.

Running the quick install and watching the associated video may take way some of the guess work.
Once that's installed and confirmed everything's working well you can always go back and try again manually if you wanted.

I gave quick install a try and so far I haven't had many issues, the computer booted after roughly 9 hours normally though 98lite seems to get stuck shutting down and directx throws errors with 3d acceleration. I am also unsure about creating multiple partitions I installed windows on roughly 10% of the drive and made the rest extended though I seemingly wasn't able to use the extended part likely because I didn't format it though I am still figuring that out as well. I seem to also have an issue where my nu36e.exe usb driver are causing explorer to immediately fail on start and throw an illegal operation error. 98lite has seemingly solved my disk issue however at the cost of the drivers I generally use being nonfunctional or breaking the system (weirdly the SoundBlaster live worked despite this being a huge pain generally)

I figured out the partitioning, made a silly mistake while configuring the partitions however I seem to have dug myself in a even deeper hole, I now have a messed up copy of windows 98 that my older installation boot disk fdisk can't seem to read correctly. Is there a more solid way of partitioning my disk without relying on 98lite boot disk tools or the stock fdisk, I know there is a updated FDISK but I have no clue on how to due that in my setting since I don't have another hard drive to use to boot windows and run it though I do have a bunch of blank cd's but I don't no a way of running the updated FDISK as a live cd.

Use an SSD or CF card for primary OS drive ( I would this first ).
256mb of RAM Single stick or two 128mb sticks
Let windows memory manager do the work. Leave settings to default.
Instal SP3 core updates then reboot and then install Directx 9 from package.

assortedkingdede wrote on 2025-07-21, 16:21:

I know there is a updated FDISK but I have no clue on how to due that in my setting since I don't have another hard drive to use […]
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I know there is a updated FDISK but I have no clue on how to due that in my setting since I don't have another hard drive to use to boot windows and run it though I do have a bunch of blank cd's but I don't no a way of running the updated FDISK as a live cd.

WinME includes the updated fdisk so you could boot off that and run fdisk.

assortedkingdede wrote on 2025-07-21, 16:04:

I am also unsure about creating multiple partitions I installed windows on roughly 10% of the drive and made the rest extended though I seemingly wasn't able to use the extended part likely because I didn't format it though I am still figuring that out as well

After creating the Extended partition did you then use fdisk to make a logical drive? that would be my guess why its not showing.

but yeh, these side affects are why I don't really like the unofficial patches. I guess if the disk issue is solved you can simply format the hard drives and install your version of windows using the partitions created by quick install

assortedkingdede wrote on 2025-07-21, 16:21:

I know there is a updated FDISK but I have no clue on how to due that in my setting since I don't have another hard drive to use to boot windows and run it though I do have a bunch of blank cd's but I don't no a way of running the updated FDISK as a live cd.

WinME includes the updated fdisk so you could boot off that and run fdisk.

assortedkingdede wrote on 2025-07-21, 16:04:

I am also unsure about creating multiple partitions I installed windows on roughly 10% of the drive and made the rest extended though I seemingly wasn't able to use the extended part likely because I didn't format it though I am still figuring that out as well

After creating the Extended partition did you then use fdisk to make a logical drive? that would be my guess why its not showing.

but yeh, these side affects are why I don't really like the unofficial patches. I guess if the disk issue is solved you can simply format the hard drives and install your version of windows using the partitions created by quick install

If noones said it yet, run memtest86 overnight.
Memory problems are the #1 cause of instability.

chinny22 wrote on 2025-07-22, 01:33:

WinME includes the updated fdisk so you could boot off that and run fdisk. […]
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assortedkingdede wrote on 2025-07-21, 16:21:

I know there is a updated FDISK but I have no clue on how to due that in my setting since I don't have another hard drive to use to boot windows and run it though I do have a bunch of blank cd's but I don't no a way of running the updated FDISK as a live cd.

WinME includes the updated fdisk so you could boot off that and run fdisk.

assortedkingdede wrote on 2025-07-21, 16:04:

I am also unsure about creating multiple partitions I installed windows on roughly 10% of the drive and made the rest extended though I seemingly wasn't able to use the extended part likely because I didn't format it though I am still figuring that out as well

After creating the Extended partition did you then use fdisk to make a logical drive? that would be my guess why its not showing.

but yeh, these side affects are why I don't really like the unofficial patches. I guess if the disk issue is solved you can simply format the hard drives and install your version of windows using the partitions created by quick install

I didn't initially create a logical drive with fdisk, I was figuring that out when I was using 86lite and I did eventually get a second partition working, fdisk (Windows 98 SE) however seemed to be confused by the 86lite partitioning and said my second partition was bootable? I am going to try the Win ME fdisk, is there a version of Windows 98 you recommend? SP3 has worked well for me in the past but seems to be having weird issues recently and historically has been irritating to troubleshoot.

Logical drives aren't bootable without 3rd party tools which maybe why fdisk is confused?

Persoannly I just use a stcok standard WIn98 iso, typically copied over to the hard drive.
it's basic but less to go wrong!

Depends. Up to 4 primary partitions can boot.

I would just create a standard installation of Win98. 1 partition (entire) on a hard disk with a fresh install of Win98 Quick install. Confirm the machine is 100% stable then start playing around with partitioning. To partition, I highly recommend FreeDOS. It’s fdisk isn’t bugged like MS DOS (EG DOS 6.22 - 4GB CF Card - 2 primary partitions?).

Agreed.
Also important: backup.
I've done everything from a bat zipping the whole drive to a backup folder from dos, to norton ghost.
What's important is getting back to a stable state reasonably quickly.

Trying to make 98 stable and reliable is like expecting a American women to be mentally stable and honest in a relationship, both ain't happening... Even MS ran into BSOD when doing presentation and trade shows on 9x and it was so back that it was the butt of many jokes in the 90s and early 2000's.

However here is a list of things I found help make a 9x system a bit more stable.
1: don't install funky apps like 98lite and leave the OS alone, don't use tweaks or anything like that.
2: recap your motherboard and use a good PSU
3: if running a 440bx board run at 100mhz fsb as 133 is technically over clocking the bus.
4: don't use more than 256mb of ram, 128 or less is better and don't use a gpu with more then 256gb of vram.
5: run win ME if you don't need the dos mode stuff.

and back up back up back up. once you get all your games and stuff installed back that crap up and install your games on a different partition/drive from the OS so you don't have to lose all your game saves and so on when the OS takes a dump and takes the partition with it.

BTW you may want to look into soporific's windows 98 ubcd 2008, it has a lot of tools build into it that makes for setting up 9x a lot less of a hassle, in your case it has a lot of boot disk/partitioning tools.

Some progress has been made, I used fdisk to install a standard version of Windows 98 and my multiple partitions are configured and formatted correct and seen by windows. However my Nvidia 45.23 drivers I am using for my GeForce 4 may be having issues since I can run the computer in higher color counts but programs and directx are unable to initialize 3d acceleration. I observed this behavior with 98lite as well. I am currently running some memtest86 tests while I research this issue.

What version of DirectX did you install?
If you run dxdiag does it come up with any errors!

...aren't old computers fun!

old school gamer man wrote on 2025-07-23, 15:03:

Trying to make 98 stable and reliable is like expecting a American women to be mentally stable and honest in a relationship, bot […]
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Trying to make 98 stable and reliable is like expecting a American women to be mentally stable and honest in a relationship, both ain't happening... Even MS ran into BSOD when doing presentation and trade shows on 9x and it was so back that it was the butt of many jokes in the 90s and early 2000's.

However here is a list of things I found help make a 9x system a bit more stable.
1: don't install funky apps like 98lite and leave the OS alone, don't use tweaks or anything like that.
2: recap your motherboard and use a good PSU
3: if running a 440bx board run at 100mhz fsb as 133 is technically over clocking the bus.
4: don't use more than 256mb of ram, 128 or less is better and don't use a gpu with more then 256gb of vram.
5: run win ME if you don't need the dos mode stuff.

and back up back up back up. once you get all your games and stuff installed back that crap up and install your games on a different partition/drive from the OS so you don't have to lose all your game saves and so on when the OS takes a dump and takes the partition with it.

BTW you may want to look into soporific's windows 98 ubcd 2008, it has a lot of tools build into it that makes for setting up 9x a lot less of a hassle, in your case it has a lot of boot disk/partitioning tools.

Memtest is very very important.
I bought a bundle of sd a while back and about half were faulty.
Some were dead dead, but many had bit errors. Of those some worked on at a lower speed.

Scandisk (full surface scan) is probably #2.

If you've got an nvidia card, mats/mods would be #3 for the same reason as #1 (memtest for gpus). Ati/amd... Not sure.

Any os can only be stable if the hardware can reliably handle the logistics of the data.

People think computers are like 99% useful math machines, but they're more like 80% logistics and 20% useful math.

chinny22 wrote on 2025-07-24, 00:17:

What version of DirectX did you install?
If you run dxdiag does it come up with any errors!

...aren't old computers fun!

Currently running DirectX8.1 (errors started when I was running 6 but the errors are the same). I started with dxdiag and every time, it has indicated that it failed to create a 3D device. I am nearly 100% sure that my video card is working fine, I have seen this error in the past and it caused me a lot of trouble though I can't recall how I solved it. Probably something with the drivers which I have found to be touchy. For additional context I am using a GeForce4 Ti 4200 running in a AGP 4x slot.