Try different slots, will likely give you a different IRQ. Failing that, try disabling devices in the BIOS.

Tried disabling all built in motherboard features, (parallel port, etc) and swapping ports around with both the sound card and Ethernet card and no dice. Now windows 98 locks up with only the sound card inserted. I’ve had nothing but trouble with the Aureal playing nice. Not sure if it’s a problem with the hardware.

Got it back to booting by removing the USB card that was previously just working fine. Don’t really see it as a solution since I’d like some media method outside of CD’s and floppies.

EDIT: USB card is working again, did tons of PCI slot swapping to no avail. Also updated BIOS just incase, but no go.

Reset BIOS defaults / clear CMOS. Then try the very last PCI slot at the bottom of the motherboard with just the sound card only installed. (and AGP GPU of course) I have an Audigy2 ZS that will not work on a Pentium III system with an Abit VT6X4 -- either the sound card wasn't recognized or the system would hang. The last PCI slot worked. I could then install other PCI cards in the system.

wiretap wrote:

Reset BIOS defaults / clear CMOS. Then try the very last PCI slot at the bottom of the motherboard with just the sound card only installed. (and AGP GPU of course) I have an Audigy2 ZS that will not work on a Pentium III system with an Abit VT6X4 -- either the sound card wasn't recognized or the system would hang. The last PCI slot worked. I could then install other PCI cards in the system.

Gotcha, Ill give that a shot, thanks!

An attempt was made but nope v_v gets to about here and locks up.

Put the computer back into a state where it will fully boot into the OS. (remove cards or whatever you have to do) Then load WinDriver Debug Monitor on it, especially at the next boot and install cards one at a time. Are you sure it isn't being caused by a driver hang, or some other hardware problem? Can you boot into Safe Mode with the cards installed?

It does indeed boot into safe mode with the cards installed, Ill try that stuff next!

EDIT: Oh how do I get WinDriver Debug Monitor going?

Are you sure it isn't being caused by a driver hang, or some other hardware problem?

Not ruling out anything, if people lean towards it being a driver, or hardware issue then I'll definitely look in that direction. To me it seems driver related, but again I dont know how to troubleshoot that. The debug monitor thing sounds like the right start for that.

With Safe Mode working, that tells me it is a driver problem, or IRQ problem.

Also, I'm mistaken.. WinDriver Debug Monitor only works for Windows CE. I am mixing up programs I used back in college.

For checking Windows 98 boot problems with hardware/drivers, look here: https://www.techrepublic.com/article/get-it-d … -and-utilities/

Try changing the Aureal game port settings.

Hmmm, logged startup isn’t creating a bootleg.txt for me, unless I’m missing something it should be in C?

It made: Frunlog, Netlog and that’s it

I would try the Reset Configuration Data setting in the BIOS.

Also, I've had problems with sound cards in similar VIA boards and I found that the only (absolute ONLY) PCI slot that worked was the 3rd slot down. All other slots created conflicts with the IDE controller or other things that could not be disabled. Resetting configuration data was also required to make it work.

Ozzuneoj wrote:

I would try the Reset Configuration Data setting in the BIOS.

Also, I've had problems with sound cards in similar VIA boards and I found that the only (absolute ONLY) PCI slot that worked was the 3rd slot down. All other slots created conflicts with the IDE controller or other things that could not be disabled. Resetting configuration data was also required to make it work.

Tried this, 3rd slot and reset config data. Unfortunately a no go on that. Still odd that its not making a bootlog.txt so I'm going to reinstall Windows 98 SE again with a fresh disk instead of my old one:

On the off chance that something on the disc isnt quite working? Idk if thats even possible but hey might as well try anything! Going to install cards one at a time, only the voodoo 5 is in the machine right now. Anyone have a suggestion of order of operations? (Aureal first, etc?) Additional notes: Disabled mobo's built in legacy audio stuff. Any other suggestions in BIOS?

EDIT: I’m dumb, bootlog was a hidden file

Ok here’s an update, I reinstalled Windows 98, installed the Aureal and Network card without issue. I explicitly didn’t install the Voodoo drivers.

After confirming the cards were just fine, I installed the latest reference drivers for the Voodoo 5 and it’s back to locking up. So that’s interesting, does anyone have any insight to why that might be? This whole time I assumed it was the network and sound card interacting causing the issue.

Bootlog is a hidden file, so if you haven't enabled the option to show hidden things you'll not see it.

Tiido wrote:

Bootlog is a hidden file, so if you haven't enabled the option to show hidden things you'll not see it.

Yeah I did an edit, I feel dumb 🤣!

But yeah it appears some sort of interaction with the voodoo45-10400.exe drivers from Phil here: https://www.philscomputerlab.com/drivers-for-voodoo-5.html

Something to do with that is causing a lock up it seems?

Ok heres the bootlog it gives me when I have the sound card / network card installed. These errors go away when I remove the Aureal and/or the Ethernet card. From some light googling it seems like driver / IRQ conflict. I''ve gone through and assigned loads of different IRQs to try and solve it but I just cant seem to. Maybe theres some magic combo of PCI slots and IRQ assignments Im missing, but I lack the knowledge to really get there.

About ready to give up on the idea of a Tualatin board with ISA and these specific components as I'm just not having a good go at this.