First post, by Odiseo
Some of you may remember the topic I opened regarding my Chaintech Socket 7 motherboard in June. Long story short, I couldn't get it to work anymore.
I got another Socket 7 system a while ago.
Motherboard brand: Vtech
Motherboard model: MB520ND 35-8266-01
Chipset: VX
Here are links to some pages with information: link 1|link 2|link 3|full manual
After I installed Windows 98SE, the system crashed a few times. I suspected the cause was faulty RAM, so I tested the SDRAM modules (one 32MB, one 16MB) separately under Memtest86. Both modules turned out to be broken, so I bought three 32MB SDRAM modules. After receiving them a few days ago, I let Memtest86 run 8 passes on each of them. Not a single error was found. The system now has 64MB of RAM.
As was the case with other Socket 7 motherboards that featured SDRAM slots (at least, in my understanding), mine has two of this type. I'm keeping 1 module as a spare.
I still have two issues with the system.
- 80-wire ribbon cable: hard drive not detected
When I connected the hard drive to the motherboard through an 80-wire ribbon cable, the drive was not recognized. I connected the blue connector to the motherboard and the (black) end connector to the hard drive, the only drive on the cable. I tried three different 80-wire cables, all of which yielded the same result: the BIOS could not see the hard drive.
I am again using a 40-wire cable, with which I never have this issue. I would like to use an 80-wire cable because of the higher transfer speeds.
- PCI USB card: no devices detected
When I bought the system, there was a VIA USB card installed on one of the PCI ports. I went to VIA's driver download page on my Windows 10 PC and downloaded the Windows 98SE drivers for both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0. The 1.1 version would not install. The 2.0 version seemed to install successfully; however, when I connected a device, the card did not detect it. I tried a flash drive, which lighted up for a few seconds, and a mouse. Luckily, I bought a serial mouse from the same guy who sold me this PC.
I considered the possibility that the updates for USB contained in Auto-Patcher might resolve the issue. There was no result after I had installed them.
I ended up inserting the USB card on the motherboard of my Pentium 3 system. It works fine in that system.
Additional questions
- Motherboard USB Connector
As is visible on the schematics in attachment, there is a USB connector on the motherboard. It has 6 rows of two pins each. Is this what a USB 1.1 connector looks like?
I took a look at the motherboard header on the USB 2.0 bracket in my Windows 10 PC. It has only 5 female connectors (sixth one is filled up), so it's not compatible with the male connector on my Socket 7 motherboard.
- Updates
I let Auto-Patcher install most of its updates and hotfixes, including those in both the "Dec. 2007 final" version and the "Dec. 2008 Upgrade".
Which other updates and hotfixes for Windows 98SE can you recommend me?