Windows 98 and Broadcom NetLink Gagabit Ethernet adapter \ VOGONS

Windows 98 and Broadcom NetLink Gagabit Ethernet adapter

Topic actions

Post a reply

First post, by Kahenraz

Posted on 2022-07-02, 19:30

Kahenraz Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 3979
Joined: 2004-01-22, 04:57

This adapter is integrated into my motherboard and there are drivers for Windows 98. It appears to work fine, and it can detect and connect to the network. But enabling it causes Windows to take much longer to load, and also to hang when rebooting or shutting down. Disabling the adapter in the BIOS makes everything load quickly again, and there are no problems shutting down or rebooting.

Is anyone familiar with this particular failure mode and whether there is a workaround for it? It would save me a PCI slot if I can get this onboard adapter to work.

Reply 1 of 4, by Kahenraz

Posted on 2022-07-02, 19:41

Kahenraz Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 3979
Joined: 2004-01-22, 04:57

This may be related:

https://web.archive.org/web/20120604163814/ht … kb;en-us;312108
https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/windows- … oot-up.1736797/

There used to be a workaround that might have been worth trying, but the url is dead:

http://hotfixv4.microsoft.com/Windows%2098/no … NU_i386_zip.exe

Does anyone have an archive of this?

Reply 2 of 4, by Zerthimon

Posted on 2022-07-02, 19:47

Zerthimon Offline

Rank Member

Rank: Member
Posts: 228
Joined: 2020-12-23, 10:18
Location: Fortress of Regrets

I observed the problem of slow loading of windows 98 with all NICs I tried and I came to the conclusion, that when windows 98 loads the NIC's driver, it then pauses the boot up process in attempt to acquire an IP address from DHCP server. The time becomes even longer (until it times out) if the cable is not connected or if there is some other communication problem.

Reply 3 of 4, by majestyk

Posted on 2022-07-02, 20:00

majestyk Offline

Rank Oldbie

Rank: Oldbie
Posts: 1387
Joined: 2020-12-04, 09:13

In this case (DHCP) setting a fixed IP should do the trick.

Reply 4 of 4, by Kahenraz

Posted on 2022-07-02, 20:38

Kahenraz Offline

Rank l33t

Rank: l33t
Posts: 3979
Joined: 2004-01-22, 04:57

Using a fixed IP address did not solve the shutdown and reboot hang. I was able to resolve this however, by replacing NDIS.VXD with one from Windows ME. The file version is 4.90.3001.

Go to top of page Go to top of page

Back to General Old Hardware

Main menu

Common searches