brian105 wrote on 2022-08-16, 03:14:

Hey, everyone. I've been attempting to make this 7950GT work properly under 98SE for some time now with no success. It's a Foxco […]
Show full quote

Hey, everyone. I've been attempting to make this 7950GT work properly under 98SE for some time now with no success. It's a Foxconn PCI-e model with 512mb VRAM and it works just fine under Windows XP. To begin with configuration, I downloaded the unofficial 82.69 MDGX drivers which claim they have the 7950GT PCI ID in the .inf, but for some reason the installer did not detect the card and I had to install the driver manually with device manager. After rebooting, Windows no longer boots in normal mode and gives the error "While initializing device CONFIGMG: Windows protection error. You need to restart your computer."

I can boot in safe mode, but that's obviously not of much help. I attempted to install PTCHNVSZ (Nvidia VRAM patch from rloew) with the Nvidia driver patch, which patches NVCORE.VXD. Same error after a restart. I also tried the option ROM patch (patchopt.exe) which did not help either.
Just to make sure that this wasn't an issue of RAM, I installed patchmem to recognize more than 1GB RAM, and 98SE does properly recognize 3GB, though nothing on the GPU front changes.

Full system specs:
Asus M2V MX-SE (Via K8T890, chipset drivers installed)
4GB DDR2 800
Athlon 64 X2 6000+
Foxconn 7950GT PCI-e 512mb
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Since you're using rloew's PATCHMEM, I think there was a parameter (/A) meant to address issues with video cards that have a lot of video memory, which might apply to your case. Per README:

/A Move AGP and Unfixed Tables >=128MB to Shared Arena

Try patching your system with that and see if it helps.

PS: I think you can just add your video card's PCI ID into the driver INF file so you can install the driver in a straightforward way. Choosing a device meant for a different PCI ID might create issues later on.

I think there even is a specific patch from R.Loew for 512MB nvidia cards.

I think as others have said there is a patch for 512 vram but idk much about it, I do know however that someone once made a ultimate win 98 rig with a high end 7000 something card and to make it work they removed some of the ram chips. And it actually did work 🤣

Tiido wrote on 2022-08-16, 06:01:

I think there even is a specific patch from R.Loew for 512MB nvidia cards.

I was already using this patch, since I thought it could help my situation, but it did not help. Out of curiosity, I installed Windows ME, and surprisingly the driver installer at least knows I'm using a 7950GT and installs the driver. After I applied the patches, I could boot into ME, but the resolution settings were very limited (256 colors at 800x600), and even setting that did not work after the prompted reboot.

I thought reinstalling the driver would work better, but instead of selecting the 7950GT device driver to install, I selected the G71 (the chip the GPU is based on) and lo and behold, it works. Full color, 1080p. I have no idea why 98SE crapped out and why the 7950GT driver didn't work very well, but at the very least the GPU works properly now.

(also, the Audigy 2 ZS drivers, WDM or VXD, would crash in 98SE all the time. VXD drivers work in ME properly.)

edit:

Woohoo!

Idk why ME gets so much hate I have very little issues with it. I use the final release of it from microsoft. Perhaps the initial rtm was more buggy.

Good work ! I think ME got a bad rap because it was the first MS OS that did not have a DOS compatible boot option and MS refused to create a patch to get it.
Easily fixed with a 3rd party boot menu or WinMeDOS or other methods to boot to a true DOS mode.....