I'm afraid not.
There is "0001-PCIE_Install_98ME_5708_1119.zip", but no RTL8125 driver there.

Grzyb wrote on 2024-03-26, 13:52:

I'm afraid not.
There is "0001-PCIE_Install_98ME_5708_1119.zip", but no RTL8125 driver there.

In the driver pack I just downloaded from Realtek, there's a rtenic.sys file in a WIN98SE directory. I don't have my 98SE system or a 2.5Gb nic to test with, but was hoping someone else already has.

Samir wrote on 2024-03-26, 13:58:

In the driver pack I just downloaded from Realtek, there's a rtenic.sys file in a WIN98SE directory.

See the .INF file in that directory, there's a list of supported chips there:

Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Realtek RTL8168D(P)/8111D(P) PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC
Realtek RTL8131 Family PCI-E Fast Ethernet NIC
Realtek RTL8102E/RTL8103E Family PCI-E Fast Ethernet NIC
Realtek RTL8104E Family PCI-E Fast Ethernet NIC

Grzyb wrote on 2024-03-26, 14:44:

See the .INF file in that directory, there's a list of supported chips there: […]
Show full quote

Samir wrote on 2024-03-26, 13:58:

In the driver pack I just downloaded from Realtek, there's a rtenic.sys file in a WIN98SE directory.

See the .INF file in that directory, there's a list of supported chips there:

Realtek RTL8168/8111 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Realtek RTL8168C(P)/8111C(P) PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Realtek RTL8168D(P)/8111D(P) PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet NIC
Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC
Realtek RTL8131 Family PCI-E Fast Ethernet NIC
Realtek RTL8102E/RTL8103E Family PCI-E Fast Ethernet NIC
Realtek RTL8104E Family PCI-E Fast Ethernet NIC

Thank you! I didn't get that far into it. Bummer that it's not specifically listed. Would be interesting if an inf hack would get it to work, but like you said there's no driver for the 2.5Gb chipset.

Samir wrote on 2024-03-26, 13:20:

I was just looking at Realtek's RTL8125 driver page and it indicates that there's 98SE, XP and other legacy support (even Novell!). Anyone tried this yet and confirmed it works?

The only file that mentions Windows 98 on that page is the auto updater that supports multiple cards and multiple operating systems (but not necessarily all cards on all operating systems). The only driver for Windows 98 is dated from 2008 and the RTL8125 was launched in 2018.

Additionally, Windows 98 was end-of-lifed in 2006 and had difficulty even even saturating a Gigabit NIC (compared to Windows NT, 2000 or XP on the same hardware).

Consequently, my take is that expecting working drivers from the manufacturer for a chip released 12 years after an OS was discontinued, for that OS is being very optimistic, to put it mildly.

That being said, someone could write a Windows 98 driver for the RTL8125, though I do not see much point in doing that (other than as a personal challenge) considering the performance limitations of Windows 98 and the availability of other NICs that do have drivers.

EDIT: IMHO, inf hacking a driver from 2008 to try to add support for hardware from 2018, which complies with a standard (2.5G Ethernet) that did not even exist until 2016 and expecting it to somehow work is in the realm of wishful thinking .

I can't even imagine a use case for 2.5G on Win 98. As noted above, the rudimentary TCP stack of 98 will struggle to handle gigabit. XP has a ground up robust stack. Most period correct Win 98 hard drives struggle to saturate even 100M links consistently.

kingcake wrote on 2024-03-26, 20:23:

I can't even imagine a use case for 2.5G on Win 98. As noted above, the rudimentary TCP stack of 98 will struggle to handle gigabit. XP has a ground up robust stack. Most period correct Win 98 hard drives struggle to saturate even 100M links consistently.

i used a 1G intel nic in my win98se box because it's literally all i had. this might be the OP's problem.

Not sure why you would want a Gigabit NIC on 98SE other than when in shortage of a Fast NIC. I have a few 8169SC cards and none attain Gigabit speeds under 98. 2k/XP upwards only.

PcBytes wrote on 2024-03-26, 21:38:

Not sure why you would want a Gigabit NIC on 98SE other than when in shortage of a Fast NIC. I have a few 8169SC cards and none attain Gigabit speeds under 98. 2k/XP upwards only.

On my Pentium 3 1.4GHz machine, a Gigabit NIC under Windows 98 is still vastly faster than a fast Ethernet one.

Re: Looking for Windows 95 PCI Gigabit 1000Mbps ethernet card.

megatog615 wrote on 2024-03-26, 20:37:

kingcake wrote on 2024-03-26, 20:23:

I can't even imagine a use case for 2.5G on Win 98. As noted above, the rudimentary TCP stack of 98 will struggle to handle gigabit. XP has a ground up robust stack. Most period correct Win 98 hard drives struggle to saturate even 100M links consistently.

i used a 1G intel nic in my win98se box because it's literally all i had. this might be the OP's problem.

If OP has that problem, it luckily has a very affordable solution in most parts of the world: get a compatible Ethernet card (without with documented Windows 98 driver support).

I get that trying to use what one already has makes sense and that the apparent ambiguity on the Realtek site got his hopes up, but in this case it's just not going to work unless someone writes a driver from scratch.

PcBytes wrote on 2024-03-26, 21:38:

Not sure why you would want a Gigabit NIC on 98SE other than when in shortage of a Fast NIC.

For using DOS/98SE on a PCIE-only board.
Such boards typically already have integrated LAN, but it may lack 98SE drivers.
Solution: add an RTL8168 card.

This might be an exercise in masochism, but there might be a convoluted way to get an RTL8125 card to work in Windows 9x.

As there exists a DOS NDIS driver for it [1] AND Windows 9x can be made to interface with one of these [2]. Alternatively and probably more easily, the card might be usable under plain DOS with MTCP by using an NDIS to packet driver shim such as these here [3].

I would not expect anything close to the card's max throughput with these options, assuming they can be made to work.

[1]
http://packetdriversdos.net/

[2]
https://msfn.org/board/topic/176892-using-rea … ivers-in-w98se/

[3]
https://www.shikadi.net/network/

I tried using Real Mode NDIS drivers with Windows 9x, at least two times, due to lack of native Protected Mode drivers:
- with Arcnet cards - worked fine
- with some old EISA Ethernet card, probably Mylex LNE390 - it did install, AFAIR even allowed to ping the other side, but crashed during heavier transfer

Edit: I'm shocked to see that Realtek did a DOS driver in 2021...

Grzyb wrote on 2024-03-27, 12:24:

I tried using Real Mode NDIS drivers with Windows 9x, at least two times, due to lack of native Protected Mode drivers: - with A […]
Show full quote

I tried using Real Mode NDIS drivers with Windows 9x, at least two times, due to lack of native Protected Mode drivers:
- with Arcnet cards - worked fine
- with some old EISA Ethernet card, probably Mylex LNE390 - it did install, AFAIR even allowed to ping the other side, but crashed during heavier transfer

Edit: I'm shocked to see that Realtek did a DOS driver in 2021...

I have more hope that it will work with MTCP.

I am suprprised about a DOS driver having been written as well, but I seemed to recall several manufacturers making those available relatively recently. Even relatively legacy averse Intel, did so as recently as 2019!

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/downl … al-release.html

Tons of embedded stuff still runs some version/clone of MS-DOS. That's why you see DOS drivers but not 98.