Other than Doom you do not mention the DOS apps/games you are trying to launch. Do not think Doom "the original" will play nice off a P3 700 and run from Win98.

Unfortunately I can't exactly pinpoint the issue you're having, but try completely clearing your autoexec.bat/config.sys. DOS games like Doom and Duke3D that use DOS extenders don't need emm386 or himem; smartdrv can cause issues too.

On my P3, my autoexec.bat only contains the SET BLASTER line (Config.sys is empty), and then I have a batch file I run manually to start CuteMouse and UniSound.

Horun wrote on 2020-06-18, 04:34:

Other than Doom you do not mention the DOS apps/games you are trying to launch. Do not think Doom "the original" will play nice off a P3 700 and run from Win98.

It'll work fine when rebooting to DOS, like he is.

Horun wrote on 2020-06-18, 04:34:

Other than Doom you do not mention the DOS apps/games you are trying to launch. Do not think Doom "the original" will play nice off a P3 700 and run from Win98.

So I could get a few actual programs to start. Here's a list of what I've tried that did and did not work. I cleared out my config.sys and autoexec.bat, and also restored BIOS settings to default and changed my CMOS battery.

Programs that fail to start:
Jazz Jackrabbit
Doom
Wing Commander 2
Wizardry 6
Alone in the Dark (I can get to the pre-game text mode configuration screen, but starting the game itself gives me a blinking cursor and nothing).
memmaker
The DOS setup program for the Yamaha 744 drivers
Univbe (I don't think you're supposed to manually run this anyway, but still)
Terminal Velocity setup program

Programs that worked (the handful of games I can get working all run fine for what it's worth):
Zeliard
The Bard's Tale
Duke Nukem 2
Doom setup program
Jazz Jackrabbit setup program
Throttle

Oetker wrote on 2020-06-18, 06:48:

Horun wrote on 2020-06-18, 04:34:

Other than Doom you do not mention the DOS apps/games you are trying to launch. Do not think Doom "the original" will play nice off a P3 700 and run from Win98.

It'll work fine when rebooting to DOS, like he is.

It's failing to start in DOS, but it actually works perfectly from Windows!

Are you sure the HDD is properly configured in the BIOS?

jmarsh wrote on 2020-06-18, 13:48:

Are you sure the HDD is properly configured in the BIOS?

I'm not!

Here's what the IDE section in the bios looks like:

IDE Controller: Both
Hard Disk Pre-Delay: 6 Seconds
Fixed Dist Boot Sector: Normal

Primary IDE Master [ST31200225A-(PM)]:
Type: Auto
Maximum Capacity: 65535 MB (Actual HDD size is 100gb, split into two 50gb partitions for what it's worth)
Multi-sector Transfers: 16 Sectors
LBA Mode Control: Enabled
Transfer Mode: FPIO 4 / DMA 2
Ultra DMA: Mode 2

Secondary IDE Master is the CD/DVD drive.

Are you booting straight to DOS or starting Windows and then exiting to DOS?

DosFreak wrote on 2020-06-18, 14:48:

Are you booting straight to DOS or starting Windows and then exiting to DOS?

The latter, and that seems to have been the problem. I got a shortcut to *actually* boot into DOS from Windows. Selecting Restart in MS-DOS mode from the shutdown menu is... doing something else, I take it?

For troubleshooting purposes: what if you boot straight to DOS and then use FASTVID?
https://www.philscomputerlab.com/dos-graphics-boost.html