Have a look here, a certain source of problems is RAM >512MB
Windows 98 SE on computer with more than 512 MB RAM

djsabreblade wrote on 2021-10-17, 07:14:

Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz processor 17-inch glossy widescreen (1440 x 900) nVidia 7300 Go graphics card 120GB 5400RPM SATA Ha […]
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Intel Core Duo T2400 1.83GHz processor
17-inch glossy widescreen (1440 x 900)
nVidia 7300 Go graphics card
120GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive
1GB RAM
802.11 a/b/g Wireless via Intel 3945abg card
DVD dual layer burner

Those specs were not designed for Win98SE but WinXP:

Win98SE does not utilize multi-core, although you can run it on one of its cores
nVidia 7xxx series have no official driver for Win98SE (there are tweaks out there)
Win98SE has no native SATA support and needs a floppy loaded with SATA driver ready during installation
Win98SE natively supports up to 512 MB RAM; you need some tweaking to use larger RAM
The driver of Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG only supports WinXP and later OS

If you just want a stable machine that can be operated and maintained with ease, I suggest installing WinXP instead. Otherwise, if you want to challenge the possibility by modding and tweaking, wish you good luck then.

im feeling like people install 98 on unsupported hw all the time. why does it blue screen on setting up devices? is there anyway to bypass windows setup since i can use safe mode? i feel like if i could somehow get to the desktop in normal mode it might not blue screen and it could scan drivers then. btw it does indeed recognize the 1gb of ram in safe mode. so frustrating, just need to bypass setup or something. it may be the video card causing the problem to but how do i get past that? where do i get sata drivers?

Basically all you need is the Loew Memory and SATA Patches.

Hi everyone! I'd rather use logic instead of religion here. 😉
The exception error hints to a driver (VXD) issue.

Fatal Exception 0E

This is a Page Fault interrupt. It typically occurs when Windows tries to access virtual memory on a demand-paged basis and the requested page of memory is missing or damaged, or when a paging protection rule is otherwise violated. When occurring in the 0028 memory range, it nearly always means that a device driver is implicated in the problem. Many of the Knowledge Base articles for these problems address specific hardware or settings issues.

From:

FATAL EXCEPTION ERRORS

Probably it will not be easy to pinpoint the cause.

Good luck.

Zee
Source: : https://forums.techguy.org/threads/solved-win … th-this.628709/

https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/ques … g-windows-98-se

Maybe Windows Millennium is worth a try here? At least for testing purposes ? 😀
It is more compatible to newer hardware and uses much fewer VXDs (it mainly uses WDM drivers)..

Edit: Buggy CD-ROM drives might be also part of the issues.
I recommend running installation from hard disk.
If memory serves, do it like this:

Use the Win 98SE CD-ROM and boot DOS 7 with CD support.
Use FDISK and FORMAT C: /B
(FORMAT /B reserves space for DOS system files, but doesn't transfer them; some Win98 flavours do not install on a HDD with DOS installed)
Copy DRIVERS and WIN98 directories to HDD (use whatever OS you like)
Use the Win 98SE CD-ROM and boot DOS 7 with CD support.
Switch to C: and do CD WIN98 and run SETUP /NM

Thanks guys, i haven't given up...yet . i mean safe mode works, tried patching sata makes no difference. will try mem patch again later, and as a last resort ME although i'd much rather have the nostalgic 98. also made a youtube video here if it helps : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCKq-maxYpE

I would start by checking that fans are spinning and reseat rams. If it doesn't help I would install windows xp and run some benchmarks. Those issues look like over clocking or bad ram to me rather than windows 98 failing.

+1 retro points on the camcorder btw

Try installing windows 98 with the command switch setup /pi at the dos prompt with the windows setup utility. Later computers with their implementation of ACPI bios causes blue screens on windows 98.

tried exactly ''setup /pi /nm'' install from hard drive

it worked!!!!!!!!!

CREDITS TO STAINLESS CAT AND JO22. WOW. THANKS TO ALL BTW. 😀

So now I just have to fight with video drivers. It installs the modded drivers fine and even detects the card as 7300 Go but as soon as windows loads I get a black screen. any tips?

djsabreblade wrote on 2021-10-17, 19:44:

as windows loads I get a black screen. any tips?

Just a hunch: Try putting a monitor on the video out (vga?) and see if maybe it’s mistakenly using the wrong display or using a mode unsupported by the laptop panel. Or just try the keyboard hot key for monitor internal/external and see if you get any activity.

macroexp wrote on 2021-10-18, 02:13:

djsabreblade wrote on 2021-10-17, 19:44:

as windows loads I get a black screen. any tips?

Just a hunch: Try putting a monitor on the video out (vga?) and see if maybe it’s mistakenly using the wrong display or using a mode unsupported by the laptop panel. Or just try the keyboard hot key for monitor internal/external and see if you get any activity.

This hunch is a good one. I have a similar specced laptop (Asus A6JC: Core Duo T2300, Geforce go 7300) that I've been dual booting w98se and winxp. The output goes sometimes to external. I've noticed that if I just reboot the machine the main display works again. I've found the modded nvidia drivers to be a bit flaky in windows 98: screen goes black for a few seconds sometimes etc., so I've been just using windows xp instead. Has anyone had better experience with Geforce 7 in windows 98?

I read somewhere here that you can flash the VGA bios to run gf 6 drivers on a gf7 card but it doesn't work that good if it has over 256 vram. If this works at all or if it is even relevant for mobile cards, I dunno, never tried it myself.

I found a good solution. Screen will stop going black if you put hardware acceleration on 'basic' which is fine for everything except videos and games. Also switching to 'full' acceleration for gaming will work (usually) by restarting the laptop twice. I'm using directX 7.0a and it works.

Also was wondering what the cheapest audio solution would be since I can't figure out how to install the drivers which aren't compatible. Not sure if generic audio drivers exist?

djsabreblade wrote on 2021-10-18, 20:33:

Also was wondering what the cheapest audio solution would be since I can't figure out how to install the drivers which aren't compatible. Not sure if generic audio drivers exist?

I found this guide for Intel HDA, but haven't tried it myself: https://retrosystemsrevival.blogspot.com/2019 … hda-driver.html

The Intel HDA instructions are confusing. Are there any cheap-ish usb audio interfaces that work with 98?