VOGONS


First post, by johnvosh

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So I decided to take my Athlon XP system and change it from a Windows XP machine to a Windows ME machine. It is running pretty good so far with only a few hiccups. The system has the following specs and does have the latest drivers and patches that I could find.

-> Athlon XP 2500+
-> Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2 Rev1.0
-> 512MB dual channel DDR-RAM
-> 80GB HDD with 2x 22GB partitions and a 29GB partition
-> Sata DVD Burner
-> AST PS/2 keyboard & Logitech optical USB mouse
-> Corsair RM550X PSU
-> APG ATI Radeon X800 256MB Video Card

I have installed quite a few games, most of them are the cereal box games and I've had the following problems;

-> Clue; starts and runs, but freeze in the menus, have to restart pc
-> Yahtzee; starts and runs, but freezes in the menus when trying to start a game, have to restart pc
-> Destruction Debry 2; runs and loads, but then turns to a garbled screen and have to restart the pc
-> Age of Empire 1; loads and runs, but game freezes as soon as you get to the map of a new game and have to restart the pc
-> Age of Empire 2 with expansion; loads, runs, plays, but when you quit the game it doesn't give you icons or the taskbar back and have to restart the pc
-> Roadwars; says config error when CD first autoruns, but can install it, then it just has an error on startup and won't start.

Anyone know if these errors would be caused by Windows ME or is the programs themselves?

Sys1: Athlon64 X2 4400+, 2GB DDR400, 150GB WD Velociraptor, Radeon HD 3650 512MB AGP, MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, XP
Sys2: XP 2500+, 2GB/256MB DDR400, Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2, Radeon X800 XL 256MB, SB Audigy SB1394 SB0090, 80GB HDD, ME/XP
Have 3 more systems...

Reply 3 of 17, by Grzyb

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johnvosh wrote on 2022-03-27, 16:36:

Anyone know if these errors would be caused by Windows ME or is the programs themselves?

The only way to know is try them all with Windows 98SE.

Żywotwór planetarny, jego gnijące błoto, jest świtem egzystencji, fazą wstępną, i wyłoni się z krwawych ciastomózgowych miedź miłująca...

Reply 4 of 17, by johnvosh

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BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-03-27, 17:51:

Was your machine running fine earlier? Have you tried other drivers?

Yup, the PC was running good before. Took and put another drive in and did a clean install of ME and still the same issue with clue. Freezes on "Entering the Mansion", can't turn num lock off/on so have to restart. The sounds are still playing while on this screen, but that is it. Tried running 98SE on this PC, but couldn't get it to work.

Sys1: Athlon64 X2 4400+, 2GB DDR400, 150GB WD Velociraptor, Radeon HD 3650 512MB AGP, MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, XP
Sys2: XP 2500+, 2GB/256MB DDR400, Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2, Radeon X800 XL 256MB, SB Audigy SB1394 SB0090, 80GB HDD, ME/XP
Have 3 more systems...

Reply 5 of 17, by the3dfxdude

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It's very likely I played AOE2 on WinME back in the day. That's really a trivial game for ME. What was the problem with 98?

Looking at your board, I'd say you should explain which directX, drivers, and bios version you have on board.

Reply 6 of 17, by Repo Man11

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Did you try installing the AMD AGP driver? It looks as though drivers can be a bit of an issue with this board because of the combined Via/AMD chipset.

http://www.opendrivers.com/download/driver-16937.html

"I'd rather be rich than stupid" - Jack Handey

Reply 7 of 17, by johnvosh

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Repo Man11 wrote on 2022-03-27, 21:24:

Did you try installing the AMD AGP driver? It looks as though drivers can be a bit of an issue with this board because of the combined Via/AMD chipset.

http://www.opendrivers.com/download/driver-16937.html

This board actually uses the NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset, not the Via one

Sys1: Athlon64 X2 4400+, 2GB DDR400, 150GB WD Velociraptor, Radeon HD 3650 512MB AGP, MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, XP
Sys2: XP 2500+, 2GB/256MB DDR400, Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2, Radeon X800 XL 256MB, SB Audigy SB1394 SB0090, 80GB HDD, ME/XP
Have 3 more systems...

Reply 8 of 17, by johnvosh

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the3dfxdude wrote on 2022-03-27, 21:20:

It's very likely I played AOE2 on WinME back in the day. That's really a trivial game for ME. What was the problem with 98?

Looking at your board, I'd say you should explain which directX, drivers, and bios version you have on board.

I had DirectX 9.0c, the latest drivers from Gigabyte's website for my motherboard, Bios version F5. I think I have tried in the past to update the bios on this board, but it wouldn't let me. I also installed the Win ME unofficial update to install all the latest updates that were available.

On my reinstall, I kept it to DirectX 8.1, no Win ME unofficial patch, the Gigabyte drivers, only ATI driver I could find for the X800 video card for Win ME, Sound Blaster Audigy driver only with none of the extra software.

Sys1: Athlon64 X2 4400+, 2GB DDR400, 150GB WD Velociraptor, Radeon HD 3650 512MB AGP, MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, XP
Sys2: XP 2500+, 2GB/256MB DDR400, Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2, Radeon X800 XL 256MB, SB Audigy SB1394 SB0090, 80GB HDD, ME/XP
Have 3 more systems...

Reply 9 of 17, by Repo Man11

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johnvosh wrote on 2022-03-27, 21:33:
the3dfxdude wrote on 2022-03-27, 21:20:

It's very likely I played AOE2 on WinME back in the day. That's really a trivial game for ME. What was the problem with 98?

Looking at your board, I'd say you should explain which directX, drivers, and bios version you have on board.

I had DirectX 9.0c, the latest drivers from Gigabyte's website for my motherboard, Bios version F5. I think I have tried in the past to update the bios on this board, but it wouldn't let me. I also installed the Win ME unofficial update to install all the latest updates that were available.

On my reinstall, I kept it to DirectX 8.1, no Win ME unofficial patch, the Gigabyte drivers, only ATI driver I could find for the X800 video card for Win ME, Sound Blaster Audigy driver only with none of the extra software.

I got you mixed up with this post. Radeon 9600XT crashing Win98se

"I'd rather be rich than stupid" - Jack Handey

Reply 10 of 17, by leileilol

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johnvosh wrote on 2022-03-27, 16:36:

-> Destruction Debry 2; runs and loads, but then turns to a garbled screen and have to restart the pc

This game had video problems going back to Win95 and decent common video cards (S3), it was a miracle when it doesn't garble.

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Reply 11 of 17, by johnvosh

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leileilol wrote on 2022-03-27, 23:17:
johnvosh wrote on 2022-03-27, 16:36:

-> Destruction Debry 2; runs and loads, but then turns to a garbled screen and have to restart the pc

This game had video problems going back to Win95 and decent common video cards (S3), it was a miracle when it doesn't garble.

Okay, thanks for the info! I have quite the large collection of games, most are my original CD's, but some are from my brother and a bunch I had bought in a lot. So I am just going thru and installing them on original hardware to see what will run and what won't. Still using my original case I had bought back in the early 2000's!

Sys1: Athlon64 X2 4400+, 2GB DDR400, 150GB WD Velociraptor, Radeon HD 3650 512MB AGP, MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, XP
Sys2: XP 2500+, 2GB/256MB DDR400, Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2, Radeon X800 XL 256MB, SB Audigy SB1394 SB0090, 80GB HDD, ME/XP
Have 3 more systems...

Reply 13 of 17, by DosFreak

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Go back to XP. Nvidia mobo chipset and 9x are not a good match.
Also ATI drivers are a shitshow so at least with XP you'll have the newer fixes. For 9x Cat 6.2 are the latest I think.
If you must have 9x on there then do a dual-boot.

For DD2 you can try ddhack (unknown if works in 9x) or reducing hardware acceleration.

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Reply 14 of 17, by BEEN_Nath_58

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Anyone know if these errors would be caused by Windows ME or is the programs themselves?

A more perfect guess, Windows ME. Better go to WIN98SE or back to XP

previously known as Discrete_BOB_058

Reply 15 of 17, by johnvosh

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BEEN_Nath_58 wrote on 2022-03-28, 00:47:

Anyone know if these errors would be caused by Windows ME or is the programs themselves?

A more perfect guess, Windows ME. Better go to WIN98SE or back to XP

I tried installing 98SE on this system and it didn't like it, so I'll probably try and look for a decent older system to use for 98se and a Radeon 9700 pro 128mb video card.

Sys1: Athlon64 X2 4400+, 2GB DDR400, 150GB WD Velociraptor, Radeon HD 3650 512MB AGP, MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, XP
Sys2: XP 2500+, 2GB/256MB DDR400, Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2, Radeon X800 XL 256MB, SB Audigy SB1394 SB0090, 80GB HDD, ME/XP
Have 3 more systems...

Reply 16 of 17, by johnvosh

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Repo Man11 wrote on 2022-03-27, 23:29:

Assuming these games need to access the CDROM during play - is DMA enabled on the DVDRW?

I can't enable it on the DVD drive as that option is not available. It is running on the SATA port.

Sys1: Athlon64 X2 4400+, 2GB DDR400, 150GB WD Velociraptor, Radeon HD 3650 512MB AGP, MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, XP
Sys2: XP 2500+, 2GB/256MB DDR400, Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro2, Radeon X800 XL 256MB, SB Audigy SB1394 SB0090, 80GB HDD, ME/XP
Have 3 more systems...

Reply 17 of 17, by Repo Man11

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johnvosh wrote on 2022-03-28, 01:01:
Repo Man11 wrote on 2022-03-27, 23:29:

Assuming these games need to access the CDROM during play - is DMA enabled on the DVDRW?

I can't enable it on the DVD drive as that option is not available. It is running on the SATA port.

I have (mercifully) little experience with ME, but doesn't it also have the tabs in Device Manager like 98 SE does? The DVDRW in my i875 machine (currently running Win98 SE) uses the SATA port, and DMA isn't enabled by default.

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"I'd rather be rich than stupid" - Jack Handey