tobiasrieper wrote on 2023-08-09, 10:20:

OK, so while testing power supplies I tried my newer model modular psu, it came with cables that looked like they were molex onl […]
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OK, so while testing power supplies I tried my newer model modular psu, it came with cables that looked like they were molex only they weren't? As soon as I powered up the pc I heard a crack and both my HDD's blew.
I measured the voltages from this molex and it had 3.3v on the 12v rail and 12v on the 5v rail. On closer inspection it had type 3 stamped on the side of the cable.

I immediately switched off the psu and put the old one in. Unfortunately both hdds were toast however, the optical drive functioned fine. I bought a new HDD from new old stock and mu win98se formatting hung at 24% I tried it again...hung at 29%.

Not sure what to do now. I just hope it's not an MB issue as I've only just bought it and can't afford another (socket 370)

Which psu (Corsair maybe... https://www.corsair.com/us/en/s/legacy-psu-ca … e-compatibility )

PSA:
Modular cables are generally speaking NOT interchangeable between brands (connectors might be the same, pinout is not), often not even between the models of one brand.

Yes I think that's what happened. I just tried making a new partition using FDISK, enabling large disk support and I verified ok. Now I've restarted and it hangs on verifying dmi pool data.

I tried the 'new' hdd with my ide adapter in my laptop too and now it wont initialise?
I really haven't a clue what's going on as my optical drives are fine. Could it be a bad hdd?

How about If I install one of these:
PCI to SATA Converter Card, https://amzn.eu/d/4bQVisR it has a Sil3114 chipset

yes, can be bad hdd
but
>hangs on verifying dmi pool data
might be also bad motherboard, HDD could have passed 12V on data lines

OK, so it's not hanging on dmi anymore... i resized the disc to 32gb and used fdisk to create partition . i've got it formatting and it's hanging on 72% now.

What's the best way of formatting the drive outside of windows98 disk environment? Seems the win98 format just doesn't want to play ball with this drive. I used mini tool partition wizard and just formatted it as fat 32, with 4kb clusters.

Well update for ya folks.
What an absolute nightmare.
I used seatools to set the disk size at 32gb.
I then formatted it in FAT32 default cluster size in windows 11. I did not set a drive letter; I popped it in my win98 rig and now hooray! It's installed win98. All is working as it should be. So it seems.
I think win98se disc maybe at fault? I got the iso from REMOVED