Dr.Atom wrote on 2025-01-24, 09:23:

I managed to install Win98 on a P45/ICH10 DDR2 board (MSI P45 Neo3-FR) with the retrofitted drivers and a Q9650 CPU. I now want […]
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I managed to install Win98 on a P45/ICH10 DDR2 board (MSI P45 Neo3-FR) with the retrofitted drivers and a Q9650 CPU. I now want to take it even further, and get a P45/ICH10 DDR3 board and install Win98SE on that machine. Basically to allow more RAM and a parallel Win7/Win10 installation.

I am facing the problem that Win98SE requires max 512MB of RAM when installing. For DDR2 that was not an issue as I got a 256MB module and installed from that. With Patchmem I then managed to use physical 8GB later. Now, with DDR3, there just aren't any modules with less than 1GB so Win98SE won't install.

How can I still install Win98SE on this DDR3 system?

One approach I had in mind is just to use the running Win98SE installation/SSD and plug it into the DDR3 system. The drivers should be the same so it wouldn't cause any hickups. I am correct there?

you can install win98 with a 1gb stick i usually do its only when you go above that you will have problems, if i remember right you should be able to install normally with more ram until the point windows refuses to boot, after POST press F8 then boot to command prompt then install patchmem from there, or you could do as you said and just switch the hdd from your ddr2 system since the boards use the same chipset it should be no problem, i do it all the time even with different boards/chipsets

Hello,

My own installation on a motherboard based on this family of P43/45 and ICH10 chipsets is now a distant memory. I seem to recall managing to install Windows 98 SE without bothering to reduce the physical RAM to 512MB, and managing to bypass the Windows 98 SE installer's verification tests, so that it stopped complaining that a minimum of 16MB was required on the machine.

To do this, you have to use the corresponding options on the command line when you launch the Windows 98SE installer. And install Rudolph Loew's MEM patch as quickly as possible (again, from memory, before the first restart, this step is specified in the patch documentation).

For anyone reading this thread who might find it helpful, here is the set of options I used to pass to the Win98SE installation setup.exe.

1/IN /IS /IE /IM /IH /PA

I remember consulting a web page listing these switches and their meanings, but I cannot find it in my bookmarks.

You can probably just use the drive straight out of the DDR2 system on the DDR3 system.

I have taken the SSD I use for testing on a 440BX and connected it to a VIA Super Socket 7 system and all it had to do was find\install the various chipset components at first startup. Windows 98 is very flexible as long as there aren't outright conflicting components.

One thing I would suggest is making a copy of the Windows folder (make sure you have hidden and system files visible) and naming it win_DDR2. You now, effectively, have a Windows install for each board and if the drivers get totally messed up or something else breaks, you still have a backup of how the Windows folder was on your DDR2 system.

If you ever need to revert back, you can either boot from other media or boot straight to the DOS prompt (on either machine), rename the current Windows folder to win_DDR3 (ren windows win_ddr3). Then, rename win_DDR2 to Windows (ren win_ddr2 windows). Now you are back to what you had before. Obviously anything installed to Program Files or elsewhere will change for both installs, but Windows 98 is far less picky about that kind of thing than newer versions in my experience.