Are Core2 MB compatible with WIN98/XP dual boot?

[pdqcarrera]

I want to build a new PC with latest hardware but still need to be able to dual boot WIN98 and WIN XP. My legacy engineering programs won't run on anything later than WIN98 and my dedicated WIN98 PC just died... so... can I run the latest stuff?

Help always appreciated!
CHEERS!

 

[garikfox]

Yes, why not.

 

[pdqcarrera]

Better to ask, as I avoid assuming that new hardware will work with old Microsoft software / OS, just like I don't assume old hardware will work with new Microsoft...

I realize that I'm in the MB section, but I'm also concerned with CPU, memory and video cards that go with latest Core 2 MB. Driver problems???

 

[customcoms]

You may have driver problems with Windows 98. However, MANY drivers that are compatible with XP are also 98 compatible. Its been years since I've even installed 98, never mind used it, so I would look at the hardware manufacturers websites to see if a driver exists.

 

[aka1nas]

IIRC, most of the newer K8 and Core 2 Duo boards explicitly do not have 98 support.

 

[themisfit610]

Yeah, fuhgeddaboutdit..

Its not gonna happen. Almost all new chipsets do not support 98. Even if you get it to install, there won't be driver support for any newer hardware. Period.

The only real answer is to upgrade your software to something that supports OS's made in this century / decade, or switch to something that provides equivalent functionality.

If you MUST have 98 support, buy an nForce 2 based system, and a Barton core Athlon XP, with a basic VGA card and no more than a gig of ram. They run 98 great IIRC.

~MiSfit

 

[VirtualLarry]

There are a number of options for a C2D rig that supports Win98se. It mostly comes down to motherboard and chipset. Newer chipsets no longer support Win98se, so you'll have to pin down a more "vintage" chipset, on a mobo that also has C2D support.

Check out this thread. Also this thread.

I also run a multi-boot setup, with Win98se, W2K, and WinXP. That is the primary reason why I choset the Conroe865PE mobo to upgrade my main rig - to keep Win98se compatibility.

The availability of that mobo is slim (I had to import them from Germany, the .au dealers were out of them). You would likely be better served by that Gigabyte micro-ATX board mentioned in the above thread, revision 2.0 supports C2D, and NewEgg.com carries that mobo, unlike the Conroe865PE. (link)

The good news is that this "older" mobo also benchmarks rather well, see the near-to-last post by me, linking to a benchmarking thread.

Another, perhaps easier (more available) option, is the Via-based ASRock 4CoreDual-Vista board. (link) Via's Hyperion drivers and USB drivers still support Win98se as well. (I prefer the 865 chipset stability-wise to Via, though.)

Edit: Win98se also does not support HDs bigger than 128GiB. (No 48-bit LBA support in MS IDE drivers.) I get around this issue using a Promise Ultra133 TX2 PCI IDE controller, which has a BIOS and drivers that support 48-bit LBA, and work in Win98se, W2K, and WinXP/2003. The best drivers are the ones available from Maxtor's site, they sell a rebadged version of that controller card.

I'm in the process of using Ghost 2003 to transfer the partitions from my old main rig (the KT400 XP1800+ rig) to my new main rig, a Conroe865PE E4400 rig, along with transferring my Promise controller card, since the HDs are effectively tied to that card. (Bought another card just in case too.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: customcoms
You may have driver problems with Windows 98. However, MANY drivers that are compatible with XP are also 98 compatible. Its been years since I've even installed 98, never mind used it, so I would look at the hardware manufacturers websites to see if a driver exists.

Err, can I have some of what you are smoking? XP drivers are totally different than Win98se drivers. Win9x drivers use VxDs, XP drivers use kernel-mode .SYS drivers. The only "drivers" that I know of that are remotely compatible between the two aren't drivers at all, they are purely-descriptive .INF files, for things like monitors and modems. Binary drivers are most certainly NOT compatible. (*)



(*) Ok, there are a very, very small number of exceptions, such as the USB floppy driver from W2K that will install on Win98se, as long as the user has NOT installed a certain DirectX update. It uses something called the "Dragon I/O mapper", that allows a limited subset of NT kernel drivers to run on Win98se. It was used more extensively in WinMe. But in general, drivers are incompatible between XP and Win98se.

 

[CZroe]

Uhh, there are WDM drivers written for Win98SE, WinME, Win2K, WinXP, etc. AFAIK, WDM was introduced with 98SE but the Wikipedia page says otherwise. If the driver was written for 98SE, then it would work with all of the above.

 

[Peter]

Non-existant drivers, no more than roughly 800 megabytes of RAM allowed, only one CPU core in use - and a BIOS that certainly has not been tested for backward compliance to W98 because of these reasons.

 

[Deinonych]

You could run Win98 in a virtual machine.

 

[themisfit610]

That's a much better solution. Unless you need 3d support, which would be pretty much impossible anyway in native 98 with a modern video card.

~MiSfit

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: Deinonych
You could run Win98 in a virtual machine.

Agree. Use Virtual PC 97 (free) or VMWare (also free, for the most part) to run it in a Virtual machine. Will save you a ton of headaches.

I'd never install and run such an old OS on a modern plataform like that. Plus a virtual machine will save you of the hassle which is dual booting.

 

[tcsenter]

Originally posted by: CZroe
Uhh, there are WDM drivers written for Win98SE, WinME, Win2K, WinXP, etc. AFAIK, WDM was introduced with 98SE but the Wikipedia page says otherwise. If the driver was written for 98SE, then it would work with all of the above.

WDM was introduced with Windows 98, but it was not 'officially' supported until the kernel changes made to 98SE were available by service pack updates for 98 (or the 98SE Updates CD).

WDM is generally not forward-compatible; i.e. drivers written for XP's WDM will probably fail to load on Windows 98. In the event it does load, it probably won't work. WDM backward-compatibility is hit-and-miss. Drivers written for 98/SE WDM might load on XP and provide baseline function but significant glitches are more likely than not, including slow performance, interrupt service mishandling, and driver faults/crashes.

Unless you need 3d support, which would be pretty much impossible anyway in native 98 with a modern video card.

ATI's early DX9.0 AGP cards have very good 98/ME driver support through Catalyst 6.2. e.g. Radeon 9800 ~ 9600

NVIDIA's DX9.0 GF 6200/6600/6800 AGP are fully supported under 98/ME with WHQL ForceWare Release 80 (v81.98), the final release supporting 9x. GF Ti 4200/4600 DX8.0 cards are still decent performers for their vintage.