can't boot into win98SE in normal mode!!!

[Sunny129]

ok i just upgraded a few parts in my system, but i didn't change any detrimental system configs. i just went from a PIII to a P4 CPU, an ASUS CUSL2 to an ABit BD7 II RAID mobo, and of course had to upgrade to DDR RAM. other than that, everything else remains the same. i have the same HDD, same optical drives, same expansion cards, etc. so i installed the new components and just plugged the existing stuff back into the places they were on the old board. device drivers still being on the HDD, i figured i wouldnt have to go through much driver installation if any at all. but i guess i was wrong about that, because reseating all the expansion cards in the new mobo made the system detect new hardware. anyways, the first time i powered the system on, it booted into windows and i had to go through some driver installation. so devices and system buses i had to leave w/out drivers b/c i don't have the win98SE disk here. but i found most of the files i needed on the original win98 disk i have, or on the HDD itself since they had been on there previous to the upgrade anyway. after that, i was prompted to restart. upon restart, the system ran through all the boot checks any system performs before loading windows, and then went to the black screen with the blinking cursor in the top left corner you usually see just before the windows desktop pops up. it stayed idle /w the blinking cursor at this screen for almost 30 seconds and then restarted itself. of course this time the boot check gave me the option to start in safe mode. but now any time i try to start in normal mode, the system will stop right before the desktop loads and restart moments later. like i said before, drivers for just about everything have been installed previous to the upgrade, so components such as the video card and sound card are fine (even though i cant have a resolution higher than 640 X 480 in safe mode, i know the video card drivers are there and installed). the only thing i can't seem to find drivers for is the PCI System Management Bus. now whether this is the reason i can't boot into windows in normal mode or not, i dont know...i'm hoping sonmeone here will know, or at least have som insight into my problem. PLEASE HELP!!! thanks, eric...

 

[GAZZA]

Well the issue is the fact that you still had the original installation of win98se on the hard drive with the original hardware drivers and then changed over to the new motherboard (which is probably causing the conflict) , sometimes this works and you just upadate the hardware the gets detected and your fine .

I have done this twice and it worked fine but there are a lot of people here who have had the opposite effect and have had to scrub and re-install Windows .

I would say that it would be far better to start from scratch (yeah I know it's not what you wanted to hear) but there will be some older drivers that can/could conflict with the newer hardware and any future hardware you install and it maybe more hassle than it is worth trying to fix.

A clean install will also give you a fresh start and also give your new hardware the fastest possible enviroment to run in .

The driver for the pc management bus maybe either on the 98se cd or part of a driver from the motherboard installation disk .

 

[Sunny129]

nobody wants to hear that the best option is to reformat, but at least i'm hearing it from someone who has the experience of the situation i'm in, regardless of the fact that it worked for you both times you tried it. i had a feeling anyways that i might have to do that before i even got a response here in the forums. anyways, there is still information on that HDD that i would like to salvage w/out putting my old mobo, CPU and memory back together, but windows doesn't detect either of my optical drives...i dont know if this is a Safe Mode standard like the max resolution of 640 x 480 or not. if i could use my burner, i have plenty of CDs to store the data i want. is there any way i could burn CDs in safe mode?

 

[Sunny129]

well forget my 2nd question...i got impatient and put the old system back together, and i'm burning all my data to disks right now. i guess i'll just have to reformat once i have all my data saved. thanks ofr the advice though...eric.