Need advice for old hard disk and new motherboard ...

Noid

Platinum Member
Sep 20, 2000
2,390
193
106
I just received my new ASUS CUSL2 motherboard and I'm in need of advice. The installation instructions are very explicit about having a clean hard disk when installing a the motherboard. I want to keep my old HD (4 years of software on it and WIN98).

I have a Zip drive, and backups.
I'm crushed with the idea that I need to format my C: partition, because some of the software I have is no longer "free" and some I dont have the original installation programs, therefore I'd have to upgrade or repurchase.

What are the chances I'll fry the new MB bios?
I'm moving the HD from a Dell XPS P2-300.
HELP! :confused:

 

LostBoy

Senior member
Jan 16, 2000
378
0
0
Don't know how you could fry the BIOS. What could happen is you Windows install would become unstable due to some old mobo drivers being left behind. I forget what you delete (someone will know), but there is a registry key which will wipe out the old devices/drivers. You'll have to reinstall your peripherals, but not you OS or software. Doesn't always work though.
 

Noid

Platinum Member
Sep 20, 2000
2,390
193
106
LostBoy ... thanks ... that's very encouraging ... I hope someone gets to the registry info ... I'm dieing to get this cpu together !!!
 

Motorheader

Diamond Member
Sep 3, 2000
3,682
0
0
Make sure that the Win98 cab files are located in a directory on your hard drive - you will not have access to them until certain hardware has been re-initialized in the Device Manager when you make the change.

First, back up the system.dat and user.dat files in the c:\windows directory - these are your registry files and settings. Then fire off regedit: start - run - regedit - hit the enter key. Goto the following key in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Enum

Delete that key. Shut down machine. Do hardware upgrade. Restart machine with new hardware. Run the Win98 add new hardware applet. After several reboots, go into the device manager, eliminate any duplicates that do not have a yellow exclamation mark, reboot again, and run the hardware setup files native to your system board and any peripherals.

I have done this many times - sometimes altering a step here or there to accomodate differences in how to setup certain hardware devices.

You are done.
 

Noid

Platinum Member
Sep 20, 2000
2,390
193
106
Thanks Motorheader !!!! Thats great info ! I'm on my way!

;)
 

jblondi

Senior member
Apr 27, 2000
538
0
0
I have had the same problems. My thought is that hard drives are so cheap now a days it might even be worth your wild to buy another hard drive, transfer the info, and format the one that you want as your boot disk. Just a suggestion.
 

Noid

Platinum Member
Sep 20, 2000
2,390
193
106
Well, I had some difficulties, but I'm up and running.

I had to have all my software driver cd's to update all my Hardware, and it took 4 reboots to get hardware loaded.
I had problems with one unrecognized hardware device and PCI Bus manager in the "other" device drivers, I gave up on these for a while, since I lost my internet connection, and windows would not shut down completly (Hang).

WIN98 lost my socket to the cable modem and the programs manager lost location of the mpfhlp.dll, which removes software.

I then installed the 815i update on the ASUS CD, to see if it would fix the unrecognized PCI "other" hardware.

BOOM !!! ... I lost WIN98 !!! after the reboot on the 815i software reboot !!!.

After about 8 reboots, I gave up. I pulled out my WIN98 floppy boot disk and rebooted.

The system went through the hardware setup all over again! (I was freaking now!!!)
But, after it completed and I rebooted, WIN98 was back!!! AND the unrecognozed devices dissappeared, my internet socket was back, the program manager worked, and no more shutdown hangup !!!!

I loaded the reset of the ASUS CD monitoring, and began to check all my devices to see if they worked properly. (Evrything works!!!)

I played for a while and was amazed at my internet gaming response. 100+ fps in Q3A !!!

I just completed overclocking settings.

I'm at 1008 Mhz and the CPU is cool.
I'm gonna install RC5 and do some testing now !!!


Cya !!!
:)
 

HotWire

Senior member
Sep 14, 2000
557
0
0
Noid
I'm going to get that motherboard Sunday and see what all the comotion is all about.....word is that that motherboard rocks............lets see some benchmarks when you get set
 

Motorheader

Diamond Member
Sep 3, 2000
3,682
0
0
Noid

Good to here that you're up and going. Easier than a re-format and install - and it sounds like you got through the "intelligent" portion of the WIN98 hardware detection issue with some newer hardware devices.

Motorheader
 

osage

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2000
5,686
0
76
Motorheader, could you delete in control panel the devices that will be replaced with a new mobo, and get the same result? Or maybe just disable them before you shut down to install the new board ? This seem very simple, so I would guess there is something I am missing cause nothing is ever this easy. I have printed your reply on the reg edit, cause I'm going to put a new mobo in the bro-in-laws comp next week and he doesn't want to lose his old stuff. lots of pictures and no backup device,zip cdr etc:

Excellent post by the way, yours is the type of post that keeps me coming to this board. Always find what I need to know here.
thanks
 

Motorheader

Diamond Member
Sep 3, 2000
3,682
0
0
You could do that, but you have to do the following scenario:

All else still holds true with respect to having the win98 files in a directory on your hard disk and everything else in the previous post.

Make you backups of system.dat and user.dat.

Start system in safe mode - F8 when "Starting Windows 9x" appears at boot - choice 3.

Goto the device manager - eliminate all devices. You will not be able to get rid of the child devices for the hard disk - just the main controller.

You then have to run regedit and do a search (Ctrl - F) or Edit/find from the menu. Search for single fifo, dual fifo, or whatever is leftover in the device manager for the controller.

You then remove the child devices in the registry, but not the main key for each instance that you find. It will be on the left as mf\child000, mf\child001, etc. It will also show int hdc\0000, hdc\0001, etc. Delete the child??? keys and the 000? keys on the left.

With each instance you find, remove as suggested and hit the F3 key to find the next instance.

Depending on how many times you have changed motherboard or drives or updated system drivers, you should find at least four(4) instances in the registry. If you have a Vortex sound card, you will also find child devices leftover - you can get rid of them also (mf\child???).

You should then have a clean device manager in your Win9x - no devices at all should show.

Shutdown system, do the upgrade, then restart system as suggested in previous post. All else holds true with the previous post in respect to getting hardware up and going and eliminating possible duplicates in the device manager.

Motorheader



 

osage

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2000
5,686
0
76
First method looks to be a cleaner way of doing it. Think we will go with that.
thanks again
 

Noid

Platinum Member
Sep 20, 2000
2,390
193
106
I set my Voodoo 5500 back to original 166Mhz.
Then ran a Scrimmage in Q3A for 7 hours today. I smelled some
plastic kinda smell but no fire (LOL) .... I ran 11 players as bots
.. picked out a space map ... set no time or frag limits, and went to Spector mode on a a player. 1223 frags on the player in 1st after 425 minutes of play. (Dont forget to undo the screensaver!)
That's gotta be stable ... egh?

I looked at the ASUS monitor immediatly, and the CPU temp was 26C/?F and the MB was 39C/102F. The CPU dropped to 13C/55F in about 90 seconds.
So those temps are well below the temperature thresholds. Do these temps look good to you folks?
I'm looking for SAndra now ... to check how I benchmark.

I'll be back...

:)
 

Noid

Platinum Member
Sep 20, 2000
2,390
193
106
Check my scores below.
P3-700 oc @ 980

Anything over 140 my scores dropped.
2.2.2.5/7 wont boot for my MB either.
 

DataFly

Senior member
Mar 12, 2000
968
0
0
Noid, FYI, the temperature readings with the original (1001 or 1001a) BIOSes were pretty low. The new revision, 1002, lists temperature that are hotter by at least 12C, but many say 20C. The temp given by the thermistors in CPUs are not the most precise measurements in the first place, so it's really hard to tell how hot the damn thing is.

Anyway, congrats on getting it up to 1008!:D:D I get Windows bootup problems when I try to boot my 700 on a CUSL2 at that speed and it crashes out of 3dmark 2k and Q3 at 980.:frown:


:)
 

Noid

Platinum Member
Sep 20, 2000
2,390
193
106
I got better Sandra scores @ 980.
My memory scores dropped at anything over 140 FSB.
My CPU marks go higher, but my mem scores drop.

Any tips to getting better memory scores at my higher FSB.
I was running at 144 FSB.