Windows 98 and new parts.

[cheesehead]

I'm currently working on upgrading the system of a friend of mine. Because the old motherboard was fried due to power supply faliure, I replaced it with a spiffy new Chaintech CT-SKT600 motherboard, a sempron 2500+, and 512mb of DDR400. However, when it boots, it tells me that there was a "Windows protection error" and needs to restart, or, when booted into safe mode, tells me a file is missing and crashes. How can I repair the OS, and make it work with the new motherboard?


Factoid of the Day: Gateway power supplies are garbage.

 

[daniel49]

i am assuming that you may just be trying to swap the existing harddrive in with the new mb?
or is it a clean install?

 

[cheesehead]

I put the new motherboard, power supply, processor, and RAM in the old system. Same optical drives, same hard drive, same graphics card. Also, I'm trying to repair the old install of the OS so as not to lose all the data, and then make it work with the new motherboard.
Thanks for the help!

 

[stash]

You can't just rip the motherboard out from underneath a Windows intsall and expect it to work. Why would you waste such nice hardware on a POS operating system like 98 anyway?

Edit: I would recommend buying a new hard drive, installing XP on it, and then mounting the old drive as a secondary drive so you can get the data off of it.

 

[cheesehead]

I will admit that I expected some sort of problem; you have a definite point. However, the owners of the computer cannot afford a WinXP cd, and already own win98.

 

[stash]

Did you pay for the new computer parts, or did they? If you did, why not throw in the $100 XP CD? If they did, another $100 shouldn't be a huge deal.

 

[cheesehead]

They just spent 150$ on the stupid computer, and I don't feel like digging up drivers for WinXP for all the old components. They're also in a iffy position financially.

 

[stash]

OK, the money situation is understandable. I still recommend a two hard drive setup, even if the 'new' hard drive is some old clunker you have lying around. You just need to get a clean install of 98 on it, so you can mount the other drive as a secondary and get the data off. Then you can reverse the process by wiping the original drive and reinstalling 98, then copying the data back.

 

[camara120]

can you get into safe mode with that 98?

if you can, theres some registry entries you can delete that will make it redetect all the hardware

 

[cheesehead]

No, I cannot. I think I'm going to try STaSh's approach; hopefully, I can make it work.
That said, does anyone know if Chaintech includes "legacy" drivers on their CDs?

 

[P0ldy]

Why not try out a free operating system like a Linux distro or *BSD? A lot more stable than using 98 if you can't get back in.

 

[xgsound]

Win98fe (first edition) or win98se (second edition) ?

I understand that win98 has a limitation of around 2 Ghz because of a "timer" setting . This can be changed in the registry to some extent. Search for "windows protection error" here at Anandtech for the fix.

Perhaps you can (in bios) lower speed considerably and loosen memory timings to overcome the immediate problem until you find the fix.

To redetect hardware in win9x, get into the registry in safe mode. There search for Enum and delete both folders. The next reboot will redetect all hardware.

After the hardware is redetected , you may find the win98se only "rollup update" at http://exuberant.ms11.net/98sesp.html helpful as it contains many updated drivers for USB , printing, and so on.


Edit : The protection error references ndis.vxd Here is a thread http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/win98/t1036524908

Jim

 

[cheesehead]

It's Win98 first edition. The processor runs at 1.75 ghz; it should'nt have a problem with the 2 ghz limitation.
The reason I replaced the motherboard is because the original motherboard and power supply died, leaving a non-functional computer. I have little experience with Linux, and the owners want a computer that runs Windows anyway, so that is not an option. However, I do not know if the motherboard drivers included work with Windows98; could anyone tell me where to find ones that do?

 

[camara120]

VIA has drivers for the motherboard

 

[cheesehead]

The same drivers seems to be applicable to Win98 through XP. Should the one on the included CD work?

 

[camara120]

I would use the ones from the web site, but I would assume the ones from the CD, proably older), would work too

 

[cheesehead]

Spiffy.
Win98 works with 512mb of RAM, yes? Also, is Win98->Win98SE a legal upgrade, or are you supposed to pay for it?
Thanks for the help!

 

[xgsound]

Try lowering the speed of the processor . It is rated at 2500+ so it may help.

Also try lowering the memory speed, even drastically if you have to. You have to get it to boot to even verify that the new components work at all. This is imperative before a reinstall of any kind. Perhaps use "Ultimate boot CD" or a win98 startup disk or least run "memtest" to be sure it can work.

Are you trying to boot from the original hard disk or a reinstall of some kind?

I would try to boot from the original hard drive firstas it probably has existing drivers for any addon hardware

If you are going to do a new install, you should make win98se the oldest os you would use. As you have seen, many wouldn't consider older than win 2000.

Jim

 

[cheesehead]

I have yet to finish installing windows on the new HD; however, if it does'nt work, I'll take your advice. I'm going to install win98SE as soon as it's running properly, which might help some of the problems mentioned above; however, if I can't get it to work in the first place, I'll use your suggestions.

 

[cheesehead]

Well, the computer's working again. However, it shuts off after a few minutes, and won't work for a few more. (It turns on, but does not POST or beep.) For this reason, I suspect that the processor is overheating. Although this is'nt strictly OS-related, should I return the processor to NewEgg or just get some new thermal compound for the stock heatsink?