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#1
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Unable to Install Windows 98 SE
Hello,
I have a Shuttle Spacewalker AV11S835 motherboard, fitted with 128MB RAM and an Intel PIII-800EB processor. My problem is that every time I try to reinstall Windows 98 SE, the AGP graphics card seems to get damaged. Looks like I already damaged two graphics cards this way. The symptom I end up with is always that upon the next reinstall, after running SCANDISK and the "registry check" in DOS mode, Setup locks up and tells me to restart my system (endless loop), or just returns to the command prompt. When I try a different graphics card, Setup runs just fine, but a after installing the VIA 4in1 driver and DirectX 9.0b, the same symptom occurs again. I tried repartitioning and reformatting the hard disk drive (no bad sectors), but this doesn't help. Two cards are already suspected to be damaged: 1. ATi Rage Pro Mobility-P 2. Albatron MX480EL-2.0 (nVidia GeForce MX440) - newly purchased Before I start damaging further graphics cards, what should I do? Thanks for any useful suggestions, Ossama |
#2
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Are you sure there is not a problem with compatibility between the motherboard AGP
slot voltage, and the voltage of the AGP cards themselves? Some slots have no key and are considered universal. Other AGP slots are keyed to fit compatible cards, but there are some caveats. AGP Compatibility: http://www.ertyu.org/~steven_nikkel/...atibility.html Will my 8X AGP video card work in my 4X AGP slot?: http://www.neoseeker.com/Hardware/faqs/kb/10,63.html -- Glen Ventura, MS MVP Shell/User, A+ http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm http://www.microsoft.com/communities...t/default.mspx "Ossama Elkadi" wrote in message ... Hello, I have a Shuttle Spacewalker AV11S835 motherboard, fitted with 128MB RAM and an Intel PIII-800EB processor. My problem is that every time I try to reinstall Windows 98 SE, the AGP graphics card seems to get damaged. Looks like I already damaged two graphics cards this way. The symptom I end up with is always that upon the next reinstall, after running SCANDISK and the "registry check" in DOS mode, Setup locks up and tells me to restart my system (endless loop), or just returns to the command prompt. When I try a different graphics card, Setup runs just fine, but a after installing the VIA 4in1 driver and DirectX 9.0b, the same symptom occurs again. I tried repartitioning and reformatting the hard disk drive (no bad sectors), but this doesn't help. Two cards are already suspected to be damaged: 1. ATi Rage Pro Mobility-P 2. Albatron MX480EL-2.0 (nVidia GeForce MX440) - newly purchased Before I start damaging further graphics cards, what should I do? Thanks for any useful suggestions, Ossama |
#3
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Why do you think the graphics cards are damaged? From your description I
can't see that the graphics cards are part of the problem at all, so I think there must be something else you haven't mentioned. Look through SETUP.TXT and make sure there's nothing listed there that applies to you. Remove or disable (in BIOS setup) as much extra hardware as possible. Try the installation again. Did this motherboard work with W98 in the past? If so, what prompted you to re-install? -- Jeff Richards MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User) "Ossama Elkadi" wrote in message ... Hello, I have a Shuttle Spacewalker AV11S835 motherboard, fitted with 128MB RAM and an Intel PIII-800EB processor. My problem is that every time I try to reinstall Windows 98 SE, the AGP graphics card seems to get damaged. Looks like I already damaged two graphics cards this way. The symptom I end up with is always that upon the next reinstall, after running SCANDISK and the "registry check" in DOS mode, Setup locks up and tells me to restart my system (endless loop), or just returns to the command prompt. When I try a different graphics card, Setup runs just fine, but a after installing the VIA 4in1 driver and DirectX 9.0b, the same symptom occurs again. I tried repartitioning and reformatting the hard disk drive (no bad sectors), but this doesn't help. Two cards are already suspected to be damaged: 1. ATi Rage Pro Mobility-P 2. Albatron MX480EL-2.0 (nVidia GeForce MX440) - newly purchased Before I start damaging further graphics cards, what should I do? Thanks for any useful suggestions, Ossama |
#4
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Hello Jeff, Glen and all others,
referring to your suggestions, I noticed the following during my trials: The two cards I tried out (the ATi is 2X AGP and the nVidia is 8X AGP) are both compatible with my motherboard. Especially the 8X AGP card I bought was confirmed to be compatible; I checked this out with the vendor after the first failure. There is no extra hardware to disable, and it doesn't influence the failure either. Even clearing the CMOS (using the mobo jumper) does not help. However, I noticed that reflashing the BIOS (with the same version, as there is no newer version available) causes the DMI pool of the motherboard to be rebuilt, and after that, I occasionally manage to get further through the Windows installation process. But in the two trials I made, the first Windows restart failed, and SCANDISK reported a damaged FAT table copy, crosslinked files, and misreported file sizes. Now I'm suspecting that the hard disk drive may be damaged, since this is the same message I got from a repair centre (but I didn't believe him at that time, because he removed from the hard disk the jumper that causes it to be recognized by the BIOS, and reported to me that the BIOS does not recognize the hard disk because it is apparently damaged). Problem is, I don't find hard disks less than 80 GB in the market, and I doubt whether they will be recognized by the BIOS at all (no BIOS updates available for this purpose). But I'll have to try it out. Thank you anyway very much for your help. Ossama ================================================== ====== "Jeff Richards" wrote in message ... Why do you think the graphics cards are damaged? From your description I can't see that the graphics cards are part of the problem at all, so I think there must be something else you haven't mentioned. Look through SETUP.TXT and make sure there's nothing listed there that applies to you. Remove or disable (in BIOS setup) as much extra hardware as possible. Try the installation again. Did this motherboard work with W98 in the past? If so, what prompted you to re-install? -- Jeff Richards MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User) |
#5
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What does the BIOS report for the disk drive characteristics? If the BIOS
correctly identifies the drive layout and capacity then this is an indication (although not conclusive) that the drive should be accessed correctly. The disk drive manufacturer should have drive diagnostics available for download from their www site. If there is a compatibility problem the diagnostics should reveal it. For that type motherboard and that size drive, any problem with compatibility should be manageable by limiting the partition size. Are you sure you are using the latest version of FDISK? http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;263044 Fdisk Does Not Recognize Full Size of Hard Disks Larger than 64 GB Flashing the BIOS will remove the existing DMI data, forcing it to be re-built on the next startup. -- Jeff Richards MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User) "Ossama Elkadi" wrote in message ... Hello Jeff, Glen and all others, referring to your suggestions, I noticed the following during my trials: The two cards I tried out (the ATi is 2X AGP and the nVidia is 8X AGP) are both compatible with my motherboard. Especially the 8X AGP card I bought was confirmed to be compatible; I checked this out with the vendor after the first failure. There is no extra hardware to disable, and it doesn't influence the failure either. Even clearing the CMOS (using the mobo jumper) does not help. However, I noticed that reflashing the BIOS (with the same version, as there is no newer version available) causes the DMI pool of the motherboard to be rebuilt, and after that, I occasionally manage to get further through the Windows installation process. But in the two trials I made, the first Windows restart failed, and SCANDISK reported a damaged FAT table copy, crosslinked files, and misreported file sizes. Now I'm suspecting that the hard disk drive may be damaged, since this is the same message I got from a repair centre (but I didn't believe him at that time, because he removed from the hard disk the jumper that causes it to be recognized by the BIOS, and reported to me that the BIOS does not recognize the hard disk because it is apparently damaged). Problem is, I don't find hard disks less than 80 GB in the market, and I doubt whether they will be recognized by the BIOS at all (no BIOS updates available for this purpose). But I'll have to try it out. Thank you anyway very much for your help. Ossama |
#6
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Tried to install a new Samsung 120GB drive. To my good luck, it was
correctly identified by the BIOS, and I had a third-party tool to partition it. After that, Windows 98SE setup went just fine. I also installed the updated FDISK version, but it still misreports the drive size. However, this does not matter for me, since the logical drives are already properly configured and formatted. Thank you all for your helpful suggestions :-) Regards, Ossama ================================================== ======= "Jeff Richards" wrote in message ... What does the BIOS report for the disk drive characteristics? If the BIOS correctly identifies the drive layout and capacity then this is an indication (although not conclusive) that the drive should be accessed correctly. The disk drive manufacturer should have drive diagnostics available for download from their www site. If there is a compatibility problem the diagnostics should reveal it. For that type motherboard and that size drive, any problem with compatibility should be manageable by limiting the partition size. Are you sure you are using the latest version of FDISK? http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;263044 Fdisk Does Not Recognize Full Size of Hard Disks Larger than 64 GB Flashing the BIOS will remove the existing DMI data, forcing it to be re-built on the next startup. -- Jeff Richards MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User) |
#7
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Thanks for letting us know that you got it sorted out. The updated FDISK
has some issues with displaying very large numbers, but it should get the actual partitioning right. However, a good third-party partitioning tool is probably the better option. -- Jeff Richards MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User) "Ossama Elkadi" wrote in message ... Tried to install a new Samsung 120GB drive. To my good luck, it was correctly identified by the BIOS, and I had a third-party tool to partition it. After that, Windows 98SE setup went just fine. I also installed the updated FDISK version, but it still misreports the drive size. However, this does not matter for me, since the logical drives are already properly configured and formatted. Thank you all for your helpful suggestions :-) Regards, Ossama ================================================== ======= "Jeff Richards" wrote in message ... What does the BIOS report for the disk drive characteristics? If the BIOS correctly identifies the drive layout and capacity then this is an indication (although not conclusive) that the drive should be accessed correctly. The disk drive manufacturer should have drive diagnostics available for download from their www site. If there is a compatibility problem the diagnostics should reveal it. For that type motherboard and that size drive, any problem with compatibility should be manageable by limiting the partition size. Are you sure you are using the latest version of FDISK? http://support.microsoft.com/default...b;en-us;263044 Fdisk Does Not Recognize Full Size of Hard Disks Larger than 64 GB Flashing the BIOS will remove the existing DMI data, forcing it to be re-built on the next startup. -- Jeff Richards MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User) |
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