Help getting Win98SE to install on a p4 desktop

[eastbayarb]

I am setting up mame on a pentium 4 1.7ghz cpu/512mb ram/120gb sata hd desktop computer for a friend and he insists on using windows xp (dont ask me why as I cant convince him to upgrade to XP and he doesn't wanna use vmware).
Trouble is, we tried to install 98SE on this computer, but at theend of the install, there is an error about incompatible hardware on the motherbard (after instalation, 98se won't even boot up completely and will only work in safe mode).

any suggestions on getting 98se to work properly?

[Smack]

Do you mean he wants to run 98SE or XP, the way you wrote it leaves me thinking that you're installing 98 first and then plan on upgrading it to XP.

Have you tried disabling the onboard stuf in the bios to rule out which one might be causing it?

If I'm not mistaken doesn't 98 have problems with processors over a certain speed?

You want want to try doing a step by step confirmation to narrow down which driver is causing the issue / lockup.

My 2 cents. 

[michelevit]

i think alot of the problem is that your building a new computer with an old os.
try installing winXP and see if it works. If it doesn't it may be a hardware problem.
i've never regretting moving up to XP pro. It is much better than 98.

why are you using win 98?

[eastbayarb]

this machine will run 98se only (not xp on top of 98se). because he wants to use wingman warrior spinners which xp does not support.(and he neither wants to make, nor buy spinners)

[EwJ]

start with bare minimum - vid card, ps2 keyboard and  mouse, 1 stick of ram(you didnt specify if you had qty 1 512 mb or qty 2-256mb), and hard drive only (preferably ide hard drive instead of sata). pull out any network adaptors, sound cards, etc. disable onboard devices not being used.
set bios to 'failsafe' values and disable all items not being used.
test ram with memtest86.
if you must use sata drive - use the drivers, etc that came with it - load em up.  (no details as i have never used a sata drive with win98).
check the 'device manager'  for any yellow exclamation marks, etc - anything indicating some hardware is missing drivers, errors, etc. - correct them.
give us a progress report.
if you have specific details on the error(s), post them.
gooooooood luck

[EwJ]

to clarify, when pulling out extraneous devices, cards, etc, remove them physically and remove/uninstall them from the device manager.

[shawcomputers]

The problem your having is that windows 98 SE will NOT nativly support Serial ATA hard drives (SATA 1 or 2.0 )
That is the error screen your getting.
Install windows 98 using the SATA driver floppy that came with your computer. when you get to the first screen i believe it will say press F6 to install a new hard drive controller card. insert your floppy and let it load the SATA overlay. You should be good to go after that.

[eastbayarb]

shawcomputers,

Weird becuase my SATA hard drive is in IDE mode. My motherboard which is an ECS PT800CE-A (and I only have 1 stick of 512mb RAM) lets you use SATA hard drives in either SATA or IDE mode. A SATA driver floppy wasn't included with my motherboard.  The CD that did come with it supposedly has Windows 98 drivers, but problem is unless I boot into Safe Mode, the PC won't completely boot into windows.

The problem your having is that windows 98 SE will NOT nativly support Serial ATA hard drives (SATA 1 or 2.0 )
That is the error screen your getting.
Install windows 98 using the SATA driver floppy that came with your computer. when you get to the first screen i believe it will say press F6 to install a new hard drive controller card. insert your floppy and let it load the SATA overlay. You should be good to go after that.

[EwJ]

make it easy on yourself - use an ide drive. 
if not, you've got some reading to do re installing the drivers for sata for win98.
the motherboard cd and/or website should have all the necessary drivers and documentation (readme files, etc).
looks like shawcomputers posted the answer - your cd should have specifics.

also, check the device manager for yellow marks, etc.  should show if there are any other probs with devices/drivers, etc.

[RayB]

Does your motherboard have seperate cable sockets? I know one of my mobos has 2 for regular ATA and 2 for a faster form of ATA. If you plugged your cable into the one for faster format, then your mobo would detect that...

[eastbayarb]

ok an ide hd is now in the system and all is well...thanks all...

nw if we can just get thisdamn wingman warrior spinner to work (i have les 2,3 installed)...