98 SE and video cards

ober · 03-31-2003, 09:29 AM

ok, so I spent a good 6 hours trying to get an OS installed on a computer saturday nite. And here was the problem:

I built the computer 2 years ago and everything worked great... had Win 98 First edition on it and it was all good. I installed a Diamond Multimedia A200 8mb video card and it worked.

Fast-forward to this past sat nite. The guy wants a new, bigger HD, more RAM, and an upgrade to 98 SE because of stability issues (all on my recommendations).

No problem, I order all the stuff, throw it in, and begin to install windows on the new drive. I get 98 SE installed, install the video driver, reboot. Nothing. It comes up to a black screen during boot and just sits there taunting me with that damn hourglass.

OK, no big deal. I start over and decide to try and trick it. I installed First edition again, updated the video driver and rebooted. It worked fine. yay. Now to trick it, I used a 98SE upgrade and installed 98SE over 98FE. reboot. BAM. Same problem. Black screen, f-ing hourglass. BOOO!! I'm ........ed.

so... next best option? I installed XP Pro. But I had to reformat and reinstall 98 FE because my XP disk is an upgrade. It starts, goes through the prelim and reboots... comes back up, doesn't show me a damn thing, but crunches away and I figure it's installing. Sure enough, an hour later it reboots and XP is installed... it picked a TOTALLY different video driver and it works perfectly.

I just find it strange that 98SE couldn't use that video driver. I even tried downloading an updated driver from the website. Anyone ever seen this?

sorry so long... but I wanted to share this with you guys.

Waldo2k2 · 03-31-2003, 11:36 PM

chalk it up to DOS and VxD i suppose.
I've had all sorts of weird stuff happen with win98(fe/se). It just pukes on some things and im not sure why. I've had it run nearly as stable as nt/xp on the box im using now...on another box it barely runs at all. Hardware seriously messes with 9x, oh well, glad everything worked out for you.

04-06-2003, 09:05 PM

Do they mention anything about it at the company website. At any rate I suppose it wouldn't hurt to upgrade from a 8mb video card to something better.

stumon · 04-07-2003, 08:29 AM

Is the card PCI or AGP?

03-31-2003, 09:29 AM	#1
ober 5\|-\|1+\|-\|34\|) Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 4,429	98 SE and video cards ok, so I spent a good 6 hours trying to get an OS installed on a computer saturday nite. And here was the problem: I built the computer 2 years ago and everything worked great... had Win 98 First edition on it and it was all good. I installed a Diamond Multimedia A200 8mb video card and it worked. Fast-forward to this past sat nite. The guy wants a new, bigger HD, more RAM, and an upgrade to 98 SE because of stability issues (all on my recommendations). No problem, I order all the stuff, throw it in, and begin to install windows on the new drive. I get 98 SE installed, install the video driver, reboot. Nothing. It comes up to a black screen during boot and just sits there taunting me with that damn hourglass. OK, no big deal. I start over and decide to try and trick it. I installed First edition again, updated the video driver and rebooted. It worked fine. yay. Now to trick it, I used a 98SE upgrade and installed 98SE over 98FE. reboot. BAM. Same problem. Black screen, f-ing hourglass. BOOO!! I'm ........ed. so... next best option? I installed XP Pro. But I had to reformat and reinstall 98 FE because my XP disk is an upgrade. It starts, goes through the prelim and reboots... comes back up, doesn't show me a damn thing, but crunches away and I figure it's installing. Sure enough, an hour later it reboots and XP is installed... it picked a TOTALLY different video driver and it works perfectly. I just find it strange that 98SE couldn't use that video driver. I even tried downloading an updated driver from the website. Anyone ever seen this? sorry so long... but I wanted to share this with you guys.
ober is offline

03-31-2003, 11:36 PM	#2
Waldo2k2 PC Fixer-Upper Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 2,001	chalk it up to DOS and VxD i suppose. I've had all sorts of weird stuff happen with win98(fe/se). It just pukes on some things and im not sure why. I've had it run nearly as stable as nt/xp on the box im using now...on another box it barely runs at all. Hardware seriously messes with 9x, oh well, glad everything worked out for you. __________________ PHP and XML Let's talk about SAX
Waldo2k2 is offline

04-07-2003, 08:29 AM	#4
stumon eh ya hoser, got a beer? Join Date: Feb 2003 Posts: 318	Is the card PCI or AGP? __________________ The keyboard is the standard device used to cause computer errors!
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04-06-2003, 09:05 PM	#3
eats only heads Guest Posts: n/a	Do they mention anything about it at the company website. At any rate I suppose it wouldn't hurt to upgrade from a 8mb video card to something better.