Windows 98 problems.
Discussion
I am looking at a windows 98 box for my local golf club, the box is running a AMD processor. The box starts to boot as normal but the system just stops and the monitor goes into standby, after a while it will boot ok and I can then shutdown and boot up ok but come back to it the next day and the problem returns once more. I have changed the network and video card and also swapped out the memory but the problem still returns.
Failing hard drive possibly? If it was a corrupt driver or bad setting then would have thought it would do the same everytime, the fact that it is tempermental would certainly indicate a hardware issue and you have excluded a few of them. When my harddrive was on its last legs it sometimes took up to five attempts to get it to boot properly.
I'm no techie though so may be way off.
I'm no techie though so may be way off.
Edited by touching cloth on Sunday 10th December 15:47
Mmmmmmm Windows 98.
I remember when all this was fields full of fluffy bunnies.
Now look at it - houses, cars, people, carbon.
Anyway - I too have an AMD 486 100Mhz desktop lying under a desk in my spare room. Probably spent £1000's on all the bits I put it together from about 10 years' ago.
If you hold shift whilst booting, press log file on startup and then find bootlog.txt which will be hidden on C: drive, you should be able to see what it's trying to load up when it hangs.
Alternatively - bin it.
I remember when all this was fields full of fluffy bunnies.
Now look at it - houses, cars, people, carbon.
Anyway - I too have an AMD 486 100Mhz desktop lying under a desk in my spare room. Probably spent £1000's on all the bits I put it together from about 10 years' ago.
If you hold shift whilst booting, press log file on startup and then find bootlog.txt which will be hidden on C: drive, you should be able to see what it's trying to load up when it hangs.
Alternatively - bin it.
Are you aware of the F8 thingy?
You can see which drivers/services are being loaded and maybe even find the cause, if it's a particular software event that's causing the crash.
Another thing to watch for is that the OS is appropriate for the motherboard. Power management was non standard back then, and you may need the OS that shipped with the motherboard.
You can see which drivers/services are being loaded and maybe even find the cause, if it's a particular software event that's causing the crash.
Another thing to watch for is that the OS is appropriate for the motherboard. Power management was non standard back then, and you may need the OS that shipped with the motherboard.
Could it be the PSU? Old and cantancerus it gets going eventually but the fault returns once comming up again from cold. Doesn't sound like heat as once up it's stable? But making sure fans are all spinning freely and free from gunge is always worth doing; as is making sure the heatsinks retaining mechanism is tight and that the pad/gunge hasn't gone off (some brands do this over time).
Even if not the cause it saves you possible hassle down the road. Considering the age of the system and the high annoyance factor of fault finding something like this; you might want to follow the other advice to check Win98 is behaving and if its golden then mention something like a Novatech upgrade bundle (£150 for a Seperon, RAM, case, PSU all assembled, just add HDD and optical drives).
Even if not the cause it saves you possible hassle down the road. Considering the age of the system and the high annoyance factor of fault finding something like this; you might want to follow the other advice to check Win98 is behaving and if its golden then mention something like a Novatech upgrade bundle (£150 for a Seperon, RAM, case, PSU all assembled, just add HDD and optical drives).
ThePassenger said:
Could it be the PSU? Old and cantancerus it gets going eventually but the fault returns once comming up again from cold. Doesn't sound like heat as once up it's stable? But making sure fans are all spinning freely and free from gunge is always worth doing; as is making sure the heatsinks retaining mechanism is tight and that the pad/gunge hasn't gone off (some brands do this over time).
Even if not the cause it saves you possible hassle down the road. Considering the age of the system and the high annoyance factor of fault finding something like this; you might want to follow the other advice to check Win98 is behaving and if its golden then mention something like a Novatech upgrade bundle (£150 for a Seperon, RAM, case, PSU all assembled, just add HDD and optical drives).
Even if not the cause it saves you possible hassle down the road. Considering the age of the system and the high annoyance factor of fault finding something like this; you might want to follow the other advice to check Win98 is behaving and if its golden then mention something like a Novatech upgrade bundle (£150 for a Seperon, RAM, case, PSU all assembled, just add HDD and optical drives).
My take on this would be that once the machine is hot it starts to run correctly and as parts expand when hot there may be something not making a good connection.
Has everything being pulled and reseated?
I would go with the other and say that a cheap replacement is in order. For the age/value of the machine the effort involved simply isn't worth it.
markys said:
Having stripped the PC I have noticed that a few of the resistors are leaking so could well be the source of the problem. So I am going to replace it, I am after a small form factor PC that is able to run 98, any suggestions?
Pick one. Most companies do provide Win98 drivers for products, even if they aren't the latest versions.
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