Windows98 Installation Problems

[Bovon]

Holy smokes!..thats a good one, and I'm not sure I have an answer, but I'll give it a shot in the dark...and will watch this thread to learn from our more 'experenced' trouble shooters.

1) have you reset your bios to anything other than the defaults..

2) Are you running the cpu at its stock frequency...ie, not overclocked..and at mobo default fsb...maybe 100mhz?..

3) When you fdisked, did you set the primary DOS partition active..

4) Remove any cards and connections from the computer, have the ram (reseat good), a video card only installed at first..

5) Good heatsink?...some heatsink goo between the cpu and sink? (could be a heat related problem?..clutching at straws you know)..

6) CD Rom drive problem?..I have had this happen, try another drive if available..

7) Did bios autodetect the hard drive correctly?..

8) Try different IDE ribbon cables.. sometimes new cables don't work right, and is it ATA33, 66 or 100?...maybe going backwards with older cables will help..

9) Psu ok?..300 watt or maybe less?

I haven't kept up with Gigabyte boards, is this a raid board?..

Sheese, this is about all that comes to mind right now, maybe somebody else will have some input...

[Mark]

As someone else has also mentioned problems with a 256mb Micron stick I would first suggest swapping it out with another one, preferably smaller, and trying again. If that's not the problem, make sure the bios is properly detecting and sizing your harddrive. The VIA MVP3 chipset in one of my boards hates my Maxtor and I always have to configure it manually or it won't boot. Also, connect the hd to the ATA/UDMA 33 controller if your mobo also supports 66/100, until you get Windows and all of your mobo/controller drivers(if applicable) installed. Then switch the hd and cdrom to the higher speed controller and you should be set.

[rhino49]

From Microsoft Knowledge Base Q289801:
Error Messages Appear When You Are Performing a Clean Installation of Windows Me

SYMPTOMS

When you perform a clean installation of Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (Me),
you may receive the following error messages:

"Error loading user.exe"

"Invalid true type font detected, an application used a true type font that caused an error in Windows"

"W9x setup caused a General Protection Fault in module Gdi.exe"

"W9x setup caused a General Protection Fault in module User.exe"

If these look familiar, it says cause is bad RAM or badly seated RAM

[WinOS2Mac]

Funny thing. My computer crashed this week and i am in the process of reinstalling windows98 adn then upgrading to 98SE.

I was having the same problems. I have an athlon 800 SocketA Asus A7V motherboard and a stick of Generic 128 RAM and Micron 256 RAM.

Well the 256 stick was in the middle of the 3 slots and the 128 was in the third. I Switched the 256 stick the the first slot and as we "speak" I am successfully reinstalling windows and nothing has gone wrong. I am now going to update to 98 se.

So the memory stick switch-a-roo worked for me amybe it will for you. if you havemore than one stick then try installing with opnly one stick and then place the onther onein after you're done. I think one of my sticks are bad (Generic 128MB) but luckily Memory is so cheap these days I can go and buy another 256 for around $100.


I hope you find a solution.

good luck.

[Greenwillow]

I Have been trying to install Windows98 into a computer I am building for about 3 days now. Everytime I try, I get one of three errors: suwin caused gpf in suwin.exe, truetype fonts error, and user.exe error. The suwin error is most common. I am using three different windows98 disks (98, 98SE, 98Upgrade)and two different boot disks (bot win98).

No matter what combination I use, I get one of the three errors.

I am using a GIGABYTE 7IXE4 motherboard w/256MB of Micron ram, and a 900MHz Athlon Processor (socket A). I am trying to install to a newly partitioned and formatted Samsung 40.0GB hard drive. There is no antivirus software running (bios or otherwise)


Anyone's answers or ideas would be welcome and appreciated.

Thanks in advance...

-Greenwillow

[Deanna_L]

I also am troubleshooting a computer that has a Gigabyte board and will not install Windows 98 SE. It is interesting that these problems are similar. It is possible that these boards require changing a BIOS setting to be able to install Windows 98. I have noticed that very few of their boards have been tested (and can use 98) from the hcl. I have also been thinking that it may be the RAM in this computer.

SUWIN GPF's can show a problem with mismatched or defective RAM, but it could also be simply problems with incorrect BIOS settings, or a problem with the mb itself. Maybe it is something about Gigabyte boards. It also could be a BIOS setting for built-in peripheral device on the motherboard that is particular for the Gigabyte mb and may need to be changed.

[Deanna_L]

I also am troubleshooting a computer that has a Gigabyte board and will not install Windows 98 SE. It is interesting that these problems are similar. It is possible that these boards require changing a BIOS setting to be able to install Windows 98. I have noticed that very few of their boards have been tested (and can use 98) from the hcl. I have also been thinking that it may be the RAM in this computer.

SUWIN GPF's can show a problem with mismatched or defective RAM, but it could also be simply problems with incorrect BIOS settings, or a problem with the mb itself. Maybe it is something about Gigabyte boards. It also could be a BIOS setting for built-in peripheral device on the motherboard that is particular for the Gigabyte mb and may need to be changed.