P5S800-VM and L2 cache disable

[Stewart]

Hi,

I'm trying to run Win98SE (yeah I know) on a P5S800-VM board with a 2.6GHz
Celeron and get an error message on startup ("error while initializing
device configmg"). The MS site points to turning off the L2 cache. Is
this possible on this board? Also does anyone have this board running
okay with Win98SE?

Ta,
SB

 

[Paul]

Hi,

I'm trying to run Win98SE (yeah I know) on a P5S800-VM board with a 2.6GHz
Celeron and get an error message on startup ("error while initializing
device configmg"). The MS site points to turning off the L2 cache. Is
this possible on this board? Also does anyone have this board running
okay with Win98SE?

Ta,
SB

To start with, are you using 512MB of memory or less with Win98se ?
There are some tricks to having more memory than that in the machine,
so just start the computer with one stick of RAM and see if the
symptoms are the same.

Is this a clean install, or did you just move the hard drive from
the old computer ? Tell us the procedure you followed, to get to your
current system state.

Paul

 

[Stewart]

To start with, are you using 512MB of memory or less with Win98se ?
There are some tricks to having more memory than that in the machine,
so just start the computer with one stick of RAM and see if the
symptoms are the same.

Is this a clean install, or did you just move the hard drive from
the old computer ? Tell us the procedure you followed, to get to your
current system state.

I'm using 512MB RAM (DDR400 iirc), just one stick and I dont have another
to test with :-(

I used to have an ABIT KR7A-133 with Athlon XP1800+ and 256MB RAM and just
changed the motherboard and CPU and tried it. I'm loathed to do a clean
install, but if I have to then I will.

It works fine in Safe mode and I've tried a Knoppix 3.9 Linux CD and that
boots fine into X mode, so I dont "think" it's a hardware problem.

The MS article referring to the CONFIGMG error mentioned disabling L2
cache, but I cant see an option for that anywhere in BIOS.

Regards
SB

 

[Paul]

I'm using 512MB RAM (DDR400 iirc), just one stick and I dont have another
to test with :-(

I used to have an ABIT KR7A-133 with Athlon XP1800+ and 256MB RAM and just
changed the motherboard and CPU and tried it. I'm loathed to do a clean
install, but if I have to then I will.

It works fine in Safe mode and I've tried a Knoppix 3.9 Linux CD and that
boots fine into X mode, so I dont "think" it's a hardware problem.

The MS article referring to the CONFIGMG error mentioned disabling L2
cache, but I cant see an option for that anywhere in BIOS.

Regards
SB

I don't see an option to disable the cache either. In any case,
after the cache is disabled, what would be your next move ? You
cannot leave the computer that way, as it would be slow as molasses
and you'd be wishing for your old motherboard back again.

I would start with a search like this.
http://groups.google.ca/groups?q=win98se+"new+motherboard"

Before doing what you have done, I like to clone the boot disk
to a separate drive first. Then, if things "go south" on you,
you can restore the disk and try a few things.

When I tried what you are doing, with Win2K, it only took me
two tries. On the second try, I made sure the Microsoft IDE
driver was used by the OS, for the Southbridge IDE interfaces
on the old motherboard. Then, when the disk was moved to the
new motherboard, the same Microsoft default IDE driver was able
to boot the new system. But, the key was, I had a backup image
of the disk, to use to take another "kick at the can".

If the CONFIGMG error message actually pointed at a root cause,
such as a missing Windows file or the like, this may be worth
trying to repair the hard way. Actually, this posting does
give some hint as to what is going on - it could be whatever
is listed inside the SYSTEM.INI is responsible:

http://groups.google.ca/group/micro..._frm/thread/57b5a6a49175124d/d7f9c9f011379790

Here is a typical suggestion for migrating Win98SE:
http://groups.google.ca/group/24hoursupport.helpdesk/msg/2e05a153a3fc7377?dmode=source

Paul

 

[Stewart]

I don't see an option to disable the cache either. In any case,
after the cache is disabled, what would be your next move ? You
cannot leave the computer that way, as it would be slow as molasses
and you'd be wishing for your old motherboard back again.

Very true, I just wanted to see if it was really a CPU/mobo/OS incompatibility problem or
not. As it is, I don't think it is.

I would start with a search like this.
http://groups.google.ca/groups?q=win98se+"new+motherboard"

Before doing what you have done, I like to clone the boot disk
to a separate drive first. Then, if things "go south" on you,
you can restore the disk and try a few things.

So I thought about this some more and realised that the old build had been there for a
number of years, through various hardware changes. I was now going to change the
following components:

- Motherboard (ABIT to ASUS)
- Processor (AMD to Intel)
- Memory (type and amount)
- Graphics card (now integrated)
- Sound card (now integrated)
- NIC (now integrated)

I was able to backup the entire contents of the C drive via safe mode (took a while, but
hey) to another hard drive. I then rebuilt the OS from scratch, and it seems to work
(with a few niggles, but that's for another thread).

When rebuilding, I removed all PCI cards and turned off all integrated devices except the
graphics, built the OS and then re-enabled the devices one by one, allowing the OS to find
them as normal.

Regards,
StewartB