Win98 on HP ZE4500 notebook

[Sam Goldwasser]

Not really a repair question but....

We have a brand new HP ZE4500. Nice notebook.

However, for a lagacy application, we need to run Win98, not Win XP.

So we tried to create a dual partition system. Win XP loads and runs
fine in its own partition.

But Win98 produces a fatal exception during the install process, following
when the setup reboots for the first time just as it shows "Setting up
Hardware and any Plug-and-Play Devices" (or something like that - I don't
have it in front of me).

Once this happens, reboot goes directly to this same segment of the
install process, without even being able to select Win XP via dual-boot.

Enough of Win98 has loaded that it can be run in Safe Mode but only after
reinstalling XP.

I supposed it's a driver or compatibility problem but was basically
wondering if it's possible to run Win98 on this PC or whether it's a
dual partition problem or something else.

HP responded quickly to a request for info but once they actually understood
what was happening, simply said that they don't support Win 98 on that
PC and have a good day.

Thanks.

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[William R. Walsh]

Hi!

I've seen this problem before on HP/Compaq equipment. I don't know what
they're doing over there when they make these machines, but unless I'm
missing something (obvious or otherwise) I have not yet gotten it to work
either. I was working with a rather nice and new Compaq notebook that seemed
unable to run anything Windows except for XP...98 exhibited similar behavior
to what you describe and 2000 would go through most of setup only to hang up
or complain that files could not be read from the installation medium.

I'm assuming that you've tried the compatibility "shim" layers that come
with XP to see if they would work to get your legacy program going...

If those don't work and Win98 installation won't take to the machine kindly,
I'd recommend VMWare. It might be better than nothing and performance isn't
too bad for most applications...

Personally, I would not touch HP computers with a 10 foot pole.

That's the short story--now for the longer reply to your post...

But Win98 produces a fatal exception during the install process, following
when the setup reboots for the first time just as it shows "Setting up
Hardware and any Plug-and-Play Devices" (or something like that - I don't
have it in front of me).

Is the XP partition FAT(32) or NTFS? If it's FAT32, maybe Windows 98 setup
"sees" it and crashes because it doesn't really "understand" what's going
on...

Once this happens, reboot goes directly to this same segment of the
install process, without even being able to select Win XP via dual-boot.

Windows 95 and 98 setup both disable boot loaders for other operating
systems. I set up a multiboot system with Windows 95, NT, and OS/2 Warp 4 on
a computer a long time ago and after installing Win95 I found that OS/2's
boot manager was gone! It took some work with FDISK to get things back to
where they should have been.

Enough of Win98 has loaded that it can be run in Safe Mode but only after
reinstalling XP.

Clear off the machine's hard disk with a bootable floppy. Kill everything
using FDISK or the data destruction tool of your own choosing. Create a
partition from part of the hard disk and install Win98 *first*. Come back
and do XP later. XP setup should let you create a separate partition for
XP...and configure your system automatically for a multiboot setup.

I supposed it's a driver or compatibility problem but was basically
wondering if it's possible to run Win98 on this PC or whether it's a
dual partition problem or something else.

It's a possibility. I have yet to find the machine (other than the
previously mentioned Compaq notebook) that didn't seem able to run Win98.

Unfortunately, HP packages a machine with an OS and they do such a good job
that it may be a LOT of work to get anything else going.

HP responded quickly to a request for info but once they actually
understood
what was happening, simply said that they don't support Win 98 on that
PC and have a good day.

Reminds me of the day a 6535 Pavilion landed on my workbench. It simply
needed a new OS.

http://www.walshcomptech.com/hppav6535.htm

Everything came into place except the sound drivers--HP was clueless, rude
and not very interested in helping. I took to looking all over the
motherboard and finally found it.

William

 

[Jim Adney]

On 02 Nov 2003 18:45:51 -0500 Sam Goldwasser <sam@saul.cis.upenn.edu>
wrote:

Not really a repair question but....

We have a brand new HP ZE4500. Nice notebook.

However, for a lagacy application, we need to run Win98, not Win XP.

So we tried to create a dual partition system. Win XP loads and runs
fine in its own partition.

I like to use Partition Magic, or something similar, to manage dual
booting and hidden partitions in a situation like this. This will
maintain the XP partition integrity for sure, but there may still be
difficulties with getting older OSs to run on this newer hardware that
didn't exist when 98 was written.

You may have to search out Win 98 drivers for special laptop hardware
like the mouse and display.

There is also a cylinder limit, so you will probably need to move the
XP partition up and install 98 on a rather small partition at the
front of the disk.

I've used Partition Magic and Boot Magic for multiple boot machines
many times, but it can often be difficult to get old OSs to work well
on new machines.

-
-----------------------------------------------
Jim Adney jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, WI 53711 USA
-----------------------------------------------

 

[Mike Wilson]

Hi Sam

I've seen your problem all too often. It's normal to not be able to select
your second operating system (Windows XP) before Windows 98 has finished
installing, this is normal because boot.ini is temporarily disabled until
the operating system is fully installed. The reason why Windows 98 will run
after reinstalling XP is because XP has to be installed last.

When dial booting with a consumer operating system and a networking
operating system, the consumer operating system has to be installed first
IE: Windows 95, 98, ME (first, on the C: partition) Windows NT, 2000, XP
(second, installed on D: partition)



I would suggested reinstalling the two operating systems in the below
procedure, if you have already done so forget what going to suggest.



Use Delpart to wipe the drive clean again, you can find Delpart on the
Microsoft website. If you have problems trying to find Delpart, let me know
and I'll e-mail it to you. After Delparting the hard drive, make two equal
partitions using Fdisk. Make sure: C: partition is set as the active
partition. Make sure you: reboot after making the C: partition, format the
C: partition. Reboot and make the D: partition, reboot, format the D:
partition. Install Windows 98 on the C: partition (98 has to be on the C:
partition). Now, at this point if you still have the same problem, Windows
98 stopping when installing PNP (plug and play devices) then the problem
could be that fact that Windows 98 doesn't have the drivers for the
hardware. Since you are probably using a retail version of Windows 98 (the
laptop came with XP?), the CD doesn't contain the necessary drivers for the
HP hardware. I've worked for Compaq and HP in the Commercial Laptop
division, so I've seen this happen way too often. Try resetting BIOS default
as the problem might be an IRQ, or memory address conflict with your modem.
Removing all external devices, IE: Mouse, printer, USB devices. Try
installing Windows 98 again, if at this point you can install 98 but it will
only work in safe mode, you can check the device manager to see which
devices are conflicting and download drivers from the HP website.

If at this point Windows 98 is fine, you know what the problem is.



When installing Windows XP on the D: partition make sure not to convert the
partition to NTFS or HPFS as you won't be able to boot into Windows98 (FAT
32 cannot see a NTFS partition, NTFS will see a FAT 32 partition, however
you won't be able to use the partition in XP)

You haven't mentioned XP crashing so this tells me XP has all of the
necessary drivers for all of your hardware. Don't forget XP (depending the
version, XP home, corporate, 64 bit encrypted) is more then a Gb when
installed and has tons of drivers for almost anything.



Hope this helps



Michael J. Wilson




"Sam Goldwasser" <sam@saul.cis.upenn.edu> wrote in message
news:6w65i2tjv4.fsf@saul.cis.upenn.edu...

Not really a repair question but....

We have a brand new HP ZE4500. Nice notebook.

However, for a lagacy application, we need to run Win98, not Win XP.

So we tried to create a dual partition system. Win XP loads and runs
fine in its own partition.

But Win98 produces a fatal exception during the install process, following
when the setup reboots for the first time just as it shows "Setting up
Hardware and any Plug-and-Play Devices" (or something like that - I don't
have it in front of me).

Once this happens, reboot goes directly to this same segment of the
install process, without even being able to select Win XP via dual-boot.

Enough of Win98 has loaded that it can be run in Safe Mode but only after
reinstalling XP.

I supposed it's a driver or compatibility problem but was basically
wondering if it's possible to run Win98 on this PC or whether it's a
dual partition problem or something else.

HP responded quickly to a request for info but once they actually
understood
what was happening, simply said that they don't support Win 98 on that
PC and have a good day.

Thanks.

--- sam | Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ Home Page: http://www.repairfaq.org/
Repair | Main Table of Contents: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/
+Lasers | Sam's Laser FAQ: http://www.repairfaq.org/sam/lasersam.htm
| Mirror Site Info: http://www.repairfaq.org/REPAIR/F_mirror.html

Important: The email address in this message header may no longer work.
To
contact me, please use the Feedback Form at repairfaq.org. Thanks.