[RESOLVED] Windows 98 SE - Steer Clear Of It

I just formated my system and installed 98 SE for many of the same reasons as Darren. I am allready connected to a network proxy for Internet (cablemodem) and so I can't get the damn Internet sharing to work becouse I only have 1 adapter (it worked fine with WinProxy). On top of that, i'm haveing unusal misc. problems with my system! /w nothing but SE installed! it was great with Win98!

Linux! here I come!
Sean Perkins
[email protected]

To all of you out there who are having trouble with ICS in Windows 98 SE. Don't install ICS on your host, that is not how it was designed, all you have to do is install ICS on the clients and it works fine.

I just want to do ICS. Is it worth it?

Since i'm in the computer business, I've gone through quite a few Windows installations... I'm using Win98SE on 2 computers... and experienced no problems other than with WinAmp (2.22 and 2.23)... it seems to skip when i perform other operations (e.g. right click on a file)--and this is on a PIII 550, with 384MB RAM, SBLIVE, etc...
My friend experienced the same thing on his system with the new windows... don't know what could be causing it...

But anyway...

To get Internet Sharing working... don't bother installing in the initial installation of Win98SE--cause it won't install correctly.
The proper way to do it is:
1. Clean install Win98SE
2. Once installed, goto 'add/remove programs' in control panel
3. Click on the 'Windows Setup' tab
4. Double click on "internet tools"
5. Check "internet connection sharing"
(note: if it's already installed... uninstall it by unchecking it... reboot.. and repeat these steps)
6. Click OK for everything...
7. Now an "internet connection sharing WIZARD" will come up...
8. Just follow the directions...

(NOTE: only one computer can be the host to the internet... DON"T install internet sharing on the other computers connected to your network (cause you'll screw everything up--think of internet sharing like a "SERVER"(computer with IS installed) and the other computers the "hosts".. they'll detect it automatically after you finish with the instructions of the wizard)

[email protected]

Just a quick note:

If you want to learn more about Internet Connection Sharing, then just open up Windows98 SE's help (START-->Help)...
click on the "Search" tab
type in: internet connection sharing
Highlight "internet connection sharing overview" and click on the 'display' button

(Also note: DO NOT do the following as suggested above:
mbfreak posted 06-10-99 06:48 PM CT (US)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
To all of you out there who are having trouble with ICS in Windows 98 SE. Don't install ICS on your host, that is not how it was designed, all you have to do is install ICS on the clients and it works fine.)


*smooches*
Al
[email protected]

BTW: in the previous post, I meant to say: to think of ICS as a Server/Host and its clients/workgroups... blah! you get the idea.. i hope...

Sorry to be so much ignorant. Why cant I just upgrade from Win 98 to 98SE without doing a total format? My system is just fine but I would like to use the ICS.

I have built roughly 20 computers since SE released and installed it on all of them with no problems. Architecture runs from mainly Asus or Impression boards, WD HDD, Celerons, K62's, P2's & P3's and have not had one problem. I don't use Cyrix, so I don't know about them. All new features in SE work properly and the ISC works nice and quick. Actually using here in my Cafe. Everything running smooth here. Don't really see the gripe, things just got better here.

Hi all,
now for a Win98 SE success story! (bout time, eh?)

Just installed SE (on a dual boot Win2000) on my P2-450 @ 502, 256 meg ram, ASUS P2B-D mainboard, Viper v550 AGP video, AB AWE32, Realtek Ethernet card,Adaptec 2940 U2W SCSI card, USR 56k Modem, 10.2 gig Western digital IDE (Win98), 4.3 gig IBM SCSI3 (win2000).
And believe it or not, i upgraded from Win98 4.10.1998 and everything works like a dream. NO! im not kidding =)
I've read Darren's posts about the internet connection sharing not working... but mine does
I have a 3 PC network in my home - a Gateway 486/66 (i actually installed SE on that too and it works like a charm.. unbelievable right?), and a AMD K6-300 (win98 4.10.1998)machine
All 3 computers have IE5 installed and can share my internet access from my P2-450.
Here's how i did it:
First of all I have my network set up using TCP/IP on all machines (used WinProxy to share internet before), so the host machine's IP addy was 192.168.0.1 (generic default network IP), my other 486 and K6 machines were 192.168.0.2 and 192.168.0.3 respectively. Now here's the kicker, you have to set the client machines to automatically get an IP address from the internet server computer. To do this it is under Network Properties.. just set the IP address for the TCP/IP for the network adapter to AUTOMATIC instead of manual with the 192.168.0.2 stuff. Reboot the machines when it asks you to and BOOM! worked like a charm. Yes it works with IE, Netscape, ICQ, and AOL.
Well I hope this works for some of you... If not then i guess WinProxy will have to do for the time being (until Win2000 comes out).

Good Luck!

Oops almost forgot.. I actually used the Windows Help feature, in case some of you might not have checked that...
it explains the TCP/IP stuff better than me..

Ha Ha!
I can only suggest one thing:
DON'T USE WINDOWS!
....
Or at least not as much https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif
I've given up on windows, use it for games only now. Instead I run Redhat 6.0 Linux which has all the programs I need and is a lot more stable.
By the way, I don't think I've ever installed Windows 98 without at least one hard restart.

I'm running win98se on my P-II 450MHz, 128SDRAM, 13GB Quantum Firewall with no problems. It found all my hardware (NIC, Sound, Monster 3D II, USB Webcam, USB Zip Drive) and installed them perfectly. I also an a beta tester for MS... and win2k is going to rock. I ran win2k beta3 build 2031 for four weeks and then it crashed. Compare that to win98 OEM crashing 3 times on the day of installment.

Is there any reason to do this upgrade for the ICS?
I am currently using a very old computer as my router/modem sharing device, and have my Windows 95, Windows 98, Linux and Mac systems connected and sharing the dialup. My router/modem sharing device is a 486 w/8MB Ram....No HARD DRIVE.
I am running Linux on a single Floppy. If the router stops working I simply press reset. There is no keyboard or monitor connected to my router, just Ethernet, modem, and power. No PROBLEMS. Been stable for the last 6 months.

And now for another successs story. I have installed Win98SE on 2 machines here at my shop, both using clean installs. After viewing Darren's origional posting about ICS, I was a little worried about it's reliability. The machines were both Celeron 366 with an Acer MX3L MB and 64Mb RAM. They were clean installs and they went flawlessly. After setting up a peer-2-peer network, I installed a modem and tried ICS. Flawless. Worked every shot, and seemed quite reliable. I connected a machine to the network that was running Win95C with IE4, and set IE4 to use the ICS. Flawless. Upon my success here, I took it home and installed it on my 2 user peer-2-peer network. One machine is a HP P200MMX, the other a Celeron 300A with an Acer AX6BC MB. I was using Wingate 3 to share my cable modem. I upgraded both machines to Win98SE from Win98, and it still went flawless. Now, I have good reliable connections and don't have the third party software (WINGATE) using up valuable resources. I also previously had a problem on Win98 where my machine would lose resources, as if there was a memory leak somewhere, but Win98SE seems to have cleared that. It's only been a few days that it's installed, but all is clear on this end.

Hey Jeffy, I would love to see what you have on that floppy! I have an old P90(being used as a monitor stand) that I would love to set up as a router type device.

To stay on topic, I am preparing to start installing SE on several systems tonight.
Wish me luck! (probably won't need it though, I never had any problems installing 98 in the first place (or any of the 100+ times after https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/04/1.gif )

RE Windows 98 SE

I have installed it By Upgrading from the Standard 98 and it's fine

I would go as far as saying that it seems more stable than 98 ever was

But in Darrens Defence i have seen other installs which Refuse to play at all especially the ICS

Spec PIII450, 192MB, ASUS P2B

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The evolution will be Televised

Just found this site, haven't registered yet, but probably will.

Anyway, I thought I'd share my system specs I am using to run Win98 SE. I did a clean install and have had no problems. I've played games such as Commandos, NHL99, TA, Starcraft, ran various apps, burned CDs with Adaptec Easy CD Creater, and have yet to experience a single crash, blue screen, etc.
I've been running SE builds for months now, and have been using the final for about 2 weeks. I even had good experiences with the betas. (a few crashes with the earlier builds but no major incompatibilities) One thing I have noticed with SE which I don't believe happened with 98 was just after Explorer loads up after booting, Windows seems to continue loading something for about 4-5 seconds. (the cursor remains an hour glass longer than normal)
I checked the registry to see if anything out of the ordinary was loading but there wasn't. This happens with no additional software installed. A little odd but no big deal.

Anyway, here's my HW:
Abit BH6 MB w/P2-400
128MB PC100 SDRAM
ATI Rage 128 Magnum
Adaptec 2940UW
Seagate Cheetah 4.3GB
Plextor 32X SCSI
HP 7570 CDR (IDE)
SB Live Value
3COM Etherlink XL 10/100

I will testing the ICS on another PC to see how that goes. I'll post my findings.

Just finished upgrading my 2 home computers.

My Pentium III really experienced a speed boost. The overall feel of the computer is much improved. I had none of the errors mentioned on the above posts. Everything went very smoothly including the Internet sharing which seems much more responsive than my WINGATE software.

My Pentium I - 200 really did not experience much change. However, it also installed smoothly.

So far very pleased with this release.

My advise to people who are having problems is doing a complete new installation by removing all unnecessary cards except video and install WIN98 SE clean. Then add the cards one at a time. Works almost 99% of the time.

I am a Computer Tech in a small store, and have installed Win98 SE on several machines the last couple of days. I haven't had the time to try out the new Modem sharing feature, but I haven't had any unusual problems with running this update version. I have really not had much problem to speak of with Win98 in general, not the original release, or this 2nd Edition.
I have to question, a little, some peoples methods of setting up a machine. Most problems I have found with computers, as a repair person, are user error. Sure, I have witness my share of strange things with Windows, it is not a perfect OS. But, I have to say in my experiance, this OS delivers fairly well what it is supposed to.
I don't think Windows is the greatest thing since sliced bread, but its got the support that none other can boast. The only thing that comes close in my mind is Mac. I wonder why some people bang there heads as they do with, and about Windows. Maybe some people need to go Mac, if they can't handle PC. Why do some people thrash on Windows so bad, but continue to use it? Get something else if you hate it so bad.
Please don't respond to this post by talking about how Microsoft does this and that to crush the compitition, they are like any buisness that tries to be number one. They didn't invent there methods or tactics. Buisness is WAR, go play in someone elses sand box if you don't like sand kicked in your face.
The problems some people have, are not always related to Windows, but that is always what recieves the blame. There is a whole host of poorly written programs, and marginal hardware out there.
Maybe one day Windows will be so fool proof, that we can all bitch about something else. But then I guess I will have to find another job, cause then I won't be fixing YOUR Computers anymore https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif
Lighten up folks. If only everything we own was perfect. Then we could all sit around in Nirvana, and we would all be jobless.

For the MS bashers...
Using other OSs is fine and dandy, I'm trying Caldera myself, but if you are in this as a tech or business, most of what you deal with is 95\98\NT, you have to be able to resolve the problems. I can't just say to the company I work for, tough luck - switch to Linux on your 700 pcs if you don't like the problems, too bad if none of your apps will work...
I have to figure out the problems and fix them, it's my job.




[This message has been edited by JeanneD (edited June 12, 1999).]

I laugh in the face of all people who still use Intel or Microsoft stuff.
WHA HAHHAHAAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

Keep on wasting your money. Get a real operating system that works:

It's called: UNIX.
It's beyond me why people waste their money.

Another point: When Microsoft acquired HOTMAIL, it was UNIX driven. Microsoft ported it to NT, but NT couldn't handle it and it crashed 99.99999999999999% of the time. They had to go back to UNIX. I'm sure Microsoft wanted everyone to know this.

Also, Y2K under UNIX...no problems! Could someone explain what is Y2K again for those of us who don't use a compliant os and why Microsoft and Intel products are such a waste of time and money?

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NT tries to do everything UNIX does, but fails.

Ok you freaks, here is the deal. I am a top level tech for one of the hottest selling OEMs. (there is only a few so take your pick)
Windows 98 SE is a great OS, I've been running beta version all year and every one has been more stable than the original 98 can hope to be. Of course this is on MY system, which I custom built and has only the best componets in it (BX6 motherboard/3com 10/100 NIC/ MX300 and Ensoniq sound cards and an Asus 3400TNT/TV).

If i go and try it the low end peice of crap systems that my company builds, then yes I have problems (AMD processors and/or non intel chipset motherboards (VIA/SIS)/ Cough, Copugh Bigfoot harddrives/ COUGH COUGH COUGH Rockwell Riptide modem/sound combo cards (Even Packbell doesnt use combo cards anymore) ATI video)

Conclusion? You get what you pay for. If you buy any major OEM machine at all from a place like CompUSA(HAHA)/Best Bay (HAHAHAH)/Circut City (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA) Then you deservce the problems... they are the price you pay for being cheap with your computer!

HEY KEWL SITE! THANKS ALOT MR.DARREN WILSON
YOU ARE DOING A BITCHEN JOB DUDE!
Well with all the neg comments I just thought I'd share a few good one on the w98se
I have been doing P.C.SCIENCES FOR 6 years now I am not a PRO by any means but as good as most out there.I try really hard to intorduce people to this fasst growing field
and get them started on the internet hiways.
ANYWAY I have run 98 a year before it was released,I have run the first release and now the WIN98SE .What amazed me was MY MOM
brought it home and upgraded her system all
on her own!with no prob.nohardboots and no net or hardware failers! MOM HAS ONLY DONE WIN98 FOR 2YEARS!fROM what I've read it seems that the OEM 98SE has more problems than the plain w98se upgrade.
However when I download the IE5.0 it crashed the system,but I believe that
I just had a bad file down load.I have sence
reformatted the HD and am having improved
hookup speeds for the internet.
I have found that w98 likes to play with it's self so I do not leave it running when
not in use.I also found that the task master tune up setting sometimes get cared away so I delete them.AGAIN I WELL SAY I AM NOT A PRO
BUT A HARDING WORK GRUNT.

Possible cure for certain hardware problems:
In bios: APM: disable. ACPI: enable.
PNP OS installed: yes.
Boot to Safe Mode, check for "ghost devices"
under Ctl. Panel/System. If there's two of any one device, delete both. Then reboot. Had multiple "instances" of keyboard, modem,
monitor on Abit BH6 until these were corrected, even after having deleted HKLM/Enum in registry.
Does this occur with other motherboard brands? AOpen, Soyo, Intel, etc.?

everyone can stop bitching now, I have finally sussed all the problems out.

I have now managed to get ICS working on my systems at home with some help from Microsoft ( & they didn't try to charge me either https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif)

I followed a few of the suggestions on the forum to no avail, so I decided to have a fiddle with the DHCP server. Guess what??

Changed a few settings & BANG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

At least now Microsoft realise that this new feature ( bug??? ) is not a s easy to setup as they first thought!!!!!!!

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Who got game???? I know I do!!!!!!!

visit me @ http://www.ace-computers.co.uk

A followup (I posted here a couple of nights ago)

PII 300, PCPartner board 440LX, ATI rage pro 4 meg AGP video card, 128 Mb SDRAM, Sb16 sound card, Quantum Fireball UDMA 2 hard drive (using DMA setting in windows), Conner 1.2 Gb hard drive as slave (5 years old), parallel port external ZIP 100 drive. No NIC cards or networked PC's so I can't comment on Internet Connection Sharing.

I did a format and clean install of Windows98 SE and everything went smooth as silk. It detected all my hardware (I then installed updated drivers after) and everyting is working as before. All my software and games are installed and they all work. (a minor C++ runtime error issue in my encarta 96 world atlas program but hey, thats a pretty old program now and we can't expect every little thing to work properly with some of the new libraries. The program is still usable even as long as I avoid the action that causes the error)

Canon BJC 4100 printer: drivers from Canon's site did not work properly, caused the system to hang mid way through every print job. After removing the printer and then manually removing the 3 mb worth of files (*sigh*) and installing the driver supplied by windows, though, it works great.

Those are the only problems I have had; I wish that it were this easy for everyone.

Grogan

I've installed my Win98SE
it was perfect at all
no error occurs
and The ICS working properly
I download it from Hacker site
the version is 4.10.2222A with 16 digit serial numbers
If there is anyone knows where I can download Win200 Beta3 tell me.....we can share.............Thx

Well gang,
I was a beta tester for the SE version..
You want to talk about bugs!
But as we neered the end with beta 3 it worked fine! In fact, When I got my relese copy I inserted it in the cdrom and it asked me if I wanted to update my system. With lots of fear (I have too much to loose!) I said yes. In 20 min it was finished.. It has been working fine since.. in fact ALL functions are working. Including INET Share.
Now a tip I got from MS from the start of the beta was to create a boot disk with the cdrom drivers on it, Then, fdisk with fat 32 and format the HD with win95.
Insert the OS cd and the boot disk and reboot and go.. Worked great!

i have installed 11 upgrades to windows98
first release to the second release SE , what i did was removed all cards and the drivers except the video card

i made sure that the windows temp. file was cleaned out, i cleaned all internet cache files and internet temp. files. i also cleaned out all cookies. these files for the internet will have a impact on installing IE5
so delete them. also delete your internet connection in my computer.

then i went into the system configuration utility/then startup tab, shut every thing off except the system tray.
re-boot your computer. after rebooting then you can install the upgrade.
from here you should not experiance any problems.

you should do this when ever you upgrade if you want to keep what you have. all this took me two hours total.

of course i was updating win98 first build to the SE build

i have not experiance any problems and i find the SE build to be faster and more stable

on 4 of the upgrades that requested internet sharing i had no problems.

most of the boards were FIC503+ and the asuse p5

GO TO THE WEB SIGHT AND GET THE LATEST DRIVERS TO YOUR CARDS BEFORE UPDATING, IF YOU CAN USE CERTIFIED DRIVERS FOR A START AS YOU SHOULD WITH ANY UPGRADE.

sorry for the typo`s in a hurry!
wayne
[email protected]

Well I had the same problem. I spent weeks reinstalling windows 98 SE and it still didn't work. I had been using different hard disks, different motherboards. I had pulled my computer apart that many times that I felt like going and buying a copy of Win 95. Well you are probably wondering what my point is..........

I finally found the answer. I did have 2 hard disks in my compter. I decided to try removing the secondary hard disk, and it worked fine. I am now running Windows 98 fine.

I have many contacts which can research these problems, and I would be quite happy to help anyone with further problems. (by the way, NONE of these contacts work for that F**KER Bill gates. I HATE MICROSOFT!!!) My Email is [email protected]

Do you know, I tried to get some help from microsoft, and they tried to charge me fifty dollars. Now that is waht I call cheap.

well, good luck in solving further problems with windows

Personally, I don't know what you all are complaining about. I've installed SE on two machines without a glitch and my two co-workers have installed install SE on their machines without a single problem. We all have different hardware and in fact, it installed even smoother than the previous versions of Windows. I'm not a MS fan but they still do build the best OS out on the market. Simply put, Win98SE is Win95 more streamline.

GenX

recently had a customer bring in a Toshiba Tecra 730CDT with Win95b wanting to upgrade to Win98 SE. unfortunately, Toshiba's support site had no procedures for installing 98 SE; only the standard upgrade.

followed Toshiba's instructions. but after the scandisk on installation, got a pop up message saying that Toshiba Windows 95 Utilities is not compatible with SE, and refers to Hardware Section in SETUP.TXT on how to uninstall the utilities. there, MS says to upgrade Tosh Win95 Util to Tosh Win98 Util BEFORE installing SE, NOTHING about uninstalling; Tosh support site says to do this AFTER. i tried both ways with no success. there was no uninstall option in Add/Remove Programs, either.

spent over an hour on the phone with Toshiba Tech Support; they were no help. made back ups of SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT before going any further.

installed a standard Win98 upgrade, no problems. uninstalled that; restored SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT from back up. next, d/l Tosh Win95 Util from website, installed it again (watching what files were placed where) and then combed thru the registry, win.ini, system.ini and removed all keys and references to these files, then deleted these files and directories. rebooted and tried installing SE again. still no luck.

reinstalled Tosh Win95 Utils, and restored SYSTEM.DAT and USER.DAT from backup, and was ready to call a no-joy. just happened to have the Control Panel open and saw that an icon for Toshiba Utilities which HAD previously been there was now GONE. decided to give it one more try. it FINALLY worked. still don't know exactly what happened. for all intents and purposes, the machine was in the same condition in which it came in.

don't think this is so much a 98 SE problem as it is a Toshiba problem. but there does seem to be some misinformation on MS's part for a message refering one to a file for instructions on how to UNinstall something, only to have instructions to INSTALL something else.

any thoughts or ideas?

Cody

I don't want to come off very rude, but I probably will, sobeit.

I get so sick and tired of so-caled 'techs' that work just once or twice with a particular product, have a bit of a hard time with it and claim it's "****".

For what it's worth, I installed Win98SE Beta's 1-3, as well as the final release all over top of a Win98 install that was having several problems, and not only did everything go smoothly, but by the time I installed the final revision, it fixed every problem that I was having!

That's on an AMD K6-2 300 (oc'd @ 333) on CalGraph Photon 100HC(MVP3C), with 128MB PC100 RAM, AGP Banshee, 10/100 3Com NIC, SB Live! 512, Diamond Ultra SCSI board, Plextor 4x CDW, NEC SCSI 32X CDR, Maxtor 6GB UDMA, W.D. 4GB UDMA.

What's more, I performed a fresh install of Win98SE, final release, on an old clunker Pentium233MMX with 512K Cache, a really really old SB16 ISA board, a 1.6GB HDD, a 2x CDROM, 64MB RAM, some cheasy 4MB PCI vid. card, a 3-year-old 10Mb NIC, *AND* what's more I installed DUN Sharing... EVERYTHING WORKS GREAT!!!

And the icing on the cake: 3 other guys have successfully installed Win98SE without needing to complain! https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif

So, for everyone out there that's whining, especially the one that claimed to be a 'Registered OEM', quit yer bitchin' and get a grip! If you knew what you were doing, you wouldn't have problems with every machine you tried to install it on... maybe a couple, but not the majority!



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Brandon Gresham
Murray, UT

L. Marie, I don't know what you are referring to when you said that "I have found that w98 likes to 'play with itself', so I don't leave the computer on when I am not using it".

First off, we're talking about a computer here, not a 14 year old adolescent! https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif Just kidding.

Seriously, I have been running one version, or another, of Win98 since December of 1997, and my computer has never been turned off... in that mix I have had to replace a system board that died, upgraded the processor, downgraded the processor, upgraded it again, and upgraded it again, upgraded from SIMM's to DIMM's, and then added more, installed 4 different types of video boards, 2 different sound boards, added SCSI and a burner, added a 2nd HDD, changed out the power supply, converted over to PS/2, swapped NIC's once, had two modems installed, then removed both, and probably a whole lot of other crap that I can't remember.

Again, other than while performing these changes, the system has been up 24/7 (oh, but not during lightning storms or power outtages). And so far, I haven't caught my w98 'playing with itself'...

... but maybe that's because it doesn't have an example to learn from... (hint, hint) https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif

Just teasing you...



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Brandon Gresham
Murray, UT

I'll take an Intel computer, powered by Microsoft, any day.
I think most of all the problems are, you upgrade your operating system, but forget to upgrade the parts to make your operating system WORK.
It's like trying to put a Ford part in a Chevrolet.

Good analogy (sp?) -- And I would agree w/your observation...



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Brandon Gresham
Murray, UT

okay. I've just got my first copy of win98se and it went on a very very cheap machine and installed excellent while I was having all kinds of problems with the orig win98 to even begin the setup... the system consists of cyrix6x86mx-233 16meg ram built on the motherboard, 2 8meg simms added in, sis 6215 svga chipset on board, cmi8330 (I think) sound, seagate 4gig drive 24x cdrom ... I haven't tried ics on it but It was in the list of one of the things I had to remove from the device manager.

hopefully every win98se goes as smooth as this one did

Jeremy

Oh man what entertainment reading this debate has been.

Now before I get slammed I am not any affiliation with Havoc, and I have posted helpful hints (in other groups) and I am registered. (why any of that matters is beyond me)

I find it funny that the moderator of this group, whether he offers good advice or not, would have the attitude he started this off with.

He gave Microsoft and their products the same attitude that Havoc gave him. Then got mad at Havoc. I don't get it.

Think about things a bit here.

Win98SE is an OEM version. It's intended audience is those OEM's who pay Microsoft bucks for features and enhancements. Some examples are Dell, Gateway, Micron, etc.

Their operations pump out thousands of PC's all exactly the same. That is their market.

The fact that others build computers without the same quality control methods as the big boys and are allowed access to the OEM versions is a benefit to us, not a shortcoming of Microsoft. Imagine installing This OS the retail way, without the benefits of OEM enhancements.

Buy the retail version and then call the retail tech support que! Don't buy the OEM version and call the retail support que and come unglued on the poor tech answering the knowledge base.

If you are indeed a registered OEM reseller, go through your channels, don't take the easy way out and don't throw your weight around and opinion on a one time experience.

I am sure all of us here that service computers have had problems with a piece of hardware that we know works perfectly on another computer.

Also take into account that the product is new, therefore a new paradigm is in place. Your old methods might need to be tweaked to work here. Do you install Win98 the same way you installed Win3x? I think not, things evolve and change and your attitudes must also. How can you work in an industry so full of change and be so intolerant.

I will say I am pleased that Mr. Moderator at least posted his history and some solutions.

It was interesting to watch people take sides in the debate at hand.

I also find it interesting to see the politically correct group bashing Microsoft, promoting Mac's, Linux, Unix and the like.

None of the superior products according to some have done the one thing that Microsoft/IBM have done. Put PC's everywhere and helped automate the world. This does not mean that Microsoft hasn't made mistakes, or could do a better job of making products.

After all those paid to work on computers would not have jobs if it weren't for problems.

Now lets get the title of this forum changed from "Windows 98 SE - Steer Clear of it" to something positive and get back to fixing PC's.

scoobie

This is for Larusco Benetti


Sorry that nobody has really answered your question "I just want to do ICS, is it worth it?"

That really depends. Do you currently have a third party ICS program i.e. wingate?

If you do, it is probably not worth it -- that is if your program fills your needs.

Last time I checked, wingate was quite expensive. Furthermore, it wont work with a lot of online games like Everquest.

ICS in Win98SE works with Everquest, and any other program (that I've thrown at it) that uses the internet, flawlessly (once you get it to work). Based on my experience with ICS, I would say go for it. If you've been reading these posts, you will see that I had a dandy of a time getting ICS to work, but I still reccommend it. It is not as feature rich as wingate (no remote administration or remote disconnecting) but it is much more transparent to internet applications, so more of them work.

Just my opinion. (which may be too late for you)

First of all I have to thank Darren, if win98SE worked *perfectly* then this would not be neccesary https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif The point is that one WILL experience problems with computers. Imperfect machines run by imperfect software all made by imperfect beings. Accept the fact that NOTHING is perfect and this discussion is to provide HELP to those who are experincing problems.

As for linux, the OS is free but my time is not. If i had 3 days to get a top of the line ati/riva/voodoo3 working then maybe it is viable. Oh what does linux sound like again? Linux is great for servers but is crap for client (non-server) machines.

Back to the point. WIN98SE DOES HAVE PROBLEMS. It does not work on all system configs (that seems obvious to me and I do not have 10+ years experience in the biz). Lets try to help those with problems instead of slagging them. Kudos again to Darren for not getting dragged in to a flame war. Win98se has the most problems on older boards/cpus in particular. I have noticed few tx boards on this discussion. My QDI tx works fine under 98se but an ASUS tx-e (with updated bios) does not. Problems appear mainly with ISA devices, especially NIC cards. It may be neccessary for you play with the bios settings for ISA timings etc. Perhaps more conservative settings are required or switching to PCI based cards. Win95/98 appear to be more fault tolerant as well as more overclock friendly (coincidence?) https://forums.windrivers.com/images.../2000/09/1.gif than 98se. i run my 233 at 292 under win95/98/linux/nt4 but system locks in 98se. The ASUS board is still not functioning under 98se (except under safe mode, no problems reported under device manager)

I will be trying a USB ethernet adapter as well as newer NIC cards (both ISA/PCI) later today when I am at home. The card functions under 95 perfectly (disk caddy) but the fresh 98se locks up on boot (right around the "normal" pause with NICs installed)

Has anyone else had any similar problems with a 3com509b isa? FYI the ASUS is a p-166mmx, 64mb sdram(pc-66)10.2 Western Digital, 4 meg ati (mach64) pci. sb16awe32, pci-usb adapter

Any help/ideas would be appretiated,

Thanks ppl,

Gustin




[This message has been edited by SoccerFiend76 (edited July 11, 1999).]

I am running W98SE on a multiple boot system with NT. For most of what I use it for it works adequately well, but it is not without problems. It produces an alarming number of blue-screen errors. It sometimes hangs, locking the system up completely. It sometimes loses my modem. It sometimes loses SB16 emulation drivers. It crashes in start up sometimes. It sometimes goes through multiple self-induced reboots when starting up. It seems highly allergic to anti-virus software. In the end, it always seems to repair itself, though, and it eventually does what I need it to do. I just have to be patient. However, for the price of the OS, I think I have the right to expect a little more reliability and convenience.