AMD&VIA setup from h*ll!

[Xjazz]

Hello

I need urgently your help with my very first AMD&VIA PC setup.

Im totally lost after five days nerve ripping installation, boot, pci-card in, reboot, winstuck,  disk-from-image rumba...
Only Symantec Ghost has save my day so far.

EXM:
Updating Liveware 2.0 to Liveware 3.0 or USB game controllers installation cause totally crash. After reboot oNLY windows Safe Mode works.  

How I should install windows 98se, additionnal pci-cards, USB-devices, VIAs 4in1 and other drivers to the AMD & VIA system?
 

Thanks allreaydy
XJazz
 
 
PC specification:  
mob: Matsonic MS8137c (Socket A, VIA Apollo Kt266)
chipset: VIA VT8366 Northbridge & VIA VT8233 Southbridge

CPU: AMD Athlon XP1800+ (1.533GHz)
RAM: 512MB DDR PC266/PC2100
Video: GeForce2 MX 32MB, Asus 7100
Audio: SoundBlaster Live! Value
LAN: 3Com 10/100
Hard drive & CD: Matrox 40GM & LG
Game controlloers: Saitek X36 usb& Logitech FFB Formula usb  
OS: Win98se +all current Winupdates from MS-site.
 
VIA 4IN1 v. 4.38
DX8.1
Detonator 30.82
SoundBlaster original drivers from CD (Liveware 2.0)

[Staga]

Format your hard-disk, install Windows and right after that install VIA's 4in1 drivers, re-boot and continue installing your other stuff.

btw I did install only drivers to my SB-Live and now to SB-Audigy; no need for all that crap Creative puts in to the installing disk.

[Impaler]

Another option is to gather all the driver disks for your hardware that are not native to Windows 98 (or download to a location that you can remember easily, i.e. c:\temp)

Also visit http://www.viatech.com and grab the latest and greatest AGP dirvers and any other drivers that work with integrated hardware on your board (video, sound, nic, etc). Oh, and see if you can find new IRQ Routing (or IRQ Router, I forget the exact terminology) drivers.

Open Windows Registry Editor (regedit) then open the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE entry. Find the ENUM key and delete it. Reboot the system. (The Enum key contains references to all current and any past hardware installed in your system throughout the life of the system)

While rebooting, enter your BIOS and disable anything you see for AGP or VGA snooping, turbo, or shadowing. You might also want to consider reducing your AGP bus from 4x or 2x down to 1x, even if your mainboard and your video card can support it.

When your system comes back up, it will behave like a fresh installation of the OS, looking for drivers for EVERYTHING! It may take a while, may require a reboot or two, and may prompt for disks. This is a bad time to realize that you dont have the drivers for something!

Once all that foolishment be done, you're good to go. Consider removing and reinstalling DirectX 8.1a as well...


Will this fix your issue? I don't know. Quite possibly, as the VIA chipsets, especially Apollo chipsets have been known to be problematic at times. Just be careful. What I have prescribed can be time consuming and frustrating, and any time you edit the Windows registry, you risk severe damage to your operating system!

Good Luck!

Impaler

[bloom25]

Who makes that motherboard, I can't say I've heard of them before.

VIA chipsets typically work fine as long as you install the 4-in-1 drivers right after windows has been installed.  (Make 100% sure they are loaded before the sound and video drivers.)

4 in 1 drivers are available at http://www.viahardware.com (they come as a zip file, so be sure you have winzip or equivilant).

What I do is burn them (after extracting them to a folder) onto a CD  along with sound, video, NIC, modem, and Direct X 8.1b.

Typically I then install windows, install 4 in 1 drivers, install direct x, install nic or video drivers, and lastly the sound drivers.

[Impaler]

burning the files to CD is a great idea, but not with the Enum trick I told you about. It will destroy the ability to read from the Secondary IDE channel until after the first reboot, and possibly the second.

Not a problem, as this driver normally loads before the 4-in-1 would be required, but something to watch out for.

Great suggestion though!

[beet1e]

XJazz, I feel your pain.

I went through all this when upgrading last time - AMD-K6-3 (450MHz) to my current AMD Athlon 1.2GHz on the A7V133 mobo.

I ended up reformatting the HDD and starting over. Best thing I could have done. Everything ran much more smoothly after that, and I was told that W98 leaves behind all sorts of rubbish when you install/uninstall things. I would reformat, then do exactly as bloom says, but I install DirectX last. I wouldn't arse around with registry settings; it's not worth it. Just restore your files when complete. Erm, you did take a back up of your data before you started, didn't you?

I don't have the knowledge that guys like Bloom/Funked/MrRipley have, but just by following the rules and tips from guys like them, I have ended up with a system that's as smooth as silk - even running W-Me - LOL! If ever you change mobo, get an Asus - designed with AMD in mind.

Two HDDs here - W2000 Pro SP3 on one, and W-Me on the other. One problem I did have was that my dialup modem (long since gone) would not work in PCI slot 1 - would cause the system to hang just as connection was being established. Had to move it to PCI2.

[Xjazz]

Thanks to everybody for your help.

But..

Asus A7V333 save my day

No more matsonic motherboard to me!

Cya in sky

[Xjazz]

PC works well...

but...

USB not at all...

Cya later...

[beet1e]

jazz!  Get your motherboard manual from the Asus website - http://www.asus.com

Hmm, I never had any trouble with USB

I had a look at your mobo manual, but all I could find was a section about jumpers to enable USB. You might want to check your board's jumpers.   Here is Page 24 of your mobo manual.

[Xjazz]

Hello!

I find out problems with older Logitech FFB Formula usb driver.

Now my new system seems running well.



Thanks to everybody