Windows 98SE
1.7 GHz Pentium 4
256 RAM
28+GB Hard-drive (mostly empty)
I was having problems with various games, which didn’t seem to be supported by my graphics adapter. One said it wasn’t compatible, one just booted me to Windows when I tried to play it, another one said there wasn’t enough video memory. The video card has three to four times as much memory then the system requirements. I figured I needed to update my driver for the adapter. Since the computer isn’t connected to the Internet, I gathered the following information on the adapter:
All-in-Wonder Pro PCI (English)
Manufacturer: ATI Tech-Enhanced
Chip Type: Mach64: Rage Pro
DAC Type: Internal
Features: Direct Draw 1.00
Software Version: 4.00
Current Files: ati2drae.drv, *vdd, *vflatd, atidvxae.vxd, atid32a
I went to the manufacturer’s site (www.ati.com) and found a driver at the following site:
(http://www.ati.com/s...n98drivers.html)
("Alternate Driver - 4.13.1.2655"
which I at least thought was the right one. It said it was for Windows ME, Windows 98, and Windows 98SE. (In the file itself, during the installation period, it says it’s for Windows ME, but make no mention of Windows 98, or Windows 98 SE.) I downloaded it, and since the computer is not connected to the Internet, I burned the download onto a CD-RW. I then put it on the computer I wished to update the driver on, and followed the instructions it contained. I first uninstalled “ATI Display Driver” from the Control Panel’s Add/Remove Program as they specifically instructed. I restarted the computer (as instructed) and installed the driver. Then once again I restarted the computer as they instructed.
During startup I got the following message on a black screen: “Windows Protection Error. You must restart your computer.” Every time I restarted it in Normal Mode it gave me the same message and could not complete startup. I then restarted it in Safe Mode. I right-clicked on My Computer and clicked Properties. In the System Properties window that came up I clicked the Device Manager tab. I “expanded” the “Sound, video, and game controllers.” I disabled all the items listed, and then rebooted. This time It successfully rebooted in Normal Mode. While some programs would work, no games would work, not even ones that would run before. So while still in Normal Mode, I enabled each item under “Sound, video, and game controllers” one by one, hoping to find which one was the problem, Windows has rebooted correctly when I disabled them. I was able to enable all but a hand full of the options listed. (All the items I had disable didn’t appear in Normal Mode, but those that I did I re-enabled except for those to be listed in the following. The other items do show up in Safe Mode however.) The following items would not allow me to enable them. They would freeze the computer whenever I tried:
ATI WDM AV Crossbar
ATI WDM Bt829 Pro Video Capture
ATI WDM TV Audio
Microsoft Kernel Audio Mixer
Microsoft Kernel GS Wave table Synthesizer
I selected each of the above five listed items, and clicked “remove,” thinking that if I did that the drivers would reload after restarting Windows. When I restarted Windows it gave me the following message just before when it usually will load up the desktop and menu bar:
New Hardware Found (title of window)
ATI WDM Bt829 Pro Video Capture
Windows is installing the software for your new hardware.
While this window made it seem that Windows was reloading the drivers, it froze at that point and did nothing. I left it for five hours and it still did nothing. I restarted the computer and now it sticks at the screen where it says “Windows 98.” It just sits there as though Windows is still loading. I am able to restart in Safe Mode, but when ever I restart in Normal Mode, it freezes at the “Windows 98” screen.
What’s going on, and what can I do?