PC Advice - Putting it Together

[JaXanim]

@Holley

No, there is no on-board video connector.

After installing the Permedia2 drivers, the control panel display interface allowed a maximum of 256 colours only. So the options became 256 or 16 or 2. When I set it at 256, the reboot gave the message that my display adapter wouldn't run with this setting and reverted to 16 colours.

The drivers I installed came from http://members.driverguide.com and contains the 3D Labs reference Permedia2 3D Accelerator driver. Written for Win95 but said to work well with Win98. It's the same driver I was recommended earlier. Perhaps this needs another look at?

The Hardware Wizard found no 'added' video adapters. All I get are references to the 'standard video adapter'.  I guess this wouln't be influenced by the monitor setting?

The control panel monitor interface doesn't have the exact Packaged Hell monitor I actually use, so I've messed around and got nowhere better with this bit.

I'll not look at a reinstall of the OS until/unless I really have to. Maybe I should look for an alternative Permedia2 driver?

Cheers,

JaX

[JaXanim]

@Holley

I finally seem to be homing in on the problem. I managed to add the Permedia card manually, tho' it did say afterwards that this card is a P'n'P gizmo. Whatever, it's now asking for a specific driver, which isn't on the Windows 98 CD nor in the drivers.zip I downloaded.

The required driver is:

pmedia32.dll

I can't find it on the Drivers website. Could you see if you have it? That would seem to be the answer to my problem (I hope!).

Cheers,

JaX

[JaXanim]

Friggin' PCs!

I finally managed to get all the driver files it was  looking for and installed them OK.

Then I set the display to 256 colours and allowed it to reset. But it didn't!

Now, I get the Win98 boot picture, then a blank screen with DOS message:

Sector not found reading Drive C.
Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?

Pressing A causes the machine to switch off.

What do I do now?

Could my C drive be full? It was pretty near full with all the PB dross. Now I can't get Windows to boot!

What a friggin' malarky!

Any advice before I reach for the friggin' Greecian 2000?

Cheers,

JaX

[JaXanim]

@odin

OK, I have the Win98 CD, but do I need any mobo drivers as well?

I got this old mobo courtesty of Spirantho, but there was no software with it. I read somewhere that the AGP slot, etc.,  need some software. Do I need anything other than the emergency boot floppy I created right at the start of this Journey into the Unknown...?

And when I do take the Ultimate Plunge and reformat the C drive, do I need to make any special instructions?

It's only an 850Mb drive, so will the simple 'Fdisk' command do it for me?

Cheers,

JaX



Cheers,

JaX

[JaXanim]

@Holley

Many thanks for the valuable insight to the underbelly of Windows 98!

Unfortunately, the DirectX file is around 35Mb which puts it beyond use for me. I have to download stuff to my Amiga and I can only transfer it to the PeeCee via floppies.

Just hope I can get by without it! ?
What do you reckon?

Cheers,

JaX

[JaXanim]

Hokee Dokee, maybe this will terminate this particular thread and we can all go back to doing what we enjoy most.

Anyway, I reformatted the C: drive which appeared to be full at the very moment I installed the Permedia drivers for the 3D Labs card so kindly included in by PeeCee makins kit by Spirantho. Still with me...?  OK...

There was apparently a few bad sectors on the drive, which Fdisk (I think it was) fixed very nicely.

I then reinstalled Windows98 to the clean disk. This was a most salutary experience in efficiency. I must say I was very impressed for every minute of the 45 minutes or so it took. The running commentary was not only informative, it maintained my confidence that things were OK. There were no points at which I wondered whether I'd messed up or the thing was going to hang on me. Both familiar to Amigans no doubt.

Now when the Amiga OS..X gets installed with such panash, The World may Really Know! Let's hope it gets there.

Anyway, I'm still non-plussed over the graphics drivers, but will persist till I'm satisfied I've got the best I can get from Spirantho's generosity. More than that I cannot ask and will trouble you no more on this issue.

Cheers,

JaX