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Or: How I Learned That Just Because Drivers Exist Doesn't Guarantee It'll Work
So, a few days ago, the last piece of the puzzle needed to get my old Athlon 64 computer functional, a fixed storage device (SSD, to be exact) came in, meaning I could FINALLY get it operational again! As I learned, though, things aren't as easy as they seem...
My initial plan was to have a "four-tier" strategy: 1 10GB partition for Windows 98, 1 20 GB partition for Windows 2000, one 60GB partition for Windows XP (the OS it was built for), and the rest for Linux or other experimental stuff. At the last minute, though, I learned that Windows ME could work with more than 512MB of RAM, and I figured that since I probably won't do DOS, it might be worth a try, especially since unlike 98, it supports flash drives from the get-go.
So, first things first, I tried Windows ME. I had to ditch my GParted-partitioned config early on in favor of using FDISK to make the partition. After this, it installed fine... then when I booted it, it just wouldn't boot. It kept booting me back to the BIOS. Turns out, I forgot that WinME's 2GB of RAM limit also factors in the GPU RAM too. I took out one stick of RAM, and it DID boot... then it started complaining about mixing 32-bit drivers with 16-bit drivers. I tried moving on. During my struggle to install the GPU drivers, though, I ran into a show-stopping problem; I couldn't find the DVD drive at all in the OS. Turns out, the IDE drivers just flat out wouldn't work. I'm not sure if it's because I used a SATA SSD as my main boot while my DVD drive is IDE, but apparently, WinME just isn't friendly to my computer. I then tried Windows 98 SE... but surprisingly, the CD driver just wouldn't work with my DVD drive! I eventually just gave up on trying to run 98 or ME and skipped straight to Win2K...
Feeling defeated that my initial dream of running Windows 98 or ME didn't work out, I decided to skip to WIndows 2000 instead. Initially, it started smooth... but then it kept crashing during the install process and kept booting me back to the setup page. Ultimately, I figured out that not using a USB mouse fixed the issue, amusingly. After this, I installed SP4 and the necessary drivers. I still haven't figured out how to get the weird Dell Sound Blaster Audigy 2 sound card working on it, though. On XP, you could use the modded Daniel_K drivers, but no such drivers exist on Win2K. So, for now, my Windows 2000 install is left soundless. Also, I found another bizzare bug: it won't boot if you have a flash drive connected while it's booting. Otherwise, it seems fine, and once I find sound drivers for that thing, it should be no problem. (Amusingly, when making the partition for this, I miscalcualted; it actually ended up with 28 GB instead!)
This one ultimately proved to be the easiest to do. Not only did the actual install go problem-free (on a 74 GB partition, which coincidentally is the same size as second gen WD Raptor hard disks), so did installingthe drivers. (As I mentioned earlier, I used the Daniel_K drivers for the sound card here due to the weirdness of the Dell Sound Blaster Audigy 2). Besides this, I also installed the unoffical SP4 and a few utilities for XP (including the surprisingly excellent MyPal 68), and I'm surprised about how usable XP can be even in 2022! Anyways, I'm probably gonna leave this thing in XP most of the time, with a few dips into 2000 or Linux.
Well, from this experience, I learned that just because Windows 98 drivers exist for that thing doesn't mean it'll work. Also, for some reason, I can't find Windows 2000 drivers for the Dell Sound Blaster Audigy 2, despite, you know, the fact that some Dells that came with it may have had Win2K! But still, I found this to be a fun project. I might consider performing a similar experiment with a Dell Dimension 4600. Nothing is set in stone, but my plan for it is to make it a Win98 machine. Hopefully, Win98 or ME treats it better. Possible mods for this include getting a floppy drive bracket, a GPU (presumably anything from 2 to FX since those have certain GPU features missing in other cards), a Sound Blaster Live card (better for DOS since not only do native drivers exist, it has a game port!) Since this one ALSO has SATA ports, I MIGHT try to go for another SSD, but if that fails, there's always IDE to CompactFlash.