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Windows 98 SE lags on Averatec 5100 Laptop

T

tpgb12

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Not sure how "vintage" this is to you guys, but this is probably the best place to ask about this.

So, basically, I installed Windows 98 SE on my Averatec 5100 from 2003 along with the video, sound, and chipset drivers (idc about the internet.) The issue is that quite often the performance of the entire system lags at random times or when (let's say during an installer) files are being accessed/transfered. The mouse pointer starts to barely move, sound stutters very badly, then it all goes back to normal for a little bit and back to lag again. Some system sounds are oddly cut off, too. Any ideas? I know for sure this system is capable of running Win98 perfectly, because I did so back in 2010 or so, but the drivers have become such a pain in the ass since Averatec's driver site shut down. Thanks.
 
Check device manager and make sure the IDE controllers are not showing up with a warning. Also, look at the system performance tab to see if it has any warnings.

If you are stuck in compatibility mode, the hard drives will be slow and will eat up a lot of CPU time.

What other programs are you running? If many of the them are towards the end of Win98 support, they may need considerably more RAM than a typical laptop of the time provided.

Are any special updates like those unofficial service packs installed?
 
I'd be suspicious of hard drive read errors, the type where it retries a few times yet succeeds. Check the SMART status if possible. I'd either boot a Linux CD on the computer or connect the hard drive to a linux system and "dd" the contents of the drive back to itself, that refreshes the contents and forces any weak sectors to remap.
 
The laptop has 256mb of RAM. It did have 512mb, but I downgraded it to check if that was the problem and it wasn't. I probably should mention the specs, too.

Intel Pentium M/Centrino Processor 1300MHz
Realtek AC'97 Audio
Intel(R) 82852/82855 GM/GME Graphics
40GB (Hitachi?) IDE Laptop HDD
256mb RAM downgraded from 512, as said before.

Also, I feel like mentioning that this does also happen when not much disk activity is taking place. Literally the only thing I've installed other than the drivers and the OS (obviously) is the PC game, Tomcat Alley. Also, I doubt it's the hard drive that's the issue because just a few days ago I had XP on it and it ran fine.
 
krebizfan said:
Check device manager and make sure the IDE controllers are not showing up with a warning. Also, look at the system performance tab to see if it has any warnings.

If you are stuck in compatibility mode, the hard drives will be slow and will eat up a lot of CPU time.

What other programs are you running? If many of the them are towards the end of Win98 support, they may need considerably more RAM than a typical laptop of the time provided.

Are any special updates like those unofficial service packs installed?
Click to expand...

Ahh yes, MS-DOS compatibility mode, I can't stress this enough. It was the bane of my Packard Bell, you could NOT fix it.. They even gave us a BIOS update floppy in the mail that bricked the machine. Lovely. Another story for another time, but yea, THAT will really lag your machine.
 
tpgb12 said:
I do have the chipset drivers installed. I did notice this under Device Manager...

View attachment 40488
Click to expand...

Is there any note under the Performance tab there? That is a symptom that the system is running in compatibility mode which might be caused by having the wrong chipset drivers or some DOS program intercepting the hard drive calls.
 
Probably not the issue here, but search the registry for the string "badide" and remove any references to it. That can crop up in some odd instances when Windows thinks the IDE controller is not working properly and then the setting sticks even after the actual problem is corrected.
 
Strangely, the warning on Primary IDE controller is gone and now it says it's working properly. I also enabled DMA on the HDD and both controllers at once and it's not lagging nearly as much, but it's still not perfect with some sounds getting cut off and occasional lag occurring. I have three warnings left (the PCI Card one mainly intriguing me) and for some reason the IDE drive is determined as generic, but I remember in XP it saying the name of the drive in Device Manager...

IMG_5348.jpgIMG_5346.jpg
 
Also, is there any way to get USB storage to work properly in Win98? I plug a USB floppy drive in, and while it shows up in My Computer, it won't read any files, and if you plug a flash drive in it Windows hangs on bootup. The driver I used for XP nor the 98 Mass Storage driver didn't work.
 
tpgb12 said:
Also, is there any way to get USB storage to work properly in Win98? I plug a USB floppy drive in, and while it shows up in My Computer, it won't read any files, and if you plug a flash drive in it Windows hangs on bootup. The driver I used for XP nor the 98 Mass Storage driver didn't work.
Click to expand...
Seems strange. http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/usbmsd98.php What version of win98 are you running?
 
Windows doesn't react at all when inserting the flash drive while already booted. This is the only thing that was wrong when I did have this computer working without the lag issue.
Also, the flash drive and floppy drives actually work fine in Command Prompt mode, but don't work in Windows.
 
*bump*

This issue with lag sadly still exists... That's mainly what I care about fixing. Any other ideas or does anyone have a different copy of the chipset drivers to this laptop to see if that's the issue?
 
Google "USB Win98". There are USB drivers for both Win95 and Win98 available. As for lag, try disabling things you don't need or aren't identified properly in device manager. If that speeds things up, add them back one at a time until the problem reoccurs.
 
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