Master Boot Record

First, did you add RAM when you switched motherboards?

If you went from less than 512MB to more than 512MB, you might be running into the W98 large RAM bug.

You may need to drop down to less than 512MB,
get W98 running,
apply the fix to the system.ini file,
then add the rest of the RAM back in.

Next, what was the previous motherboard and specifically the chip-set?

Did you remove system devices from device manager prior to shutting the system down before changing motherboards?

What you likely have is a conflict between the device drivers Windows is attempting to load, and the chip-set on the motherboard.

I STRONGLY recommend that you look at the readme file for the chip-set drivers for the new motherboard and verify that W98 is supported.

If you can work past the storage driver issue, you should be able to install W98 over the old installation with no issues.

For XP, you will need to perform an "in-place upgrade".
This is a repair installation, and not from the recovery console.

While dual boot is convenient, here is what I would do:

Get a KVM switch for the system.

Get another hard drive of 20 to 40 GB.

Set up a system using the old motherboard for W98.

Set up the new motherboard and the 60 GB drive for XP.

Connect the 2 systems together using the KVM switch.

If you don't have a home network, install a USB data transfer cable, or a Crossover Network cable linking the 2 PCs together.

Now, you can hot switch between the 2 systems with no need for boot managers or other software packages. And, no need to reboot to switch the OS you are using.

You can share files and some hardware devices between the 2 systems.

You can even set up the XP system with the more stable and secure NTFS file system.

Between drives, the KVM switch, and a second case, you will be investing $100 or so (US) to create a more stable system.

Or, evaluate why you need W98 and upgrade whatever hardware or software requires W98 and instal

Thanks for quick response. Okay reson I need win98 & XP is I am sick of my son saying this certain game will no play with XP and this game will not play with 98. Decided best way to keep him off my computer was a dual system with both operating systems. Regarding other questions, No did not add more ram, had 512mg ddr, I might have booted up with 256 instead of 512.
This WinXP "in place upgrade" do you not need XP already on system to repair it. This hard drive has been formatted many times.??? What do you mean apply Fix to Sys Ini file after installing Win98?? The Motherboard I took out was an Acer do not know what model Skt478 but had a Intel 1200 (I think) CPU. It is in another computer ready for another customer. There were no devices removed from Sys Devices. BUT I did have a couple of kids playing it that morning, so you never know!!
With a KVM switch can you use one monitor??(thinking about room/space). Thank you, hope that helps.

Your new board/CPU must certainly be drawing more power than the old combo. An underpowered power supply can cause this. But first make sure the hard drive can boot properly in another PC with the 98 startup disk (just in case it got fried).

This is a bit of an aside, but you can run most Windows 98 applications on an XP box. If you right click on the shortcut to the exe and go to properties you have a compatibility tab. This will let you "run as" Windows 98 for the game.

Perhaps fixing this will help fix your overall problem of having to dual boot.

Also, with dual boot you need to have installed Windows 98 before XP. Order of operation is important. It's possible your BIOS has virus protection enabled that prevents writing to the boot sector.

-Z

Weird things are going on,can you get a corrupt bios with a new board. Asus P4S800-MX SE. Put the 60gig in an Old compaq computer, used the Maxblast disc to prepare the H/drive for win98 went through setting up fat32/formatting and sys files, rebooted and set up Win98 no problems. Then put back in new sys. Tried booting to XP disc(spk1) but said corrupt disc and could not continue. So I booted to MaxBlast disc and set up H/drive for XP, which set up NTFS and formatted. Booted to XP cd and same thing goes through formating and says corrupt disc. I then tried two other 10gig h/drives on new sys and WinXP comes up with same thing for these other two drives, corrup and can not continue. Not faulty XPdisc as tried on another computer okay. Bios reads 60gig as 63???gig. XP reads as 58642 and 58637 free, does that sound right. Tomorrow I will try 60gig on another computer and try to install XP. I always use ASUS and had no problems but last two boards, one was DOA and now packed ready to go back but now wondering about this one?? Any ideas. Thanks for comments so far. Re comment, PSU replaced last year and is 400W

Final comment, All fixed. I put the 60gig on another Asus sys and installed XP no problems. So thought must be new m/board. Cleared Cmos on new board, reset all bios settings and booted to 'C' but said could not read drive. Booted to CD drive and reinstalled XP, and all worked fine.
I thought maybe it was because I had installed the XP on another computer but that could not be why as did same thing with three different drives. So have put it down to a corrupt bios/cmos and when I cleared it must have fixed problem (I think).

This question was closed by the author

If all Else Fails - It sounds like you have a Maxtor HD since you tried Maxblast to fix MBR. That program should have a Low-Level Format option. Start over from an LLF and you will be able to recreate the MBR on the drive. Would hate to trash a 60 gigger.

Regards