Win98SE Installation on Dell Dimension 3100

[spamdude1992]

Hey everyone, I'm new here and stuff, mild experience with computers and software. I'm a fan of legacy computing, and I love older games, along with last-gen 2000's games, which are what I grew up with. Anyways, my mother brought a computer home from work a while ago, a Dell Dimension 3100. The specifics are as follows:
RAM: 1GB (2x512, I think DDR2)
CPU: Intel Pentium 4, ~3.06GHz, hyperthreading is optional.
Sound/Video: Integrated, Intel HDA
Connectors: 1xVGA only, no PS/2 ports, only USB, integrated networking.
I'm only using what came with the computer now, the only chip in it was an internal 56k modem I removed.

My problem here is installing Windows 98SE. It installs on this computer, but it hangs on the Windows splash screen (clouds and stuff, Win98 logo). I'm running Windows 7 on it now, but I'd like to re-install Windows 98 ASAP. Can anyone help? It boots up into safe mode fine.

Note: When it hung on that screen, I left it for over 24 hours and it was still hanging.

 

[PhilFrisbie]

Windows 98 chokes on more than 512MB of RAM. Remove one stick of memory and that problem will be solved. Then you just need to search for drivers. . .

 

[spamdude1992]

I tried that once, but the same problem arose. It could have been due to the fact that I might not have reinstalled Windows after the RAM change. I've also heard that Windows 98 doesn't support Pentium 4.

 

[PhilFrisbie]

Oh yes, the too-fast-CPU problem! Windows 98 will not boot with a CPU that is clocked over 2.1 Ghz.

 

[spamdude1992]

Ah... so that explains it. It was 3 GHz.

 

[spamdude1992]

Best answer selected by spamdude1992.

 

[PhilFrisbie]

You can still run Win98 in a virtual machine on your computer if you disable hardware acceleration so that the emulated CPU speed is not above 2.1Ghz.

Or, you might be able to under-clock that CPU, and that will reduce the power usage also 😉