Windows 98SE Protection Error

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
A-lime
Posts: 5
Joined: 2. Oct 2017, 21:06

Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by A-lime »

Hello to All,
I was trying to setup and run a Windows 98 Guest in a Windows 7 Host, and i was following the extremely helpful tutorial (Windows 98SE step by step) made by Kurt_Aust.

During one of the steps to properly install the win98, which was to install SciTech's Display Doctor and then configure it, I ran into a problem after these specific steps:
[...]
  1. Choose Monitor Model - (Standard monitor types) - Super VGA 1600x1200
  2. Click Display Driver then change Active Driver to SciTech Nucleus Driver and reboot
After changing the video driver and rebooting, the Windows 98 will run into the "Windows protection error. You need to restart your computer" problem.
The system starts normally if I run it with Safe Mode, but will run into the same problem if I restart it again (and choosing Normal Mode).

I've already restored a snapshot and reinstalled SciTech's Display Doctor, but the same error will happen. Just in case, here's my host computer specs:

Windows 7 Home Premium 64x Bit;
AMD Athlon(tm) II P340 Dual-Core Processor 2.20 GHz;
2.00 GB RAM;
VirtualBox VM 4.3.40 r110317 win.amd64;
AMD-V enabled in the BIOS.

I've also attached the BOOTLOG.txt file that the Win98 guest can generate during startup. I'm sincerely clueless on what to do.

If you made it this far, Thank you for your attention!
(sorry for any spelling mistakes)
(If this is at the wrong topic section, please tell me so I can change it)
Attachments
VBox_log_files.7z
The Virtual Machine guest log files
(39.17 KiB) Downloaded 60 times
BOOTLOG.TXT
File generated by starting up the system with the "Create boot log" option enabled. (Generated with the Windows Protection Error still active)
(61.83 KiB) Downloaded 78 times
Last edited by A-lime on 4. Oct 2017, 20:40, edited 5 times in total.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by socratis »

We have a couple of tutorials here as well that might help you:
- Windows 98SE step by step
- Tutorial: Windows 95/98 guest OSes
- Win98SE with ACPI - Success At Last!
- Windows 98
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
Kurt_Aust
Posts: 37
Joined: 10. Apr 2009, 04:48
Primary OS: MS Windows 2003
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP x64, W2K, 98se

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by Kurt_Aust »

I've never encountered that problem, mind you the only AMD processor based system I have is in my old 2005 laptop which doesn't have AMD-V.

Still as over 12,000 people have used the guide without reporting such a glitch, it seems likely that the problem is some configuration issue at your end.

Note the minimum information needed for assistance (viewtopic.php?f=24&t=48476) but just off the top of my head:
1. Which version of VirtualBox are you using?
2. Is AMD-V enabled in BIOS?
A-lime
Posts: 5
Joined: 2. Oct 2017, 21:06

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by A-lime »

Hey, I'm really really sorry for not posting the minimum information, i've provided the log file as an attachment to the original post.

Answering your questions;
Kurt_Aust wrote: 1. Which version of VirtualBox are you using?
I'm currently using the VirtualBox VM 4.3.40 r110317 win.amd64
As stated to do so in the tutorial.
Kurt_Aust wrote: 2. Is AMD-V enabled in BIOS?
Yes, I've enabled it even before trying to install windows 98 on the virtual machine.

I've tried to install the SciTech's display driver manually using the device manager on win98, however, it did "install", but it didn't work. I had to go to the Display Doctor menu, and activate it there, which would result in the same error as before, except it would freeze during restart and leave everything back at the starting point.
I'm really clueless on what to do :( It's probably going to be some configuration issue or an actual hardware one, but I cant seem to find it.

Again, sorry for not posting the minimum information.
Kurt_Aust
Posts: 37
Joined: 10. Apr 2009, 04:48
Primary OS: MS Windows 2003
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP x64, W2K, 98se

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by Kurt_Aust »

Have you tried doing it a second time from a clean start? By that I mean going through it again right from the top with a new, clean virtual disk.

I've found that the Win 98se install process can occasionally throw a weird glitch early in the process and even if it seems to have recovered/proceeded OK, you'll hit increasing problems the further down the line you go.
Last edited by Kurt_Aust on 6. Oct 2017, 22:23, edited 1 time in total.
A-lime
Posts: 5
Joined: 2. Oct 2017, 21:06

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by A-lime »

Kurt_Aust wrote:Have you tried doing it a second time from a clean start? [...] with a new, clean virtual disk.


I did a few times but without making a new virtual disk, but i'll try it. I'll post the results here after so :)
A-lime
Posts: 5
Joined: 2. Oct 2017, 21:06

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by A-lime »

A-lime wrote:Have you tried doing it a second time from a clean start? [...] with a new, clean virtual disk.
Well, I did it 3 times, 2 with a fresh new virtual disk file, and 1 with a dynamic allocated disk.

None of them worked, results into the same problem, even in the same place after those steps. Could it be an actual hardware issue of the host PC?

I'm thinking of creating the VM in another computer and then exporting, it seems like one of the few viable solutions right now :|
Kurt_Aust
Posts: 37
Joined: 10. Apr 2009, 04:48
Primary OS: MS Windows 2003
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: XP x64, W2K, 98se

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by Kurt_Aust »

A-lime wrote:Could it be an actual hardware issue of the host PC?
It most certainly can be, the reason that using version 4.3.40 is recommended is that when VirtualBox went to v5.x.x, while I could install Win98se on my old Core 2 Quad (Q9450) based system without issue, it always failed when I tried to do so on my new Hawell-E (i7-5930K) based system and even after transferring a working 98se VM across it only booted successfully about half the time (it was fine once it was up and running though).

Now the near current v5.1.26 (5.1.28 has some regressions) seems to work quite well, the only problem being that there is one more step in installing the display driver:

Change Display Properties - Settings to 256 Colors - 1024 by 768 pixels and reboot
Windows will hang on startup, force a restart in normal mode
If you get a one dimensional screen (say 1024 x 1 pixels), then force an ACPI shutdown (Host+H)
Change Display Settings to True Color (32 bit) and either 1152x864 or 1280x1024 pixels

I'd suggest giving it a go using v5.1.26 and seeing if that works, once VirtualBox v5.1.x finally shows up in the repositories of the Ubuntu family of Linux distributions then I'll update this post to using the v5.1.x series.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by mpack »

Win98SE is working just fine for me using VirtualBox v5.1.28 on a Win10 host running on an i7-6700 CPU (Skylake). The screenshot below shows my 1280x1024x32bpp VESA graphics display (BearWindows driver).

I've had this VM for several years, and it's one of my standard VMs I use to test new VBox versions, so I know it also worked on all the intermediate versions between 4.x.x and now. My Win10 host is quite new. Before working perfectly on that, it worked perfectly on a 2008-era Core 2 duo running XP as the host OS.

All of which is my way of saying that I do not recognize this alleged special (in)compatibility with Win98SE from any version of VirtualBox.
Attachments
Win98.png
Win98.png (17.69 KiB) Viewed 26541 times
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by socratis »

I can report that Win98 runs fine with 5.1.28 and 5.2.0rc1, 1280x1024 with the SciTech Display Doctor, on a 10.11.6 OSX host powered by a i7-4870HQ.

Maybe you could try to fake your CPU? There are several CPU profiles that you could try out, of course while shutting down/booting your VM in between the changes:
  • 
    VBoxManage modifyvm "<VM name>" --cpu-profile "Intel Xeon X5482 3.20GHz"
    VBoxManage modifyvm "<VM name>" --cpu-profile "Intel Core i7-2635QM"
    VBoxManage modifyvm "<VM name>" --cpu-profile "Intel Core i7-3960X"
    VBoxManage modifyvm "<VM name>" --cpu-profile "Intel Core i5-3570"
    VBoxManage modifyvm "<VM name>" --cpu-profile "Intel Core i7-5600U"
    VBoxManage modifyvm "<VM name>" --cpu-profile "Intel Core i7-6700K"
    
Just for reference, here are some more details:
CPU                   Date     Class      Family
--------------------------------------------------------
Xeon X5482 3.20GHz    Q4'07    Server     Harpertown
Core i7-2635QM        Q1'11    Mobile     Sandy Bridge
Core i7-3960X         Q4'11    Desktop    Sandy Bridge E
Core i5-3570          Q2'12    Desktop    Ivy Bridge
Core i7-5600U         Q1'15    Mobile     Broadwell
Core i7-6700K         Q3'15    Desktop    Skylake
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
A-lime
Posts: 5
Joined: 2. Oct 2017, 21:06

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by A-lime »

Kurt_Aust wrote: I'd suggest giving it a go using v5.1.26 and seeing if that works, [...]
I took your suggestion and upgraded the VirtualBox to 5.1.26, and well... Just doing so didn't work (same problem), but, I took socratis' suggestion:
socratis wrote: Maybe you could try to fake your CPU? [...]
  • VBoxManage modifyvm "<VM name>" --cpu-profile "Intel Core i5-3570"
I chose the Intel Core i5 for no particular reason, and it worked wonders! I guess this could be a processor problem then, since with my real one it wouldn't work. I've proceeded with the step-by-step from that darned point and just got amazingly one error (which is that firefox is crashing when opening a page, hehe) and so far it has been working really well.

Thanks for everyone who took their time to reply to this thread :D :D
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by mpack »

Win98SE has no idea what an i5 is (a CPU from its far future), so I rather doubt that telling it you have one was the real solution.
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by socratis »

There may be some features/instruction in the newest CPUs that Win98 doesn't like, but it may work with the previous generation of CPUs and mainly the family. I know for a fact that my 10.5 and 10.6 OSX guests will kernel panic during boot if I go at them as is with my real CPU (i7-4870HQ of the "Crystal Well" family). If I modify the CPU to an i7-6700K (the newest of them all, Skylake) the guests are happy as clams. I didn't have to apply that trick with my previous i7-2820QM (Sandy Bridge).

Expect that trick to be required more and more for older guests as the hardware moves forward.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
mascondante
Posts: 2
Joined: 21. Aug 2014, 23:55

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by mascondante »

In case anyone else has this issue I'm adding my +1 that changing to an i5 (for whatever weird reason) does work for my AMD machine as well. Worth trying if anyone else is stuck. Thank you @socratis
Muilisx
Posts: 3
Joined: 5. Feb 2019, 06:12

Re: Windows 98SE Protection Error

Post by Muilisx »

Greetings,

I'm running into the same issue. I would like to try the

"VBoxManage modifyvm "<VM name>" --cpu-profile "Intel Core i5-3570""

However, I do not know where to go to do this? Can someone please enlighten me?

Thanks!
Post Reply