Windows 98 SE guest works OK on Intel-based host, but fails on AMD-based host

[Armand Karlsen]

The guest was setup and installed on the Intel-based machine and works OK there, but when imported to my AMD-based machine will not load to desktop properly.

If I have "Enable VT-x/AMD-V" ticked under Settings/System/Acceleration, I get an error message "Windows protection error. You need to restart your computer" whether I try Normal or Safe Mode from the Windows boot menu. If VT-x/AMD-V is disabled, if I try selecting Normal mode there is no "protection error" message, but Windows still fails to load to desktop, showing just a black screen with a blinking cursor; Windows will only load to desktop in Safe Mode.

I have tried searching around online a bit and there is some mention of an old "too-fast AMD CPU" bug, but most of what I've read suggests that the bug and associated patch applied only to Windows 95 versions, and not Windows 98. Is it still the same bug, or something else; is there anything to be done or am I stuck? I'd rather not go around patching things blindly (or even diddling values in a hex editor, as one page suggested! ), so any help would be much appreciated.

[andyp73]

I think to be able to give any specific advice then we will need to see the VBox.log file from the guest in question. Boot the guest and make sure the problem occurs. Then shut the guest down (by force if necessary). zip the log file and post it.

-Andy.

[Armand Karlsen]

As requested, attached are VBox.log for when VT-x/AMD-V are enabled and disabled; I have also posted screencaps of the general startup sequence I see for each. There's also an exerpt from C:\bootlog.txt when the guest was in Safe Mode; nothing really notable, other than a load of fonts failing to load, but i think that may be due to the Safe Mode startup?

[socratis]

You have PAE and I/O APIC enabled. Why did you change the template defaults? And VT-x/AMD-V are also disabled in the templates. Maybe you should not change the defaults?

[Armand Karlsen]

I was following the guide here when I was initially setting up the guest; it suggests to enable PAE/NX, VT-x/AMD-V, and I/O APIC.

[Kurt_Aust]

Not sure if it's specific to Win 98se, but I found that the VM didn't like being transferred from my old (2008) Intel based desktop to my old (2005) AMD based laptop, it had a spat about installing the battery monitoring component, mind you that was also an old version of VirtualBox.

Have you tried clean installing Win 98se on the AMD based machine?

[Armand Karlsen]

I have tried a fresh install on the AMD machine, with VT-x/AMD-V, PAE/NX, and I/O APIC disabled, but I ran into other issues. There were more crashes in the guest OS, even a couple of crashes of the VM itself, and one really weird issue where the guest only seems to actually run/progress if I'm moving the mouse around in it!