Dell Dimension XPS B1000r

[123456]

Well, here are my specs:
1GHz PIII 384mb RAM
64mb nVidia GeForce Ti4200
Creative SB AWE64 ISA
Turtle Beach Montego II (Vortex AU8830)
Windows 98 on 8.5GB FAT32
Windows XP Pro on 60GB NTFS (2nd hd)

XP takes 25 seconds to boot. How it does that is beyond me, it's incredibly fast and boots much faster than the other systems which are all over 2.4GHz.

Problem: 98 takes about 2-3 minutes to boot.
Here's a boot log.

Time Duration Device
8:48:22 0.28 Dynamic load device NVCORE.VXD
8:48:22 0.33 Dynamic load success NVCORE.VXD
8:48:24 0.39 Initing drvwppqt.vxd
8:48:25 0.39 Dynamic load success dsound.vxd
8:48:19 0.44 Initing esdi_506.pdr
8:48:23 0.44 Dynamic load success C:\WIN98\system\serial.vxd
8:48:29 0.83 Dynamic load success au30sbfm.vxd
8:47:52 0.89 DEVICEINITSUCCESS = VMOUSE
8:47:47 1.00 Loading Vxd = C:\WIN98\SMARTDRV.EXE
8:48:18 1.33 Initing esdi_506.pdr
8:48:20 1.78 Initing drvwq117.vxd
8:47:45 2.11 C:\WIN98\AU30DOS.COM[0008B24F] starting
8:48:25 3.39 Dynamic load success au30core.vxd
8:47:53 24.28 Dynamic load success vnbt.386
8:48:30 27.78 Dynamic load success dsound.vxd

[jlreich]

Is 98 on an old drive? Probably 4200RPM? If so that would account for at least some of the extra time it takes to boot.

Is XP on a newer drive, maybe 7200RPM? Fresh lean install with little programs installed?

[123456]

Both are 7200RPM. XP actually has a lot of software installed.
I found out the problem. Since it is not connected to the internet, the vnbt.386 file was searching for a DHCP thingie, so I disabled the network adapter. Then I upgraded to DX9 from 8.1. Boots in about 45 seconds now.

[mjc]

In 9x, one of the first things to look for when trying to solve long boot times is networking issues. Some of the default timeouts are 60 seconds or more, and it will sit and wait for that timeout to occur before finishing the boot process...

[123456]

I'm also thinking instead of using this as a legacy DOS system, let's make use of it's power. It's far too powerful to be used for DOS gaming and far too underpowered for today's gaming. I'll install GTA Vice City soon and I got my emulation running full speed. I noticed the RAM boost from 256mb to 384mb increased significantly WinAMP's performance, (5,800+ songs in my library).

[123456]

Runs perfect. I installed NT4 as well, and SufferWell showed me how to use NT4 on a FAT32 partition. Vice City runs full speed on 1280x1024x16.

[123456]

I just realized, this system was bought in May 1999 and the mobo, PSU, some RAM, hard drive, sound card, etc. are all original. Is this normal?

[jlreich]

Dell made good quality components at one time.

I can guarantee you won't have a Dell made in the last several years that will last that long without several components needing replaced. ;)

On a side note I replaced an old Seagate out of a customers machine a couple days ago that had instructions printed on it to install it on win95, 98, and ME. :D Yeah, it was time for it to go. :p

[123456]

Yep. Mine still has the sticker that says, "Designed for Windows 98/Windows NT4." Some things never change... :P

BTW, I'm posting from a Windows 3.11 virtual machine running IE 3.03. I'm shocked that IE hasn't crashed yet.

[123456]

Update: 98SE boots up in about 20 seconds after BIOS, around 30 seconds for XP, making it the fastest PC to boot in the house. Which is very odd, due to its age.