Windows 98 Dual Monitor Setup: Restoring a Retro 1998 Celeron PC
After the heartbreak of losing my Studioworks 775C, the basement started to feel a bit too quiet. I have a lot of standard grey frame LCD monitors from the early 2000s, so I decided to use a couple of them to replace the CRT with some dignity.
While digging through some boxes, I came across an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 card. While 256MB of VRAM may seem overkill for Windows 98, I decided to take the "overkill" philosophy for the whole project. It was the moment I found a white IDE high-speed LG DVD-RW 48x Writer & Player in a random box that I started thinking of a whole restoration.
GeForce FX 5500 and LG DVD drive
Original Specs Before the Project
Intel Celeron 300MHz (slot type)
64MB RAM
30GB HDD
Daytona Trio 3D GPU
Sound Blaster
Broken Samsung CD Player
The Upgrade Process
I started by removing the old Daytona Trio 3D to fit the GeForce FX 5500, then installed new RAM sticks for a total of 128MB. I swapped the broken Samsung CD Player with the LG DVD-RW (despite being from 2004, it has a white faceplate), added a standard CD Player to protect the LG laser when writing is not necessary, and fixed the floppy drive connections.
I plugged everything in following this configuration:
IDE 1: HDD [MASTER] + CD PLAYER [SLAVE]
IDE 2: LG DVD [MASTER]
For some reason, putting the LG in Master caused Windows 98 to constantly report the drive as not ready. Plugging a SLAVE drive into IDE 2 fixed the issue. One wrong jumper and the whole system freaks out.
Then the CD Player started randomly not being recognised by the system, not even in BIOS. I temporarily swapped in a standard LG black faceplate CD Player until I find a white one. Current working configuration:
IDE 1: HDD [MASTER]
IDE 2: LG BLACK CD PLAYER [SLAVE]
Installing Windows 98
I burned a bootable Windows 98 CD to install the OS. My copy is a RETAIL version and only OEM copies are bootable without DOS already on the hard drive. The install went smooth as butter, taking about 45 minutes.
aaaand SUCCESS! Success! A Windows 98 Celeron on Dual monitor!
I have then spent the next 8 hours swapping the white faceplate of the not working LG DVD drive to the working black one, requiring me to cut some structural plastic parts inside and soldering a new led to fit the mismatched hole position. The result is very nice and no one will ever notice it was ever opened until they actually open it!
While digging through some boxes, I came across an NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 card. While 256MB of VRAM may seem overkill for Windows 98, I decided to take the "overkill" philosophy for the whole project. It was the moment I found a white IDE high-speed LG DVD-RW 48x Writer & Player in a random box that I started thinking of a whole restoration.
GeForce FX 5500 and LG DVD drive
Original Specs Before the Project
Intel Celeron 300MHz (slot type)
64MB RAM
30GB HDD
Daytona Trio 3D GPU
Sound Blaster
Broken Samsung CD Player
The Upgrade Process
I started by removing the old Daytona Trio 3D to fit the GeForce FX 5500, then installed new RAM sticks for a total of 128MB. I swapped the broken Samsung CD Player with the LG DVD-RW (despite being from 2004, it has a white faceplate), added a standard CD Player to protect the LG laser when writing is not necessary, and fixed the floppy drive connections.
I plugged everything in following this configuration:
IDE 1: HDD [MASTER] + CD PLAYER [SLAVE]
IDE 2: LG DVD [MASTER]
For some reason, putting the LG in Master caused Windows 98 to constantly report the drive as not ready. Plugging a SLAVE drive into IDE 2 fixed the issue. One wrong jumper and the whole system freaks out.
Then the CD Player started randomly not being recognised by the system, not even in BIOS. I temporarily swapped in a standard LG black faceplate CD Player until I find a white one. Current working configuration:
IDE 1: HDD [MASTER]
IDE 2: LG BLACK CD PLAYER [SLAVE]
Installing Windows 98
I burned a bootable Windows 98 CD to install the OS. My copy is a RETAIL version and only OEM copies are bootable without DOS already on the hard drive. The install went smooth as butter, taking about 45 minutes.
aaaand SUCCESS! Success! A Windows 98 Celeron on Dual monitor!
I have then spent the next 8 hours swapping the white faceplate of the not working LG DVD drive to the working black one, requiring me to cut some structural plastic parts inside and soldering a new led to fit the mismatched hole position. The result is very nice and no one will ever notice it was ever opened until they actually open it!
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