Computer freezes every time i try to install windows on it...

[Johnholio]

o k so ive got this older computer (p2 266, 96 megs ram, a bunch of old crap) and im trying to install windows98se on it to no avail. every time it goes into windows setup and locks up as soon as the 1st blue bar gets to 100%. a rectangular black box pops up, the comp beeps once, and it either locks up or shuts itself off... WTF
i know the hard drive is fine and formatted properly, i dunno wtf the problem is but no sir i dont like it ! anyone else ever had a problem like this ??? what the hell should i do ???

 

[Bunch]

I have never seen that problem myself but if it locks up at the exact same place every time is the CD you are installing from dirty or scratched? Could you try another CD?

 

[Johnholio]

not the problem. the same windows cd and hard drive work perfectly when utilized in a different computer.

 

[BreakApart]

Remove everything except the video card from your pci/isa slots, then try. (barebones install)

 

[Johnholio]

this is the weirdest crap ever
o well i just put the hd in my other comp and installed windows on it then threw it in the old one... it works fine now

 

[DaiShan]

I would run a memory tester on that machine (like memtest 86) it sounds like you may have a problem with 1 of your sticks of RAM, this might cause problems down the road as well.

 

[Cosmic_Horror]

can you install windows using a different machine.. then remove all the items in the hardware manager and transfer the har drive over and see if it detects everything?

i am not really sure how far you get thru the install phase but i had a problem installing win98 that would hang on the first boot, becuase of ide drivers. i had to install them manually thru safe mode.

see

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=32&threadid=767262
for more info

hope this helps

edit: opps didn't see you had sorted it out..