Extreme instability in Windows

Dittohead

Member
Oct 20, 2000
42
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0
Okay
I'm having a problem
Basically, I have a lot of stability problems in Windows 98 (not SE).
It's not really consistent, but it normally happens when I'm trying to connect the internet or when I'm browsing the 'net. That's really all I've been able to do though. Something that's a little more computer intensive than looking at a .txt file. I get any number of different errors; blue screen of death, error in a program, program crash, system resets itself, etc. Just about anything. I have the latest critical updates for W98. I'm assuming Windows is the problem but I guess it could be my motherboard (ABIT KT7 (with latest updates)& AMD Duron 800 mHz). I guess it could be a heat thing? Honestly, I haven't a clue. Anyone have any tips?

Oh and another thing. Something that I noticed that is consistent:
Whenever I turn on my system it boots up fine. If I'm in Windows and ctrl+alt+del or select Start>Shut Down>Restart it starts back up fine. If I shut down my computer and boot it up again (1 minute later or a day later, doesn't matter), the monitor stays black, it doesn't make the normal starting sounds and the power (and reset too I think) button doesn't work. Now since I can't restart it or shut it down, I just turn off the power. Then I turn the power back on and start it up and it starts normally. If I were to shut it down again it would not work starting up but I could get it to work by shutting down and starting again. Does that make any sense? So booting up: works, doesn't work, works, doesn't work, works
Always uniform. Also, if I press the reset button from Windows or whatever, it doesn't boot up right but then boots up fine the second time. So I'm shutting the power on and off constantly. Anyone have any ideas about that?

Thanks
 

subhuman

Senior member
Aug 24, 2000
956
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>>Basically, I have a lot of stability problems in Windows 98 (not SE).

That's (part of) the problem -- standard 98 has lots of bugs, issues, and problems. I strongly suggest you do a clean install of Windows98SE (not ME!) it's just much more stable.

Finally, what you're experiencing could be an IRQ conflict. Download SiSoft Sandra (go to google.com and type "SiSoft Sandra") and click on the IRQ list to see if your network card is sharing an IRQ with your mouse or video card or something else it's not supposed to.