Help - system dead after Win95 install restart

[HepDude]

Hi

I had successfully set up my new Duron system and was in the process of installing Windows95. It asked all the configuration questions and then restarted. Then it did a few things and then restarted again. Then ... nothing ... nothing on the screen at all. I waited a couple of minutes, and then pressed reset - still nothing - and then the power button - still nothing - and then pulled the plug. I put the plug back in, nothing! No output to the screen whatsoever. (Fans, and peripherals still work.)

The motherboard (MSI 6330) has all four LEDs showing red. Tech Support suggested clearing the CMOS. This reset the power button, which then turned on the system, which then resumed its previous status (ie power button no longer works).

Does this sound familiar?

Does a hang in Windows install make any particular problem seem likely (my thought was perhaps my BIOS was corrupted by Win95)?

Components:

MSI K7T Pro (6330)
Duron 600
AMD approved Duron fan/heatsink
Matrox G400 16MB
Maxtor Plus 20GB 7200RPM
256 (128x2) PC133 SDRAM Crucial
Creative SB Live MP3
Creative Modemblaster PCI
Linksys PCI network card
TDK Velocd CDRW
Mitsumi 4x CDROM
MS Intellimouse Explorer
MS Natural Keyboard Pro
KDS VS-195e

 

[DaddyG]

There was a problem with WIN95 and Athlons with certain mobos which caused BIOS corruption. Can't remember which mobo. Try searching the net, I'm pretty sure that here or at ARSTECHNICA there was a forum entry.

 

[HepDude]

Thanks, you're right:

<< Not sure if any of you would consider installing Win95 with a new system, but just in case, here is a word of warning. The Register is reporting that the original version of Windows 95 can cause BIOS corruption on boards that use the KX133 chipsets causing the system to be unusable. Hard to believe, but here is a link to the article....

Taiwanese motherboard manufacturer Epox has issued a warning that installing a version of Windows 95 on its Athlon 7KXA motherboard which uses a Via chipset can cause BIOS corruption. But a similar problem appears to affect other Athlon mobos using the KX133 chipset too.

According to this Epox page, installing the retail release of Windows 95 4.00.950 (Retail Release) affects the BIOS, meaning that a consumer's PC will not work next time it is rebooted. >>

This sounds like what happened.

I called MSI and the tech support rep is trying Windows 95 on a test motherboard right now as I type this.

As some may remember, I've never bothered to upgrade to Win98 on my old machine because it doesn't support USB, etc. so there was no much point to spending the $100. I instead planned to build a new PC - which is what I've done, and I planned to use Win95 until I could get WinME.

 

[SuperGroove]

Wow! That tech support rocks!

Have you figured out what the culprit it? I had something similar happen to me, but I just cleared CMOS, and reseated all my components. Worked like a charm, and humming along at 800MHZ.

Paul

 

[HepDude]

I received an email from the tech support person, and the Scandisk at the start of Win95 install is taking a long time on the HD in the test system --- still going --- so they are going to let Scandisk run and try the Win95 install on Monday.

So, I'll have to wait until Monday to find out. But, yes, that level of tech support is still much better than most! I used to use Diamond video cards, but it used to take them (literally) 3 months to respond to email questions! 🙁 Hopefully that has changed recently, but I would not know as I have not used any of their stuff recently as a result.



<< reseated all my components. >>

Did that include the CPU? I might actually try this, now that I have the whole weekend to try it!

 

[HepDude]

After reading several people mention that they had fixed the 4-red-LEDs problem by various amounts of removing and reseating, I totally uninstalled the motherboard, removed the battery, memory, and CPU, cleared the CMOS and reinstalled everything.

Still 4-red-LEDs, which I assume either means that the BIOS is toast or the CPU is toast. Since I'm using a decent AMD-approved heatsink/fan and am not o/c-ing, and barely did anything except install Win95, then all I can assume is that MSI has the same Win95a corrupts the bios problem.