Registery Error On Boot

[imported_RobW]

I am using Windows 98SE, ABIT KT7A motherboard, and Athlon 1800+ processor. The system ran fine for years, but lately I get this problem. If the computer is physically cold, meaning when I turn it on first thing in the morning, then it boots to the desktop and I get an error from windows saying it has detected a problem with the registery and that I need to re-boot to fix it. I've never seen this problem once the computer is warm. Once it's warm, I can shut it down, turn it off, turn it back on, boot it up, and all is well.

Also, if I instead go into the BIOS when I first boot the computer in the morning and then let it sit there for five minutes before exiting the BIOS and letting it boot to the desktop, all is well.

Thinking back to what I may have changed about the time the problem started, the thing that comes to mind is that I upgraded the hard drive to a Western Digital 1200JB.

Could this be the problem? Any other ideas? Thanks!

 

[Slikkster]

Many Abit boards --this one included-- suffered from bad capacitors. Not really Abit's problem, as many manufacturers unwittingly used these bad caps. But you should inspect your capacitors.

Here's a link to a page that tells of a class action suit against Abit for bad capacitors. Your board is on the list.

Abit Class Action Suit for Bad caps.

Also, to get an idea of what to look for (even though sometimes physical inspection isn't even enough), take a look here:

Badcaps.com with pictures of boards with bad capacitors

Often times, bad caps will just look like they've succumbed to internal pressure...pushing the top up so it's curved instead of flat. I have a Soyo Dragon + board that has at least one bad cap (and sufferered from random weird errors like you have).

It becomes a cost/benefit issue as to whether it makes sense to fix the board, or just get a new one. Getting a new board in your case would probably engender more expenses for other components, so maybe the $50 would make sense.

Of course, I'm speculating that this is really your problem. But, it's a good place to start looking.

 

[daniel49]

I may be completely off base but for some reason the battery popped into my head.
It is an older machine maybe the cmos battery is just weak does it loose any time or anything? worth a shot they are not expensive.

 

[imported_RobW]

Awesome, Slikkster. Nice post. I bet you nailed it. I'll plan a time when I can send my motherboard out for repair. By the way, when I followed the links I found that the "Claim form is temporarily unavailable". Know anything about that?

And thank you, too, Daniel 49. It's a good point.