Computer Problems With Win98se

[Draco1958]

I started having problems after I installed myspace IM. Windows explorer would go poof on boot up and IE^ would do the same. So I reloaded the comp and the problems started up before I could even finish loading the drivers for video, sound and such. Yes I know Win98SE sucks, yes I formatted the drive first but I can't afford XP so I am stuck with this. My other comp is running fine with Win98SE. I got so mad I hit the tower. I can't figure it out. I can hardly cruise the internet without IE going poof and if I let it restart it will go poof 2 or 3 times. Now it's affecting other software. AIM goes poof too, Kodak does and many others. It's weird, I usually can figure this stuff out but this time I am at a total loss. It's like the whole system is unstable and I don't know why. It even gave me problems when I ran Windows update. Anyone have a suggestion besides blowing it up?

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Are you on a cable or DSL connection? If so, are you getting them setup before anything else? And if yes, Are you installing any anti-virus first? It takes less than 30 seconds to get a virus on an unprotected PC and you don;t even have to surf the net to get infected. You only have to be connected.

If none of these are the case.. I would look at your cooling. Is the CPU fan spinning? Is the heat sink still properly seated on the CPU... some older CPU brackets are known to fail, even if noone has touched them. Socket 478 P4 brackets are known to snap for no reason at all due to over brittle plastic. Well, there is a reason.. too much fermeldahyde used in the plastic as a hardning agent combined with constantly being hot causing the plastic to loose it's tensil strength... the stress of the tension from the retention mechanism finally gets to much for the plastic and it snaps. Socket A brackets on some earlyer boards are known to do the same thing.

But if IE and then Explorer just kinda go away without an error code I would really lean toward an infection of some type.

if the CPU fan is spiing and the heat sink is still seated properly.. i would reload without any type of internet connection, then load all hardware drivers, then load an anti virus and then take it online for updates.

[Draco1958]

After installing Windows, before installing any drivers for the MB, video, lancard or anything else, when it restarts the computer for the first time with windows, windows explorer blew up, comes up wih a caused a fault in a kernel or dll file. After loading the lancard driver and I do the connect to the internet, when IE comes up before going to a page will cause a fault and if I leave the restart IE box checked, it may do it 2 or 3 times. It's weird.

[Dubh Aingeal]

Sounds like it might be a possable memory dimm/simm issue. There are tools out there that will boot up on a cd to run memory tests to tell you. I had issues like that with a laptop and couldn't figure out the issues until I used it. I'll see if I can dig up a link for you. If anything it will help you remove a potential piece of hardware from the possable cause of the issue.

Might also want to think about looking for a hard drive scanner to rule out possably bad sectors on the hard drive. Something similar to spinrite would let you know if the drive might be going bad or has some bad sectors on it. Just one more piece of hardware that can cause random annoyances that aren't always one of the first things you would look at.

Edit: Just found a all in one bootable cd that would give you everything I talked about above as well as some other tools.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Right on Dubh, i was just going to post about possible hard drive problems or memory. But I was going a different angle on the memory. 98SE is ram issues on install. It wont install at all on a machine with over 512mb of ram. From 256 to 512 of ram can also cause problems... it causes problems somethign like this. The fix is to remove enough ram to leave you with 128 during the install... and replace the ram afterwards. There is a Knowlege base article about this problem. They admit to the above 512 part but not the 256 to 512 problem. It doesn't effect every pc though. depends on the mother board.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

There was a knowledge base artical about it. This new 98 Solution center is retarded.