Explorer crashes & cant enter setup [del] or safe mode

[wigz]

A friend has given me their computer to tune up.
I know its not much, but its a Intel Celeron 400, running w98 with 24mb ram.
I have had problems with the modem, my friend uses AOL and just wants to use her computer to surf. The modem keeps getting No carrier signal responses, and dissconnects after minutes.
Anyway, that isnt really the problem.
I tried to disable the onboard modem using the proper jumpers, so I could try another modem on the PCI slot.
The motherboard is a p100 System board (slot1/socket 370)
but It didnt work, ..
Now every time I boot the PC up, the DOS boot screens come up, but I cant bring up the CMOS/BIOS - pressing [del] does nothing.
I cant even get it booted up in safe mode neither.

The w98 boot logo shows up, but on the first screen of the desktop loading gives me a 'busy' mouse pointer, then the error box:
Explorer has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down.

I cant even get to DOS to reformat. It wont accept a startup floppy disk.

I dont know what to do...any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

 

[tlcscousin]

Change the jumpers back.
Get the manual find out which key combination enters BIOS setup disable modem in BIOS if possible.
Not all motherboards use the del key to enter bios.Some use F1 some use ctrl+alt+enter, different key strokes for different manufacturers.