Win 98SE freezes on new P4/1.7GHz/512MB Ram

[brunsr]

My system setup:

Pentium 4/1.7GHz/512MB SDRAM, Asus P4B motherboard, 300W power supply, slots:

AGP - ATI Radeon All-In-Wonder
PCI 1 - empty
PCI 2 - SB Live! MP3+ 5.1
PCI 3 - USR Faxmodem 56K
PCI 4 - 3Com 10/100 NIC
PCI 5 - empty
PCI 6 - empty
disabled onboard audio on motherboard by moving jumper

Formatted the hard drive and installed Win98SE with no errors. System comes up in 640x480 mode. Install video drivers and switch to 1152x864. Install modem drivers. Now whenever I boot the PC, the system will run for about 2-3 minutes and then do one of the following: 1) lock up completely (mouse still moves but entire screen is frozen); 2) screen will go blank and monitor goes into offline mode (but computer is still running); 3) screen will get suddenly very bright and freeze. Keyboard totally inactive, only way to get out is hard boot. No PCI interrupt conflicts present when I look at each device. BIOS settings seem to be correct.

This is my brand-new computer I've been trying to get up and running for several weeks with no success. Am I missing something?

Any help appreciated!!

Randy B

 

[ngagne]

Have you downloaded the latest drivers from ATI? I think they are no more than 2 weeks old.

Nate Gagne
ngagne@numa-inc.com

Like my post? Let me know it was helpful!

 

[TulsaJeff]

http://support.ati.com/products/pc/...&cboProducts=ALL+IN+WONDER+RADEON&cmdNext=GO!

Ya' Gotta Love It!

 

[cdogg]

Could be an overheating problem or possibly a memory issue. Win98 doesn't always run well with more than 320 MB of RAM. Even if you get it to work with that much RAM, it will actually run slower than if it had 256 MB.

You can also try pulling out your PCI cards one at a time until you find the culprit. If that doesn't prove anything, then it has to be one of the main components (CPU, RAM, AGP card, Power Supply, or Mobo)

 

[Gouverneur]

This is a wild guess, but seems pertinent.

On many systems, the second PCI slot shares an interrupt with the IDE controller for your disks. If the card in that slot is not designed to share an interrupt, there can be problems. If nothing else, it could slow your hard drives down a bit. Since you have more than on unused slot, why not plug the sound card into slot 5 or 6 (better than 1, I think).

Your motherboard manual might have some information on this. Mine does, but I did not notice it until I had a problem. Eschew obfuscation!
If one hundred million people believe a foolish idea, it is still a foolish idea!