I to shall call forth the Justice League! (another computer problem)

[Captain Red]

My computer is way to unstable. Almost every program I run will crash if I use it long enough (witch is usually less then an hour). The crashes seem to be getting more and more regular. Hell, it even crashes in safe mode, which scares the shit out of me. Programs will just keep crashing until the computer just locks up. Now, I run scandisk more times then I’d care to tell (with no serious errors), cleaned the registry, de-fragmented the hard drive, format+reinstall windows a couple of times… after all of that, crashes are less frequent, but will start up again soon after.

I think it started when I was trying to install a internet service and under the instructions of a technical support, I took the network card out and put it back in again. I know it changed something in bios, but I don’t know what. Ever since then it’s been acting up.

Operating system: windows 98 (not 98SE)
DirectX: 8.0
Graphics card: GeForce MX400
Speed: 533mhz
RAM: 256mb
2 hard drives (Primary has about 6 gig, secondary has about 8 gig)

any help?

PS sorry that this isn't written as well as DAs.

[Opulent]

Could be a virus... but hard to tell from what you said.
if you purge your boot-sector and disks(or even use a newly purchased hard drive, then install windows(that you know is clean)... the problem should go away.
fdisk /MBR will usually do the trick, but no guarantees there if it is a certain type of virus.
win98 has less protection and is less stable the 98SE... at least OOB.
could be a bad(poorly written) hardware device driver.
There are diagnostics that can be run to identify crashes on 98.
after re-reading your post, I think the cause is a hardware failure -- like a crossed motherboard pathway or something... perhaps some plastic part of your pc has worn away and is grounding sometimes....
lastly, if your fan is not working, or there is not proper ventilation/cooling your processor will halt.
that was a lot of words to say "I don't know"
good luck.

[gatewatcher]

Ct_red_pants said:

PS sorry that this isn't written as well as DAs.

You think that was well written?

[Captain Red]

Heck no. I know it was well written.

oh and Opulent, when you say "diagnostics that can be run to identify crashes on 98." uh, I don't serppose you can think of any?

[Bloodshedder]

Install Windows 2000.

[Captain Red]

Opulent said:
...
lastly, if your fan is not working, or there is not proper ventilation/cooling your processor will halt.

You might be on to something there. I'm in the middle of a heat wave ATM (southern hemisphere) and it doesn’t seem to crash as often at night. Is their a way to check if the fan is working without opening up the computer?

[-Jk-]

Win 98 First Edition is known to be VERY buggy. You should at least update to 98SE. I think there's a service pack for this.

[DEMOn]

Ct_red_pants said:

when you say "diagnostics that can be run to identify crashes on 98." uh, I don't suppose you can think of any?

http://www.toejumper.net/newsletters/newsletter11.htm
http://www.toejumper.net/rescue3/sharedisk.htm
just a start...
I can't imagine that it fails after a re-install(unless it is your fan or a failing powersupply).
if you fdisk \MBR, reformat, re-install ONLY windows98(nothing else). does it still crash.

[Dark Fox]

Bad memory?

Try clearing the Cmos

[Sephiroth]

well ruleing out a virus or spyware damage. i say it is time for a reinstall. when i was useing wondows i did this about every 6 months, 30 minute reinstall is a hell of a lot easier than a few hours in the registry. even more so if there is spyware and virus damage.

ideas.
i plan any window system for a reinstall on first install. i make a small partion for windows. usally 2 GB to 10 GB. the rest is for backups, games and other stuff. then i make a 2 GB partion at the end, just for swap memmory.

also scan disk and defrag offten, solves alot of issues.
dont use "junk" software, thinks like kazaa. not only do they have spyware but it is fairly easy to get infected by viruses.


ALSO! in boot up time keep the system try clean, only virus scan and firewall should be down there. aim and such dont need to be running when not in use. get rid of them in thier settings or by running msconfig

[Borgod]

i dont know dude

[Captain Red]

Dark Fox said:
Bad memory?

Try clearing the Cmos

uhh, what's Cmos?

[Dark Fox]

Ct_red_pants said:

uhh, what's Cmos?

Cmos is also known as a Bios.