scrapser

Update I ended up buying an old Gateway 700C tower off eBay. It has a socket 473 CPU and the 850 chipset. I completely dismantled the tower and all components inside, cleaned everything thoroughly (even dismantled the PSU for cleaning), put it all back together and it works famously. So now I have: Intel 1.8 gHz CPU 512 megs PC800 RAM Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 (brand new off eBay and not an OEM card) geForce 2 MX400 graphics card Monster 3D2 (Voodoo 2) 3D accelerator (glide) Gateway VX920 19" Diamondtron NF monitor (used less than a month and in pristine condition) Thanks to all who have given me what help they could.

Thanks for posting those links. After doing some extensive research I have found only two other forums/threads where the owner discusses installing Win98 on the nF4 Ultra-D board. In one case, the owner asks as I did about the slow start up at the splash screen. Nobody replies to his question for help and in the end he too mentions his own finding there is no support for Win98 on an nF4 board (but then asks why does Win98 install?). The second post has the owner asking about the same problem but the thread goes nowhere. All I can say is I installed it on my board back in 2005 and there was some setting in the BIOS that eliminates the stalled startup issue. I wish I had made a note of it. I got a response on the Clunk forum where a member states he used the same trick and will dig through his notes and try to find what it is and post it. But even so, I'm starting to wonder at the wisdom of forcing it to work now that I know it was never meant to be installed in the first place. Back in 2005 I was naive about chipset drivers and never even thought to install them on that Win98 installation. The mobo utility CD came with WinXP drivers and I did install them there only because I explored the CD contents, found them, and asked about it. Oddly, it never occurred to me there should be a set for Win98 as well. I guess I just assumed they were something special above and beyond what was normally required by an operating system since up till that point I had never had to deal with chipset drivers on my computers (they were all store bought).

Just thought I would mention I just found a thread on Anandtech dated 2002 where I guy is discussing that he is running Win98SE on his DFI UT nF4 Ultra-D board (the same one I have).

Thanks. I'm not giving up. It would be sweet to get past this issue. I will look at the BIOS and see if I can find the IR-Adapter entry. My SoundBlaster card is a 5.1+MP3 Live!. I bought it factory sealed off eBay.

I thought I would explain something here to help clarify how I'm approaching this project. I know it sounds hokey but we all operate in our own way. This computer was my first homebuilt which I purchased in 2005. Prior to this I had a Gateway GP6-450 that had a geForce 6800 Ultra graphics card that I bought later to upgrade from the original geForce 4400 ti. I purchased a BFG 7800 GTX graphics card for my first homebuilt. I mention this because I have a memory trigger (something I clearly remember) when I upgraded to my second homebuilt in 2007. My second computer was a socket 775 with a E6600 dual core CPU. When I bought these components to upgrade, I also bought a BFG 8800 graphics card. I clearly remember discovering with the 8800 graphics card I would no longer be able to use Win98 since it did not come with Win98 drivers. I remember being disappointed like it was yesterday. I also have a distinct memory of struggling in the confines under my desk to pull the second 512 MB RAM stick when I learned Win98 doesn't work with more than 512 megs of RAM...then having to go back and reinstall it after I was done and had set the win.ini file to limit recognized RAM to 512. I just don't remember what it was I had to do to get it boot without the lag. I don't remember if I even had the lag issue back then. I have a vague memory of finding something in a forum (I think it was DFI Street which sadly no longer exists) but the only thing I clearly remember was learning what I had to do in the win.ini file to limit the RAM recognized. I was hoping whatever the solution was would not be so hard to find again. I have my order history at NewEgg to reconstruct which parts I ordered and when. This also helps recall of what I did. I think this computer's hardware is okay. I have tried installing WinXP Pro using a SATA HD with no issues at all.

Gave that a try but made no difference. I have to say something here about what I remember. I originally built this computer with 1 gig of RAM. I clearly remember removing one stick to install Win98/SE when I first put it together in 2005. After it installed, I changed the win.ini file [vcache] to 524288 and then re-installed the second stick to be available for my WinXP OS which I installed 2nd. I don't remember touching the [386Enh] but could have. Also, right now I have the installation on a 20gig partition to avoid the limits of Win98. It's odd the way this is playing out. Once Win98 finishes booting it runs fine. I keep trying to remember what it was I had to do to eliminate this issue which is why I'm hoping someone else may know the answer.

Well after over a year I am back. Please ignore the last post I made regarding not having Win98SE installed on these components. I'm now giving it another try. I'm using one of the original IDE hard drives (120 gig) I had used previously to install Win98 and the update CD for SE. I'm at the point where I installed Win98 and got the stutter/lag behavior each time it reboots. I then tried the SE Update CD and still get the "not enough conventional memory" fail. I checked and I have 573K free conventional memory. Right now I'm trying the "setup /is" approach to install SE. On the first restart, the splash screen ran normally for about 3 seconds and I saw the hard drive light flicker during this time. Then it bogged down again. I'll let it sit and run through for a while and see if I can get past this. I don't have it yet but I just bought a brand new Win98SE CD factory sealed. I will probably clear off all this and try running that on a clean reformatted and scanned hard drive (20 gig partition to start). Please let me know if you have any other tips I might try. I am not giving up on this. I think it's just a matter of identifying what the problem(s) is. Editted to add: I finished installing the SE Update CD. The stuttering splash screen behavior continues on each restart as it did previously.

You can add CH Products Combatstick, FighterStick, Pro Throttle, and Pro Pedals (all USB) devices to the list. I still have mine and have been using them since 1999. The Control Manager driver (downloaded from the Tech Support page on the CH Products website) is designed to work with all versions of Windows back to and including Windows 98. For Win98, the software is installed with all CH Products devices disconnected...reboot...then plug each device into a USB port and they will be recognized. Using WinXP and above, the software is installed after connecting all devices. In addition, a good resource for tweaks and setup is the CH Hanger forums website.

I have to apologize and thank everyone here who tried to help me get this problem resolved. I just did some research and tried to trigger my memory of the chain of events as I upgraded my computers over the years. One thing struck me...when I bought my current sound card. I know for a fact I never used it for Win98 because I bought it roughly 6 months after I built my first computer (the hardware I'm trying to set up now). I bought the hardware to build my first computer in May 2005 and bought the Creative Labs Sound Blaster Elite Pro in October 2005. This means I had Win98 and WinXP on my last Gateway and could never have had it installed on this hardware I'm trying to use. Anyway, it was good of you to offer help. At least I have a new resource for other issues should they come up. Thanks again folks! I think I'll ponder whether I want to go through the hurdles of collecting all the hardware I would need to set up Win98. For now I think I will take a breather.

Well I still have the same problem. I tried installing using one hard drive with a 20 gig partition, then again with an 8 gig partition. I have only one stick of ram and one hard drive, CRT monitor, and video card. The RAM stick is in the correct slot for this mobo. I'm stumped. The reason I tried 8 gigs was because I remembered when I bought my Gateway computer with Win98, it arrived with only an 8 gig partition on the drive. I can't remember what I did to fix it, that was 13 years ago. I didn't buy System Commander 7 until 2000 when I bought a Gateway computer with WinXP Pro installed. My boss suggested getting System Commander when I told him I was hoping to find a way to install Win98 and dual boot. I found a forum discussion where a person was reporting the same problem (splash screen seems to hang). I think he gave up before waiting to see if it would eventually finish booting and assumed it was frozen. Anyway, the responders all recommended upgrading to WinXP so the discussion fizzled. I'm not sure what else I can try now. When I ran the very first install, I used a WD SATA 320 gig drive with a 125 gig partition. I had my modern LCD monitor hooked up, too. This led me to think it was either a monitor or SATA drive issue. Since then I have tried both old IDE drives but not until tonight did I try a really small partition. Perhaps there's something wrong with the hardware. All I can say is at one time I had Win98 (updated to Win98SE) installed on this mobo, RAM, HS, video and sound card. I also had an ethernet connection since it was my main computer. I can try disabling everything to do with the onboard LAN (and anything else...the board has an onboard sound module called, "Karajan"). Beyond that I'm at a complete loss.

Arminius, You just may have hit on the answer. When I last installed Win98 back when I was actually using it, I remember installing it on a small partition, then using the Partition Manager that's part of System Commander to expand the size back to what I wanted. I'm pretty sure I used a 20 gig partition and later expanded it to 40 gigs. I have the same hard drives I was using back then installed in the box I'm setting up now. One is 120 gigs and the other is 80 gigs. I used the 80 gig for data backup and split the 120 into two partitions 80/40 (it's all coming back to me now). I put WinXP Pro on the 80 gig partition and Win98 on the 40 but had to start with a small partition first. I'm at work and will have to wait until tonight to try this out! My face will be bright red if this was the culprit all along.

Still having the same problem. I found an article online where someone reported the same problem trying to use the update CD to update Win98FE to Win98SE and was getting the "not enough conventional memory to check hard drives". The admin of the site told him: "Setup was unable to run ScanDisk to check your hard drives. This could be because of low conventional memory or your disk contains errors that Scandisk cannot fix when run from Setup. To work around these errors, reboot your system to MS-DOS mode and run ScanDisk /all. Then, run Setup again. If Setup still fails, reboot to MS-DOS mode and run Scandisk /all /surface. This will take a little longer, but it will ensure your hard disks are in good shape. If, after running ScanDisk with these options, Setup still won't continue, you should run Setup /is to bypass ScanDisk." For the heck of it I tried running "Setup /is" and got the update CD to finally run but it still bogs down at the splash screen during each installation restart. I think there must be something wrong with system memory or memory management (I'm not fluent on these things...just inferring things). One thing I noticed but haven't mentioned until now...during installation, I see at least three CMD windows popup in quick order and barely get to read them but they are all showing the path to the CD drive. I'm thinking the system memory has everything running so slow these windows are actually visible whereas in the past they would go by so quickly you don't see them. I guess I will completely dismantle the entire computer and try cleaning all the contacts if that sounds like it might help.

I tried using the UPDATE disc. This is not an "UPGRADE" disc by the way. I bought it from Microsoft directly for less then $20 and it was mailed to me. It has its own product code on the case. On the front of the case in the upper left corner it says, "For users of Windows 98". In the middle of the label it says, "Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition Updates". At the bottom it says, "Includes system updates, Internet Explorer 5, Internet Connection Sharing, and more". The readme file says it must be installed over an existing copy of Win98 (or Win95) but I could swear I had found a way online to fool it into thinking I had Windows installed on the computer so it would be a fresh install. The file also says it will not install over DOS. It does not have an autostart file. You must manual execute the setup file to get it started. When I do so with no windows installed, it says it cannot find windows so there is no way to start the install and use the earlier Win98 CD later to prove ownership. I remember doing a trick where I created a "Windows" folder on the C drive and created a blank file with a specific name but lost that information. I think that trick was to fool the disk into think Win95 was already installed but I'm not positive. Wish I could find the trick again.

I looked at my BIOS but cannot find where to disable SATA. I'll keep looking and do a search online for the answer.

Thanks again for your suggestions. I do plan on literally starting from scratch and only using the absolute bare bones to install. I will also disconnect and reconnect all wires and components to make sure they are correct and seated properly. Arminius, I have Windows 98 (first edition). I also have a Windows 98 Second Edition Update CD which must be applied to an existing Win98 OS. I bought a Gateway computer in early 2000 that had WinXP Pro (OEM disk) installed. Prior to that I had a Gateway computer with Windows 98 (OEM disk) installed. I later bought the UPDATES CD I mention above. These are the installation disks I am using now. My first homebuilt was in May 2005 and it worked. Most of the hardware from that build is what I am using for this build project. Since then I have upgraded my primary computer twice (Core 2 E6600 in 2007 and Core i7 920 in late 2010). The DFI utilites CD has nVidia nF4 chipset drivers for WinXP but nothing for Win98 or Win98SE. I don't recall trying to install them for my Win98 OS but do remember using them for the WinXP OS. The infrared device issue very well could have existed back then. I have a fuzzy memory of always seeing a couple exclamation points in the Device Manager for Win98 but don't remember any details beyond that. My gut tells me these issues are not causing my installation and boot problems. I forgot to mention I took a look at virtual memory in Win98 yesterday. The C drive showed a very large number (6 digits) with a negative sign in front of it. The D drive (data backup) showed a 6 digit number smaller than the C drive (D hard drive is smaller than C) but did not have the negative sign. These appear in a drop down list that is disabled unless you uncheck the "Let Windows Manage Virtual Memory Automatically". I'm thinking there must be something wrong with the File System...maybe. The step that is taking 15 minutes to load during boot is the Loading Vxd = VMM step. The boot analyzer is a little confusing to read. The timestamp on the success line for "LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS" is 15 minutes earlier than the "LOADING Vxd = VMM" line. I interpret this as it taking the Vxd load 15 minutes to complete so perhaps the IFSHLP.SYS file is corrupt or something. I have tried installing Win98 on my original 120 Gig IDE hard drive and a new 320 Gig SATA hard drive with a 125 Gig partition. The same behavior occurs on both so I don't think it's a hard drive issue. When I try to install the graphics card driver off the CD that came with the card, it reports not being able to find a DLL file (sorry I didn't write it down but will if I see it again next time...it was something like NPA.DLL or NVA.DLL). I also have a half dozen saved driver updates. Some report the same problem and a couple say they cannot find any nVidia chip on the system. When I try to install the UPDATE CD to convert Win98 to Win98SE, I always get a "not enough conventional memory" error. Never saw this before...ever. Each time I install Win98 and look at the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files they are both empty. I'm not sure if that is normal or not as I don't remember what they looked like in the past after installing the OS. Anyway, I will report the outcome later today and anything else I discover.

Okay, I have tried a few things. The bootlog analyzer shows the lag to be either while loading C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS or Vxd. On the line that says "LoadSuccess = C:\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS" the duration value is 881.000 and the time is 19:06:39 but on the next entry (Loading Vxd = VMM) the time is 19:21:20. That is 19 seconds shy of 15 minutes. Both loads do succeed. In the bootlog.txt file I find: LOADING VXD = ndis2sup.vxd LOADFAILED = ndis2sup.vxd further down... DEVICEINIT = VPD DEVICEINITFAILED = VPD further down... INITCOMPLETE = SDVXD INITCOMPLETEFAILED = SDVXD I modified my CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files with the basic entries to free up conventional memory but I still get the "not enough conventional memory" when I try to install the Win98SE Updates CD. I was thinking maybe my modern USB mouse was the source of the Infrared Device issue. I have a brand new Microsoft Optical Mouse that says it is compatible with Win98 and tried it using the PS2 adapter but again it makes no difference. In the Device Manager under System Devices, one Motherboard resources entry tagged (!) says, "This device is causing a resource conflict (Code 15). On the Resources tabpage it says, "Input/Output Range 0290 - 030F used by: Infrared PnP Serial Port (*PNP0510). Under Network Adapters it lists "Infrared PnP Serial Port (*PNP0510)". It says it is working properly and has no asterisk tag. The other Motherboard resources entry that is tagged (!) lists the Device Type as System Devices and says "the device is either not present, not working properly, or does not have all the drivers installed (Code 10)" and reports no conflicts on the Resources tabpage. In the Win.ini file there was no entry for [VCache] so I could enter MaxFileCache = 524288 so I inserted it myself. It also makes no difference in behavior. I tried booting in safe mode and device manager shows no conflicts even though it still takes 15 minutes to boot.

Thanks Steven and Arminius for your feedback (and to all others as well). Let me give you a little background on the history of this rig and how I managed my driver files when it was my primary computer. On any of my setups I always store my driver files, data, and software patches and updates on a separate physical hard drive. I organized them under folders for each OS. So for example, I have a Win98 Backup folder and in it I have the various hardware manufacturers (Creative Labs, nVidia, etc.). The most recent graphics card driver I have from nVidia is 7.7.7.2 for the GTX7800 (dated 6/21/2005). I also have the original installation disk and documentation that came with the graphics card. When I built this computer with the parts listed above in 2005, I used some of the hardware off my Gateway computer I bought in early 2000 (hard drives, keyboard, mouse, monitor, and soundcard). The Gateway computer came with WinXP Pro and had an nVidia card (the model ended with "TI" but I can't remember the number). I used System Commander 7 to set it up to dual boot Win98 and WinXP. I definitely set up the homebuild with WinXP and Win98 and everything worked. I do not remember experiencing these issues at all but by the same token, I also don't remember everything I did during the install so I'm not saying there weren't any tweaks needed. I just think the current issues would have triggered my memory if I experienced them before. In 2007 I upgraded the mobo, ram, and CPU to use a socket 975 Intel Dual Core E6600 and also purchased a Geforce GTX 8800. I specifically remember that being the point where I was no longer able to use Win98 because the 8800 did not have Win98 drivers. Anyway, my main point of all this is that is was working. But after 5 years I admit I don't remember all the little details. For the record, I'm pretty sure I installed WinXP first, then System Commander, then Win98. I have a set of flight sim controls from CH Products (all USB) and I distinctly remember setting them up because with Win98 you must install the control software without the devices connected, then reboot to get them recognized. With WinXP, they must be connected prior to installing the control software. I will be tinkering today and will see what I can discover and report back later today or this evening with what I find and/or accomplish. Thanks

Well, the monitor didn't make any difference. Win98 recognized it and I installed the driver in the hardware wizard but no joy. Now I will proceed to try the other suggestions to help identify the problem. A few things I can report.... 1. There are two "motherboard resources" with exclamation point tags. One says there is either a missing driver or it cannot be found. The other says there's a conflict and is described as a PNP infrared device. The only thing I can think of that has infrared is my CD drive. It is not from my original setup but is IDE (Sony CDRW/DVDR that I had kicking around). I just now realized this. Perhaps this is the problem. I don't think DVD was available for Win98. 2. I tried to install the graphics card driver but it reports it cannot find a certain DLL and terminates. I will document the exact message the next time I have it booted up. Maybe there's a problem with the graphics card and Windows does not install the DLL as a result. Just a guess. I will set up the bootlog and hopefully that will be able to shed more light on this whole thing.

It should solve that part, but if you're not going to have network / internet you're better off with no drivers active... less drivers, more RAM, faster boot The 15 minute lag occurs with three different hard drives that I have tried (2 IDE, 1 SATA). The graphics card was working fine when I dismantled the old computer that had WinXP installed. I'm pretty sure it's still working okay. If necessary, I can replace it off eBay...there are actually two brand new cards on sale there now. Today I was given a brand new, never opened, 15" color CRT monitor. I will test tonight and if everything works...I will buy a larger CRT monitor and be happy that's all the trouble was.

I will be disabling unused hardware in BIOS. Right now I'm working on getting an old CRT monitor to test the theory that this behavior is stemming from trying to use my modern LCD monitor. Last night I tried a few things. I discovered if I go through the Add New Hardware wizard for monitors, it finally installs the Windows Default Monitor which you normally see right away after installing the OS. Once I installed it however, instead of seeing the standard VGA monitor listed, I see my monitor by name. But it still takes a little over 15 minutes to boot. I contacted NEC about a Win98 solution but they replied they only have modern drivers going back to 2006 for WinXP and above. I tried installing that hoping it would work. The installation reported success but upon reboot the lag was still there plus the Add New Hardware wizard kicked off automatically asking for the installation disk for my monitor. I tried installing the same driver again and ended up with two listings for it in Device Manager. With nothing to lose I tried installing my graphics card driver (I saved several release from the early 2000's). Some of them reported they were unable to detect any nVidia devices...others reported being unable to find certain DLL files and aborted the install. I'm working on getting an old CRT monitor to test whether all this trouble is due to the modern LCD monitor. It seems like the best first thing to work on. I hope to have one today or by the weekend. I'll report my findings.

You've got everything you need to get started in the post I wrote above, if you don't understand something or need more details, then ask and someone will answer you. As for the rest of what you wrote in your last post, yeah I think resetting the BIOS to default settings is certainly something to try. Btw, are you sure you had chipset drivers installed on this board in the past? I am not aware there are any Win 9x compatible drivers in existence for nForce 4 boards. Also, try to boot your system with the minimum possible hardware, eg, motherboard, graphic card, 1 RAM stick and the boot drive only and making sure everything is properly connected and see if the problem is still there. I plan on doing all that you suggested but wanted to respond with details about my hardware first. You're right to ask about the chipset drivers. It's been so long I can't remember what I did for the Win98 installation I had. I do remember downloading nForce drivers a few times. Perhaps it was for the XP installation I had (computer was set to dual boot using v-Com System Commander 7). Another observation I made last night...in the Device Driver list I do not see anything for the monitor...not even the category. In the past I believe it would have the category with "Default Monitor" inside until I installed a monitor driver. I'm wondering if the monitor I have is causing this lagging issue. I turned off all the power saving features so the monitor/hard drives do not go to sleep...also no screen saver. Even so, once the computer has booted up and I let it sit for roughly 15 minutes, the screen goes black with just a blinking cursor. When I move the mouse it jumps to the hardware installation wizard to begin looking for a driver for the monitor. The monitor is an NEC MultiSync LCD2490WUXi-BK. It's a high-end 24" monitor ($1100 two years ago). Of course I can get another monitor but was hoping I could tie the two boxes together and share the monitor, keyboard, and mouse (plus USB peripherals) using a KVM switch.

Okay, here are important hardware details. I have included links to NewEgg that give full technical details even though the items are no longer available (nice touch on NewEgg's part I must say). MOBO = DFI LANPARTY UT nF4 Ultra-D 939 DFI Motherboard CPU = AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 San Diego 2.6GHz 1MB L2 Cache Socket 939 AMD CPU RAM = OCZ Gold Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 500 (PC 4000) Dual Channel Kit OCZ RAM Hard Drive = Western Digital Caviar SE WD1200JBRTL 120GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache IDE Ultra ATA100 / ATA-6 3.5" Hard Drive WD Hard Drive Graphics = BFG Tech BFGR78256GTXOC GeForce 7800GTX 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 SLI Support Video Card BFG Graphics Card Sound Card = Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! MP3 + 5.1 PCI This is actually a brand new (box never opened) card I bought off eBay to replace my old Sound Blaster Live! Value which I had discarded years ago. The box indicates it is compatible with Win9X/2K/ME OS's. Power Supply = SILVERSTONE DA1000 1000W ATX 12V 2.2 & EPS 12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Active PFC Power Supply Silverstone PSU As to removing the splash screen from startup...I'm not sure how this would be holding up the boot process for 15+ minutes but what do I know? I overclocked the RAM and CPU when this was my WinXP/Win98SE dual boot system. I then gave it to a friend who had their own copy of WinXP installed on the hard drive by a local computer shop. I do not know if they fooled with the BIOS during that time and I have not reset the BIOS since getting it back. Perhaps loading optimized defaults would be something to try. Just a thought. I know the power supply is overkill. I replaced the PSU on my Win7/WinXP dual boot system with a 1200W Silverstone and thought I may as well use the DA1000 for this box. Like I said earlier, I never experienced these issues back in the day and assumed reinstalling would be a snap. I still have the utilities disk that came with the motherboard (chipset drivers and such) but have not tried to install anything since I have this problem. Right now all I have is Win98 installed. I will be copying drivers (i.e., graphics card) for Win98 to my second hard drive so they will be available when the time comes. When I installed Win98 I did not select anything from Network, Online Services, Communications, or Accessibility categories so it does not recognize onboard LAN or Internet hardware. I have to disconnect my primary computer and connect my Win98 box to try things out. I will do that and copy information from the Device Manager so I can include them here later on. Thanks and I hope this helps get things started.

I'm resurrecting my old Win98 box (hardware) so I can play games that do not run in WinXP in compatibility mode and/or are too much for DOSBOX to handle. The quick way to describe this is I have all the hardware I used before and the installation disk. The only thing I changed was a new case, power supply, keyboard, mouse, and monitor. I'm using the exact same mobo, CPU, RAM, hard drive, CDROM, floppy, graphics and sound card that I used back in 2002. I also have the Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition Updates CD which I bought from Microsoft for something like $15 (can't really remember). The important thing is this CD is not an upgrade CD but an UPDATE CD. Between the time I last had Win98 installed and now, the computer was used by a friend of mine with WinXP installed on it. I should also say this is a computer I built using parts bought from NewEgg. I can provide a detailed list of all hardware if it comes to that but I just wanted to get the ball rolling by describing the problem. During the installation process the computer reboots three times. Each time it reboots and reaches the point where the Windows 98 splash screen appears, the computer bogs down and it takes roughly 15 minutes for it to get past the splash screen. There's a progress bar of sorts that scrolls across the bottom of the splash screen from left to right and it moves to the right maybe two times a second during the entire time the splash screen is visible. This is the only evidence the computer is not completely frozen. This same behavior also repeats once the installation is complete and I am simply booting the computer. It runs fine once the boot is finished and the shutdown is quick and smooth. A second issue I have is running the Update CD. It may be related to the slow splash screen problem but that's just a guess. When I start the update CD, it analyzes my computer and stops with a message that I need to free up more conventional memory. I never had this happen either. The computer has 1 gig of RAM (two 512 sticks). I tried installing with just one stick but it makes no difference. I should also add that I never had trouble before using all the RAM to install Win98 so I'm not sure if this is the problem or not. I looked in the Device Manager and saw two "!" next to motherboard resources listings. That may be a clue as well. I did not clear CMOS when I rebuilt the computer so that may also be something to look into. I thought I would start by stating some basic information and going from there. I'm hoping this is not an unheard of issue. Lastly, I have a high end NEC 24" LCD monitor that has no Win98 drivers. I'm hoping there's a workaround for that as well but am saving it for once I solve the installation issues. This is my first post on this forum so a big hello to all that read it. Thanks