Win98se crashes and freezes

[MaxDSP]

Hey Kevin,
Coupla questions on Win98se crashes and freezes. It all started when I right-clicked on my Philipps CDRW and selected "eject". Win98se froze so i restarted. Aftre I restarted, everything was fine until it froze again for no apparent reason after 2-5 minutes. Now, I have to do a hard reboot to even get windows to start in safe mode. If i simply press the restart button, the pc will freeze at the BIOS screen. Sometimes, the windows startup logo will freeze or it will just animate but not go any further. This is seriously pissing me off and need to decide if Win ME would be a better option. Because the crashes and freezes happen in different places and times, I am having a hard time narrowing down the possible causes. http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smilies/cwm5.gif

[*BSOD*]

1.) Do you have a Virus scanning program you can boot to with a floppy to check if there is a virus? Remember from a different computer get the latest update before you scan and Write Protect the Floppy.

2.) You May have bad Sectors on the HDD.
Hold the Ctrl key while booting go to safemode command prompt and type "scandisk".
Do a Thourough Scan it will let you SEE if there are bad sectors and if so in the areas where the data is.
Hope this helps http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smilies/cwm30.gif
*BSOD*

[jayhawk88]

When you say it freezes at the BIOS screen, does that mean it sometimes doesn't even boot as far as Win9x startup screen? If your computer is locking up at the BIOS screen from time to time, you may be looking at a hardware issue.

Check the usual things: Mobo manufacturer for possible BIOS updates; make sure your fans are all running, check for a possible heat issue. If all else fails, strip the system to bare minimum components (boot HD, video, mouse/keyboard), and start trouble-shooting from there.

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Somebody set up us the GPF!

[MaxDSP]

First of all, I copied this from an email I was sending so pay no attention to the name "Kevin". But the freezes happen all over the place, sometimes at the BIOS screen, during the windows logo startup, at the desktop, etc. It may have something to do with the CDRW. What exactly is firmware?

[wbatten]

Is there a blank or CDR/CDRW in the drive when this happens?

-wayne


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I use The best program that cures Windows problems, Far more reliable than Norton Utilities, It's called FORMAT C:...® [I hate AT&T@home cable service]

[MaxDSP]

No, at first i thought that the crashes happened if there was a cd in the CDRW. But even after i took the cd out, the freezes kept happening.

[wbatten]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by MaxDSP:
No, at first i thought that the crashes happened if there was a cd in the CDRW. But even after i took the cd out, the freezes kept happening.</font>


Do you have adaptec installed.




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I use The best program that cures Windows problems, Far more reliable than Norton Utilities, It's called FORMAT C:...® [I hate AT&T@home cable service]

[MaxDSP]

Yes, I have Adaptec cd software installed. It came with the CDRW. You think this might be the problem?

[wbatten]

bingo...... uninstall it and see if it correct ur problem.

-wayne


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I use The best program that cures Windows problems, Far more reliable than Norton Utilities, It's called FORMAT C:...® [I hate AT&T@home cable service]

[NTTECH1]

Is your CDRW set as secondary master or slave to the HDD. Are the ULTRA DMA Channels set in your bios.
Try setting the CDRW As Secondary Slave and obtain the lastest drivers fro the CDRW and reinstall the drivers. I s the BUS Mastering setup in your BIOS *CMOS* Setup? Ck there also.

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Computer Shop Owner A+ COMPTIA Lifes a Beach

[mogul218]

Whatever you do, don't upgrade to Windows Me. Take my humble advice, Win 98 SE is the best Microsoft OS out there for home use right now.

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"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe" - Roy Batty

[MaxDSP]

my CDRW and HD are on separate IDE channels with the hd on IDE1 primary master, and the CDRW as secondary master on IDE2. However, i will uninstall Adaptec and hope for the best. Being deprived of my pc for a whole week has made me cranky. As for the WinME thing, I read the horror stories on the forums and decided to exclude ME as an option. I'll let you know if uninstalling Adaptec works. BTW, how you encountered this before to point to Adaptec as the source of the problem? Thanks to all.
http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum/smilies/cwm35.gif