Windows98 Protection Error

[somyunguy]

I have a Compaq Presario 5700 with AMD-K6 450 Mhz Processor and it gives me a windows protection error. I have checked the (3)memory sticks and they are fine (I tried them individualy and I even got a known good one and same error appears.
I beleive that it started when I took my 3.5" floopy drive out of my machine. It worked fine without the drive. When I added a different drive it didn't recognize it so I entered the CMos setup and enabled it, but it wouldn't recognize the drive. At this point there was no protection error. I turned off the machine and decided to work on it later. Two days later I turned on the PC and that's when the protection error occurred. I loaded the CMOS default setup and still nothing. Can someone help me, please?

[DANIMAL]

so you replaced a floppy with another floppy and now you get this error. Usually this is a standard swap without the need to go into the bios.
I now know of a amd Patch for 95 but not sure if it will help for 98.

<a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/downloads/contents/WURecommended/S_WUServicePacks/AMDPatch/Default.asp" target="_blank">download</a>

[Rkring1]

98 shouldn't need that patch , Microsoft corrected the timing issue in Windows 98. Have you tried disconnecting the replacement floppy and starting up without it ? Also check the cable to the floppy , you must be connected to the
connector after the "twist" in the cable ,usually the last connector on the cable.If you can get to a C: prompt (use your start up disk)type in scanreg/fix and enter , may cure your problem.

[ephmynus]

woa danimal... that's a helluvan avatar. Anyway you could size it down?

[WebHead]

Dude,... You really need to resize that avatar. Jeez!

[DANIMAL]

What is goind on hre with the avatar thing. why is my pic there?

[somyunguy]

Thanks for your help guys......but I still have my huge problem. The floppy drive is out, and I also did the scanreg/fix as suggested, but it found no errors. I am able to go into safe mode though, and I noticed that when I go into mycomputer performance there appears 4 messages
1. "Compability-mode paging reduces overall system performance"
2. "Drive A is using MS-DOS compability mode file system"
3. "Drive C..."
4. "Drive D..."
Boy I sure did make a major error, didn't I? Does anybody know what this messages mean and how I can get rid of them?

[confus-ed]

Some things amiss with your IDE drivers, search this forum for No IDE, should give you the answer you need.

[Ya_know]

<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q130/1/79.asp?LN=EN-US&SD=gn&FR=0&qry=noide&rnk=1&src=DHCS_MSPSS_gn_SR CH&SPR=W98" target="_blank">Troubleshooting MS-DOS Compatibility Mode on Hard Disks</a>

This link has a ton of good advise, plus there are several links within the page for similar problems. The NOIDE registry string confus-ed was refering to is about half way down the page in the link. Try the various suggestions and get back to us with any progress...

[Papa Smurf]

<a href="http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q149/9/62.asp" target="_blank">http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q149/9/62.asp</a>

Dont know if this link will help,Its mainly linked to Windows Protection faults, but theres a few links inside also for Startup/shutdown issues.

Cheers
PapaSmurf

[confus-ed]

In another thread I was moaning about people not reading posts properly, I am now guilty, if somyunguy re-boots in safe mode then there are no windows drivers hence bios is doing it. So ignore all that unless it does it in windows as well not just safe mode. Ooops!

[somyunguy]

What do you mean Confus-ed? Are you saying that I should ignore all replies and that the problem could be my BIOS?

[DocPC]

I would also scan for a boot sector virus.

[Quiet Thunder]

Leave the floppy unplugged, and reset Bios. Then try again with the floppy unplugged, and see if the error still occurs. You said you changed some Bios settings, and that could have messed you up pretty bad. Also, check Compaq to see if you have the latest Bios version. Might want to call them and see if there is a known issue with floppy drives and the Bios version you are using. I know Compaq is pretty properitary, so maybe something's getting messed up with the floppy swap. I'd bet it's your Bios though.

[somyunguy]

Thank you guys for all your help. I tried everything and now it's working.