lock up on boot - icons gone

Sometime when my computer boots, it will go into Windows, then lock up after only part of the icons are visible. 'My computer' is one that doesn't show. If I reboot, it will go in OK. What is causing this? It is a pretty new install. I have Win98 SE, Cyrix M2 300 cpu, 64mb sdram, pcchips m571LMR motherboard. I've switched the cpu to amd k6.2 300 with the same result. Thanks!

If your SDRam is set to autoconfigure in the bios that mai be the problem.
The same think happened to me when I installed 128 megs in my machine.
Disable the autoconfigure and set the speed to match the ram.
Hope this helps...

do you have a cdrom in the computer when you boot?