Last week I posted a plea for help on a problem that I was having
installing Win98SE on a motherboard upgrade. Several excellent
suggestions were posted, but alas they didn't work. I thought it might
be helpful to share the solution with you.

Briefly, I was getting a message in Device Manager that the there was
problem with my primary IDE controller, and the system was unstable. It
turned out that the problem was created by an old Crystal ISA sound
card. I removed the card -- both physically and in Windows -- and
everything was fine. Put it back in, and life was miserable. I put in a
Creative PCI Sonique card, and everything runs like a champ. Thinking
back, I remember that in the early days of Plug-and-Play, sound cards
were often big sources of difficulty, and I remember reading that it was
best to install Windows without the sound card, and then add it later.

I have no idea why a sound card would cause problems with the primary
IDE channel, but it did. And I have no excuse for ignoring the advice
that any new installation should begin with a stripped down system. Once
that works, add components one at a time. It may seem like a more
tedious route, but it will save a lot of wear and tear on your nervous
system and, in the long haul, you'll get the job done sooner.

Carroll Grigsby

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