I know you said the system had windows on it before the crash but was that
Win95 or Win3x. The reason I ask, is that I had a system of that vintage
(amazing, using the term vintage for something only a few years old <G>)
that would crash the same way. After 200 plus hours, to include phone calls
to MS and others, found out it was because of an incapatablity of the video
card/mobo combination. Replacing the video card with a different model,
worked fine or replacing the mobo and using the original video card, it
worked fine but the two together, cccccrrrrrRRRRRAAASH.

Also, might try installing with only a video card installed, e.g. no modem,
sound card, etc.

If you are persisting some switch setting you might try are:


/? - This switch provides a brief summary of the available Setup switches

      and the correct command line syntax.

/c - This switch causes Setup to not run SMARTDrive.

/IW - This switch allows you to bypass the license agreement screen and

      must be in capital letters

/p Detection Switch Option String Defined


•The string can contain one or more detection switches separated by a
semicolon (;). For example, if you want to use "/p f" and "/p i" you type
"setup /p f;i". •Some switches are simply On/Off switches. The absence of
the switch implies Off; the presence of the switch turns it On. A minus sign
(-) appended immediately after a switch turns it Off. •Some switches take
parameters in the form of <c>=<params>. If there is more than one parameter
to a switch, the parameters are separated by a comma (,). •There must not be
any spaces in the detection option string.



Valid Detection Switches:


a - This switch enables safe detection. It tells each detection module

    to try safer detection methods. Safer detection methods may not
    detect devices correctly.

    The default during Setup is enabled. The default in other cases is
    disabled.

    Example: setup /p a


b - This switch enables Prompt Before mode. It prompts you before a
   detection module is called so that you can step through each
    detection module manually and decide if you want to skip it.

    The default is disabled.

    Example: setup /p b.

- This switch enables Recovery mode. It causes Detection to use the

    Detcrash.log file, if found, for recovery. If this switch is not
    enabled, Detection ignores and deletes Detcrash.log even if it is
    found.

    This switch is used if Safe Recovery is selected during Setup,
    otherwise it is not used.

    Example: setup /p r

Hope one of these help.

Daniel Wysocki
Twin*.*Star Computers
770-498-2582 / 800-816-0663
[log in to unmask]
Fast - Reliable - Wallet Friendly



-----Original Message-----
From: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
>
>        I have reformated the hard drive, rebooted on the installation boot
disk,
>got the CD-ROM online but the whole install still freezes up just after the
>disclaimer screen in the Windows install (tried both Win95 and
>Win98.......same result).
>

         The PCBUILD web site always needs good submissions.  If
          you would like to contribute to the website, send any
               hardware tech tips or hardware reviews to:
                           [log in to unmask]