On Tuesday, March 14, 2000 11:57 AM, "Darrell Richardson"
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:


<snipped to avoid excessive quoting only>> Now, I replaced the bios with a
new bios. I formatted my 4000mb western
> digital hard drive into two partitions. I installed dos all right and
> than install windows 98. The windows installed all right but would not
> run. I started the computer and it will stop. I began the computer again
> and used F8 and go into safe mode. Windows does not see my video card or
> ide cd-rom drive. I have tried three video cards. Does anyone know what
> the trouble is?

If your Windows 98 system doesn't load after you see the message that
Windows 98 is starting, you probably have some sort of conflict with
hardware or configuration settings. This usually occurs after you've added
or changed a hardware device. In fact, it's not a good idea to add or change
hardware until you've been running Windows 98 for a while and know you have
a smooth,
functioning operating system. You can troubleshoot the startup, and
sometimes it's a better idea to get
someone who has expertise in Windows 98 to advise you as you use the
troubleshooting features I mean this good naturedly).

Troubleshooting begins by changing the way the operating system loads. To
accomplish this, press F8 when Windows 98 first starts. This produces a menu
from which you select the appropriate menu number. A countdown clock runs
onscreen, and you have 30 seconds to make a decision before the operating
system
boots normally. The menu displays seven options, normal ,
logged\BOOTLOG.TXT, and safe mode and safe mode with network support, etc.
Using this choice is like inventing and loading an operating system named
"Windows 98 Lite." Only the bare components necessary to get you to your
Windows 98 desktop are loaded during startup. This is useful if you  are
having problems starting the operating system (especially after making a
change in the configuration or adding new hardware). Because there are so
few commands executed and files loaded, there's a reduced chance of
problems. Use Safe mode to start the operating system so you can undo any
configuration changes you made that were probably the cause of your
problems. If there are serious problems during startup, Windows 98 will
probably recognize that fact and go into Safe mode automatically.

When your Windows 9.x computer doesn't boot (either you see an error message
or it just freezes before it has finished the boot- up process and you never
get to
the desktop), turn off your computer and start again. This time, choose Safe
mode by pressing F8 to force a Startup menu. When Windows 98 boots into Safe
mode (by the way, your desktop has messages on it that say Safe mode just to
remind you), you can fix the problem. Usually, it's just a matter of undoing
the last configuration option you messed around with. (If you added
hardware, for
example, turn off your computer, and take out the hardware before starting
again.) But what if Safe mode doesn't work either? What if your computer
still won't
boot into Windows 98? There are two common reasons for Safe mode failure:
You have a virus on your hard drive. Boot the computer with an MS-DOS
bootable
 floppy disk and then run a DOS-based virus checker (always keep one of
those around) or

You have a problem in your basic computer settings. Restart the computer and
use the appropriate keystrokes to enter the computer's setup program and
check the settings (sometimes, your CMOS battery will have died and your
computer simply "forgot" its components--check the documentation for your
computer to learn how to handle this). If neither of these solutions works,
you probably need to get your computer to a repair expert. HTH. :-)

Walter R. Worth
[log in to unmask]

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                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                       Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>