The following is from the Amptron WEB site FAQ about that very board:
http://www.amptron.com/html/faqs.html#ms-dos_comp
>PM8600/PM8400 and MS-DOS Compatibility Mode Problems:
>This problem most often occurs when a motherboard is installed in a
>system that had Windows95 previously installed. The problem here is
>that when one upgrades their system with an Amptron or any other "newer"
>motherboard, the drivers already installed for the previous motherboard's
>IDE controller may be different than the IDE controller drivers of the new
>motherboard. Thus Windows95 compensates by using the "fail-safe" 16bit
>real mode drivers and you get exclamation marks by your hard disk controller
>icons in the systems manager.
> The method by which you resolve the problem is as follows:
>(1) Backup the registry files for Win95 (System.dat and User.dat)
>(2) Use the regedit program in the Windows subdirectory
>(3) Locate the NOIDE entry down the following folder branch:
> HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SYSTEM > CURRENTCONTROLSET> SERVICES > VXD > IOS
>(4) Click on the NOIDE entry on the right side of the regedit program and hit delete.
>(5) Confirm your deletion and exit the program.
>(6) Reboot and Windows95 should aumatically redetect the protected mode drivers.
For more information, access the following Microsoft article: q151911
                   Rick Glazier

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bill Hornkohl" <[log in to unmask]>
> I have a friend with a homebuilt Pentium 166 with an Amptron PM8600
> Motherboard. It has been running OK with win 95 for a couple of years. I
> told him he should buy win98 and drop it off here (with the computer) and I
> would load it for him. Everything seemed to load normally but I can't seem
> to get it to boot up all the way. It will get to the win98 splash screen and
> that's all. The bar along the bottom keeps moving across but it won't start
> up windows. I can sometimes hit alt-ctrl-delete while it is stopped and then
> choose normal and it will start and it seems to run OK.It will start in safe
> mode. I have tried a lot of different experiments. I flashed the Bios and
> installed the busmaster drivers for the chipset (VX2 chipset) tried a better
> video card and tried moving everything around to different slots. I have
> tried many combinations with msconfig.exe and finally found a setting under
> advanced that would let it boot up "Force compatibility mode disk access".
> With this checked it starts up and seems to run OK. Can anyone tell me what
> this might mean. Does this point to any possible solutions. What would it
> hurt to just run it like that. (I'm getting desperate)

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