Computer Frequently Crashing

nhandy007

Hello, I am having problems with my computer crashing frequently. In the past 2 months it has crashed (where I have to reinstall Windows 98 or erase the hard drive and do a clean install) about 5 times. I am running Windows 98 and am wondering whether that is contributing to the problem and whether Windows XP would help me? Also, since I have had to erase my hard drive alot, I was wondering whether hard drives can become damaged after so many formats? Thanks for reading my post and any advice is appreciated.

kryyst

WIndows 98 is particularly unstable and will go increasingly so as you get newer software then the OS was made for. New drivers should help to alleviate the crash problems but, the fact is you are basically just adding more and more duct tape to your OS.

So lets assume that you have no hardware issues. Installing XP should create a more stable and more efficient environment for you with out a doubt, that's not even a subject open to debat it's simply a Fact.

But if you are having hardware problems In particular I'm thinking harddrive problems then you will continue to crash. First thing I'd do before I do another format /re-install is do a full harddrive scan, including a surface scan to check for physical damage on the drive. I'd also run it in safe mode to make sure that you don't have any crap running that will mess up the process.

If the test comes back with no nasty results. Then I'd go to www.pcpitstop.com and run the tests on your computer (there is an annonymous option just look for it). It's a really good service that will find any glarring errors on your machine and give you some tips on fixing them.

Once that's done then it's time to do an FDisk of the harddrive then a full install of your OS again. WHen you are re-installing things though follow these steps.

1) Remove every card accept the video card.
2) Then install your win98 (on that note if you are running win98 and not win98 2nd edition that's a huge source of your problems.)
3) Install any drivers for your mother board
4) Add in your modem connect to the internet and spend about 2 days downloading all the win98 patches. (I didn't see a network card in your specs so I'm assuming you are on dial-up)
5) Add in the rest of your cards. Install the drivers for them.
6) Back to windows site check for more patches for your installed hardware
7) Go to the sites for your video card/sound card anything else card and get the newest manufacturers drivers for your stuff install them
8) Add in anti-virus software if you don't have any AVG is free and it's great
9) Add in ad-aware and run it to get rid of any adware and leaks in your OS (you'll probably have a few)

That's about the cleanest install you can do to ensure that everything is set up and running correctly.

versello

nhandy007 wrote:

Hello, I am having problems with my computer crashing frequently. In the past 2 months it has crashed (where I have to reinstall Windows 98 or erase the hard drive and do a clean install) about 5 times. I am running Windows 98 and am wondering whether that is contributing to the problem and whether Windows XP would help me? Also, since I have had to erase my hard drive alot, I was wondering whether hard drives can become damaged after so many formats? Thanks for reading my post and any advice is appreciated.

Reformats won't do any harm. I'm wondeing what your system temperatures are tho.

nhandy007

I ran a full Scandisk inside of Windows with all of the programs shut down and it didn't find any errors. How do you get into a safe mode boot to do it there? My system temperatures are normal, the same as they have always been. Thanks for the help guys. I really appreciate it.

kryyst

There is no need to do it in safemode if you your full scan worked. The reason I said to run it in safe mode is that in 'regular' mode often things like screen/power savers will turn on and interupt the test.

As for getting into safemode. As your computer boots up start hitting the F8 screen just after the initial post screen. If you hit it at the right time you'll bring up a menu before it loads windows that has 1 at least 4 options on it. They'll be Normal Mode, Safe Mode, Comand Prompt, etc..etc..

nhandy007

PC Pitstop showed no problems in my computer beyond a couple of internet settings and some fragmentation of my hard drive. Do you think that the majority of my problems are due to Windows 98? Also, I was thinking of upgrading the memory to help the computer function smoother. I currently have 1 stick of Crucial 256MB DDR PC2100 RAM and I was looking at getting a 512MB stick to add. Would it matter if I bought a different brand of memory? I was comparing the Crucial 512MB RAM at $100 to an Apacer 512 RAM stick at $86 on newegg.com. And is Apacer memory poor quality or anything? Thanks.

kryyst

I'd say it's probably do to driver incompatibility becuase your hardware is far out dating your OS. Adding more ram to the equation may help a bit but truthfully beyond 256 megs win98 doesn't really know what to do with it so it's basically wasted. The brand won't make a huge difference unless you are planning on overclocking things.

Probably the best thing you can do is save money on the ram and spend it on upgrading to windows XP.

nhandy007

I meant that I was going to buy Windows XP and upgrade the RAM at the same time to try to improve the performance.

Hawk

Also, If you install--uninstall a lot of programs, you'll want to defrag on a reg basis. I load a couple programs a week to try out. So, I defrag at least once a mnth after uninstalling them. I agree with kryyst (driver incomp) and an upgrade to Win XP would surely help.