I will throw this laptop out the window

Help! I just installed a new hard drive to a compaq presario 1621 laptop (yeah it was fun): everything has gone smoothly however, loaded win98, modem, nic, audio, video, applications, anti-virus, etc. Only ONE problem, and I don’t understand it: when I restart, I have no problems. When I COLD boot, the display reverts to 16 colors, even though it says the drivers are loaded (both a Standard PCI Graphics Adapter (VGA) and a Laptop Display (600×800)by NeoMagic.) As soon as I restart it, the proper display shows. As soon as I cold reboot it again, it does not. PLEASE SOMEONE TELL ME WHY!! It’s driving me crazy, I have looked at a million settings (including in system.ini) and nothing seems to make a difference. What am I missing?