Win2k/ Microstar Mainboard Mess

Computer originally came with Win 98 installed and worked properly, was unable to install Win 2K pro, computer would not reboot during installation. After much travail and questioning my peers I heard tale that if I used a forty pin old school IDE ribbon cable instead of the typical 80pin cable the install would work. It did work, then I tried to swap out the forty pin cable for the eighty pin cable and the computer would not boot again. I re-installed the forty pin cable and it booted fine. I found some VIA update drivers and it seemed to fix the problem for the duration of one boot, but never for a reboot. Please help, I would like my little PIII 700 not to choke up on this forty pin cable, is there anything I can do?

Thanks for everyone’s help.