Win 98 Freezing

You might want to investigate your RAM - bad RAM can cause all sorts of problems. The second option is to update your browser. Internet Explorer always has new service packs/updates and security fixes available, and I believe that other browsers do the same, altough maybe not as frequently. You could also replace your existing browser with something like Opera or Mozilla and see if that helps.

Good luck!

By freezing, do you mean literally freezing, i.e. the mouse stops moving and CTRL-ALT-DEL does nothing? As in....the only way to unfreeze it is to power off then on again???

Suspect the processor, RAM or motherboard. My first recommendation is tocheck that the CPU fan isn't choked, 'tired' or loose. Apart from playing games or using processor intensive apps, the CPU hardly does any work on a PC these days until you use a PCI or AMR modem....then CPU usage shoots right up. Internet apps crashing a PC into a total freeze normally mean CPU failure or iffy memory. In some cases, the mother board cache ram is faulty. Disable cache ram in the BIOS and see if this improves matters....your machine will be slower but if the crashing stops then you have a faulty cache, either on the CPU which indicates a CPU fault as above or on the mobo. In either case, replacing the affected should resolve matters. It may also be a suspect Modem. If the modem is twitchy and constantly error-correcting this too can hang a PC, but I've only ever seen this with Rockwell or Conexant chipsets (HCF/HSF). Those damn things should never have been allowed to live!!!

Ram might be the issue. Have you gone to the run command and type msconfig to check in the startup tab to see if unnecessary programs running in the backround (any new software loaded?, KaZaA)? Uncheck as many as possible to see improvement. Right click on my computer and click properties and go to performance to see cpu (resources)usage. Also when I supported dialup 98 didnt work well with I.E 6.0 and higher. Stick with I.E 5.5 if possible. Do you have netscape? Experiencing same problem with it? It's always good to have 2 browsers to ease troubleshooting. Lastly call provider for alt phone access no#, dns no#s to improve connection, init strings (or go to site www.modemhelp.net),and have them assist you in reloading tcp/ip. Just curious does the entire pc lockup or just browser? (just clarifying) If AOL as provider reccommend uninstall software create dialup connection manually.

Hello,

I would like to help you with your problem but could you please give me more details? I need to know your PC specs, running programs on system tray, and any other information you think would be helpful in diagnosing this problem.

Abel Baron

You mentioned installing a new video card, is the "graphics aperture size" set correctly in the bios for this video card. Try going into the bios & setting the graphics aperture size to 32MB, without any real system info that's all I can suggest. Wait, what version of direct X are you running & does your video card support the version. Ok that's it.

Since the amout of freezing was reduced by changing the Hard Drive, this looks like the common Cache Problem.
Cnet is the parent of TechRepublic.
Go to cnet.com and search for the download of cacheman.
Run it, check memory usage and cache size.
The disk cache for a Win98 PC should be no more than 2 meg Min. setting, and 8 meg Max setting
If this is not the problem, use Cacheman to check RAM usage to look for a memory leak. (Second troubleshooting step.)
Regards, Chris

I alsorun Win98, and encountered frequent freezing problems. I upgraded the RAM (the original was a puny 48mb), to 160mb, by swapping the lowest value memory stick with a 128 mb one. It's very easy to do, as is a cheap solution. It worked for me.My PC now goes like a racehorse!!

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