Again, I want to know if the graphics card is safe like this.

If you don't have random freezes on your machine or there is no sudden tearing or "fuzzy lines", then it should be fine.
Basically, if you inserted it correctly and deep enough into the slot and you've fastened the bracket properly to the chassis, then it shouldn't give you any problems.

I got another card. GeForce4 MX 420 and it fits, old drivers fixed it as the latest don't work, same with the FX.

Old thread I know but saves creating another.
I also have this problem on my Windows 98 SEmachine. Sometimes DOS programs / games will launch and sometimes not. I get the blinking cursor and nothing else.
Windwos 98 SE boots without issue

Like the @MrEWhite I cannot 'exit' to boot into Windows 98 SE but can by pretting alt + ctrl & del.

I'm using a Voodoo 3 3000 AGP GPU and Soundblaster Live! PCI soundcard. I tried reverting to older GPU drivers and this worked and allowed me to launch things in pure DOS mode (rebooted into MS DOS) however a reboot or two later and having changed no settings it stops working again. Thinking its a conflict in autoexec or config.sys, specifically the SB Live. I do note that when I boot straight into DOS, selecting F8 then command prompt there is a differeing IRQ used for SB Live! DOS emulation
I see SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6 which is set in my AUTOEXEC along with SET CTSYN=C:\Windows and C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\DOSDRV\SBEINIT.COM
But then
Creative Audio @ Port 1020, IRQ 9
Initialization Complete

When launching DOS from F8 and selecting command prompt, games and programs launch and can type 'Win' to get back into Windows.

These are my configs which I presume are incorrect

AUTOEXEC
SET BLASTER=A220 I5 D1 H5 P330 T6
SET CTSYN=C:\WINDOWS
C:\PROGRA~1\CREATIVE\DOSDRV\SBEINIT.COM

CONFIG.SYS
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICE=C:\WINDOWS\EMM386.EXE NOEMS

I then tried removing the DOS emulatiion drivers. Same thing, fine when booted straight into command prombt but rebooting from Windows 98 SE into DOS it doesnt work. I just set IRQ to 9 in here, so now 'SET BLASTER=A220 I9 D1 H5 P330 T6' and it worked.
I'll put the DOS driver back on and see how I get on

It seems whatever I set in AUTOEXECT get reset to IRQ 5 after a reboot. If I set it to I9, then restart in MSDOS mode it works but after rebooting into Windows the IRQ is set to 5 again which break things. Even editing ctsyn.ini in C:\Windows top SBIRQ reset to 5.

I have an ISA Soundblaster 16 arriving this week anyway so hopefully can rip this PCI card out and not have these issues

edit - I reinstalled drivers based on these for the Live! https://www.philscomputerlab.com/sound-blaster-live.html

This was instead of using my original CD as I had before. This time I see the following even when rebooting from Windows into MSDOS

Creative Audio @ Port 1020, IRQ 9
Initialization Complete

Still broken however. Tested going directly into command prompted with F8 and the same appears "Creative Audio @ Port 1020, IRQ 9, Initialization Complete" but this time works and able to start games and programs

A bit further. It seems the issue might be my USB 2 5 port PCI card conflicting with something. I took the USB card and things started working. Reconnected and DOS apps no longer launched.
No IRQ conflicts appear in device manager. USB 2.0 card using IRQ11. I tried disabling serial and parallel ports in BIOS but this hasnt helped

For anyone interested, i've narrowed this down to a conflicting IRQ (even though device manager says there isnt) between the Soundblaster Live! emulation driver and my NEC 5 port USB Hub. I tried IRQ sharing on the emulation driver but that didnt help. If I disable the emulaion driver it works, if i disable the 5 port hub drivers, it works.

I guess if booting directly into command promopt, the NEC USB hub drivers are not loaded so things work fine