As long as there's enough of it, PSU wattage is a non-issue, don't worry about it. You could use a 5000 watt ATX power supply...if such a thing existed. Your PC only draws the power it needs.

Try other keyboards. Some keyboards allow for more keys to be pressed at the same time than others. The issue is with the keyboard you're using, it doesn't have anything to do with your other hardware or your operating system.

/EDIT after re-reading your post it looks like I might have misunderstood you.. "several presses of the same key"? What do you mean by that? If you press the space bar, do you then have to press a different key before the space bar will work again? If so, throw the keyboard in the trash.

How do you know for sure that it's the mouse that causes the PC to freeze? Try using a USB mouse or boot up without a mouse connected and see if the freeze still happens.

I have never dual booted with XP and Windows 95 but it seems highly unlikely that Windows XP would be affected by the contents of a config.sys or autoexec.bat on another partition than the one its installed on.

The Soundblaster Live!/Audigy cards DOS Soundblaster emulation sucks. I would get a dedicated soundcard for DOS only.

many times if for example i press 'B' key for 5 times,
would only type one 'B" (or any other key)

this problem is more acute in winXP (SP2),
and rather diminished in win95

the same keyboard works OK on another PC
(with only winXP SP2)

about the mouse:
again, the same mouse works in the winXP on the other partition
(or with another computer altogether),
but in win95/win98/ME (tested with all these) it freezes the computer many times (requiring cold restart)

i don't have a USB mouse
(and how to use one in win95?)

thanks for the power usage explanation

BTW, does the same work for memory,
meaning can i use a 233 MHz memory module
in a PC whose mainboard requires memory of max 166 MHz
(if it fits in the slot) ?

thanks again

Yes you can use modules of different speeds. The faster memory modules will operate at the speed of the slowest one.

I forgot about USB and Windows 95. I think there was a USB update for Windows 95 but it's probably not worth pursuing, not sure how stable it is. I only ran Windows 95 for a very short time on my first PC back in '98.

Maybe your motherboard's PS2 ports are failing? This can happen if you plug or unplug PS2 devices while the power is on.

Or it could be a hardware conflict under Windows 95. But then it's strange that the keyboard works better in XP. Check your BIOS for PS2 port settings, look for hardware conflicts, try different keyboards/mice. Try booting without the mouse plugged in, maybe the mouse doesn't like the keyboard?
Sorry I can't think of anything really useful to say, it's a strange issue.
Good luck.

There seems to be alot of instability issues with your system.
Does it have a fresh windows install or it is old?

From my past experience:

-pc freezing for a second then resuming can be a symptom of ram issue. I had one pc doing this, replaced the mismatched pair of ram by a matched pair and fixed the problem

-When dealing with older pc i always inspect motherboard for
busted capacitors, if they are swollen or leaking, they will need to be replaced or your computer will never run well.

-I would also do a good checkdisk, corrupted data/damaged hard drive can make you life miserable.

*If you opt to reinstall windows, check all the above first and do a "low level" format if you suspect hard drive problems.

*I also recommend getting Hirens boot disc and Ultimate boot disc. They are both free utility disk packed with goodies to help you troubleshoot and repair computers.

hope this helps.

To add to MaxWar's post, is your computer well ventilated?
Does your PSU have enough juice for your rig? Could you give us full specs (or better, pics) of your PSU and your rig?
Have you tried swapping IDE cables? It could also be one of your cables isn't tightly secured

As told before, check for hardware failures and known incompatibilities first. Just to sum up important points:

1. Check your BIOS/CMOS for safest settings (defaults), loosen up RAM timings, disable overclock if any.

2. Check those pesky peripherals (keyboards, mice) on a well working computer.

3. Boot with a minimal hardware setup first (basically with a single RAM module, HDD, video card).
BUT NOT the OS on your HDD, but a Linux Live CD or Hiren's boot CD or DVD etc. Do a deep analysis of the RAM module, check for stable voltages (compare with BIOS readouts), check your HDD thoroughly. You can add other hardware one by one and check them as well.

4. if all went OK, boot into the OS on the HDD (preferably a clean, fresh install) and you can start deploying the carefully collected and selected drivers... Plus the tweak utilites you might need to reconcile the chipset and video card (like Rivatuner)

5. Check for correct DirectX installation and DMA usage (no DMA conflicts, all hardware operating at their highest specs/capabilites...)

+ the latest version of WIN95 OSR2 (I do not remember, maybe it is ver. 2.5) the bare minimum I would recommend with latest patches, USB supplement, Erpman's fixes etc.
BUT seeing your hardware, you are better off with WIN98SE + KernelEx + Win98SE2ME transplant

Hope this helps.

I just wanted to point out that the brand of the PSU is more important then the wattage. I'd rather use a 300W A-brand PSU then a 500W El-Cheapo PSU

But we'll just have to wait and see if the TS returns our replies 😉

thanks to all, indeed, for your answers

but i should mention i'm not THAT technically inclined to be able to put to practice some of your suggestions

as for PSU, indeed a cheap one (probably, don't know brands on this topic)

i noticed the PC now also quickly freezes in winXP (on another partition)

i thought twas due to the 3dfx v2 card which i only recently re-inserted in that PC, and was about to promptly remove it (can only use that PC for about 1 minute or so before freezing), but then i realized i installed no drivers in XP for the 3dfx card (presuming an un-drivered device cannot produce conflicts)

i'll try switching IDE cables

other than that, the only thing i can think of (at my technical level) is that i partitioned badly that HDD

i recently re-read some detailed articles on the matter, but perhaps they were too detailed (my head still hurts)
and i frankly don't remember how if i partitioned the drive

some very quickly tips would be WELCOME
(especially what to watch out for when partitioning)

again, thank you all

No, with incorrect partitioning you would not even be able to boot into the OS in most cases. So I think you have OTHER problems with the PC.

I am afraid you will need on-site help (a skilled person checks the PC for you).

Still, you can re-install the OS from the CD and when asked about WHERE to install the OS, you can select delete partitions and then you should create a single partition and re-format the HDD (full format, not quick)

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/operatingsystem … txpclean1_7.htm

Freezing up shortly after boot can also be caused by a Power Management issue, and basically any Service or Application with delayed startup, you should check the Event Log.

Even though you may not have the technical knowhow and tools to change bad capacitors on your motherboard, you can still easily check for obvious signs of them. Simply go to google image search and type " bad cap " see if you have any of those. At least you would know.

Pics would help 😉

well, i checked all hardware, and also all BIOS settings.
to my (not-so-trained) eye all looked fine.

so i removed both the geforce fx 5500 card & 3dfx v2 card
and now the PC's fine (no more freezing/crashes)

done that in one session, so not sure which one was the problem.

now, of course, not many games would run on the onboard videocard,
but at least the PC is usable

i also changed the keyboard, and under winME no more typing problems
(but under winXP there still are problems with repeating character when keeping pressed a key)

again, many thanks to all

someday i will try again the 3dfx v2 card (some old games are among my favourites); hopefully, it wasn't it which made the problems

as for fx5500, i'm sorry for its TV out (on my other other PC, never to this date managed to get the ATI card's TV out to work;
tried various drivers, incl. custom, also various settings);
strange, as i have had a number of nvidia cards and never had a problem with TV out

cheers

After you install Windows XP, your computer will load boot.ini first and Windows XP bypasses config.sys and autoexec.bat right away, so they are not affected at all. If you mess around with some AGP settings in BIOS setup maybe you can get your FX5500 to be stable (it's AGP, isn't it?).