Reply 40 of 50, by darry
I sympathize with OP's situation/plight, but, similarly to other posters, my issues with Windows 98 SE after (or even during) a fresh installation have been mainly due to, AFAICR,
a) bad hardware (off the top of my head) :
- capacitors issues on an MSI MS-6330 (in 2002 or earlier), for example
- bad RAM
- bad L1 cache on a Celeron 300 (non-A) (crashed at specific point of Windows install with L1 cache enabled, worked with L1 cache disabled and replacement Celeron 300 worked fine with L1 cache enabled)
b) bad/unstable drivers for specific devices
c) Not installing the VIA 4-in-1 drivers ASAP after Windows 98 SE installation on some VIA chipset motherboards
Obviously, I can't say for sure what's happening in OP's case, though I agree that multiple hardware issues are possible and even likely, to a point, with hardware this age, the degree of bad luck he seems to be having seems atypical .
Maybe there is some variable we are not seeing/considering that is coming into play . Possibly either something environmental or even something in appearance innocuous that the OP is doing systematically by force of habit that contributes to this (OP, I am not accusing you or doubting your competence in any, just trying to imagine what might be happening).
I assume there are other non-Windows 98 SE machines in the same room that are working fine (are there?).
What about input/output peripherals ? I mean, I would be very surprised if a keyboard or mouse was to blame for all this, but maybe something powered externally from the PC, like the monitor or maybe even the powered speakers. Is everything powered from the same wall outlet ? If it sounds like I am grasping at straws, it's because I practically am 😉 some slightly, but not fully, defective electrical device generating intermittent very low-level EMPs ? 😉 I will now stop with my outlandish hypotheses before I look crazier than I actually am .
As an anecdote on a related subject, I can share the experience that a friend has with an unstable Windows 8.1 PC (when that OS was current) that crashed several times a week, even with only a keyboard mouse and SVGA LCD monitor connected . This lasted for months, until the whole PC setup was moved to another room in the house and the issue never manifested itself again . At the time, I suspected an odd electrical issue or even proximity with the furnace (though PC actually go moved closer to it, AFAICR) as possible explanation, but I never managed to come up with something that felt plausibly likely . Maybe a driver update or Windows update or some other software update fixed a long-standing issue and, by coincidence, that occurred at the same time as the PC got moved .