Memory or Motherboard Prob?
 

I was given a secondhand computer ( P4 1.5g Abit BW7 m/b) with no hard drive or memory. I fitted a hard drive (formated it) and 128mb memory. The computer booted and passed the POST. I went to load windows 98se however and this is when problems started.

Part way into loading it stops and gives "Bad Fault in MS-DOS Extender" and "SUWIN caused segment load failure in module KRNL386.exe at 0001:947D"

A bit of research said maybe a memory problem so I put in a brand new 256kb Kingston Ram. Tried all slots. Still same problem. Some other research suggested disabling the cashe. I did this and managed to load windows (took 4 hrs !).

Still no luck though. Gives "fatal exception 0E at 0167:BFF9DFFF"

Next morning the computer booted into windows ! Hoo ray!!!
But it only lasted about 2mins and gave a fatal exception error again!

HELP

Is the Motherboard a dud?

Probably a long shot but this Microsoft link gives a few reasons for the first error (bad extender). It mentions BIOS being out of date (unlikely on a P4) but you might want to reset the BIOS to default or safe settings if poss. I wonder if "it" is remembering an old configuration before you put the new disk in.

Charles

Terrey,

Note the CMOS settings and then restore factory defaults. It's possible that some setting is not compatible with your setup.

Just a thought

SD

Terrey,

I would flash the mobo with the latest BIOS. When you do the install, strip the computer down to bare bones. (Keyboard, Mouse, Vid, RAM, CD-ROM, Floppy, Monitor.) See if you can get Windows to install then.

Take Care,

Richard

Wow Naples, you are a genius!!!!!!
I flashed the BIOS and it all worked a treat!!
Thanks everyone for your help.
Love your work!

Terrey,

That is great news! :ok:

Take Care,

Richard