I am working on a computer for a friend. I am trying to re-load OS on this computer. It was running before but had some problems and seemed to be running slow and for other reasons it was decided to completely start over. I realize that this is older and not a whiz-bang fast machine like a brand new one but it is what we are working with. I have worked on computers quite a bit but this one is giving me some weird indications. I Fdisk-ed and Deleted the one partition on the 6 GB Seagate HD. Re-boot. Fdisked and created one new 6 GB partition. Format c:. Done. TRIED to reload Win98 and it took almost an hour to get to 20% done. Then it quit progressing. I know the 1 hour for loading is not right. There appears to be something about the computer that is causing it to be slow and that is POSSIBLY one of the things that caused it to be SO SLOOOW when the previous installation was running. My question: Is there some program that I can run from DOS that will diagnose the MB and Processor and Memory and HD to point me in the correct direction to what is wrong with this system? Anythng else you can recommend besides tearing it clear down and then what do I do to diagnose the pieces??? I can try all the cards in a different system but it might not really tell me what incompatibility there might be with THIS MB and processor combo.

you could probably install the os without any of the cards inserted. that might help. or it could be your cd-rom, does it run slow? tim

So you FDISK, DELETED PARTITION... Still in FDISK CREATE PARTITION. Re-boot, and with a bootdisk in Format C: All done... If you only have 1 hard drive on controller 1 make sure none of the jumpers are set. Don't set master, slave, or CS. In Bios, if IDE AUTO detect is ENABLED... disable it. Set only AUTO to where the 1 harddrive is. DISABLE THE REST. And if u have a CD rom, try setting it on controller 2. Hard drive on controller 1 (Primary) DISABLE (Secondary) Cd rom drive on controller 2 (Primary) DISABLE (Sedondary)

Download tufftest, a program that boots from its own floppy and load its own small os and diagnoses your hardware.

there are a couple of settings to check... first.. check to make sure all fans are working and system is not heating up.. that will cause major slowdown and system halts. best to use compressed air to clean out the inside of the system if it is that old. second.. make sure the processor setting is set to "default". make sure system cache's are enabled. finally, copy the windows cab files to the HDD and run setup from there.. cuts down on bus speed lag and cdrom access lag.

All the cards were out. Did the partitioning all correctly. Copied all the cab files to the HD so it isn't the CD. Hard drive on controller 1 (Primary) DISABLE (Secondary) Cd rom drive on controller 2 (Primary) DISABLE (Sedondary) Yep, all like that already. Fans are all fine. Downloaded a trial of tufftest. Ran it through on another machine. It looks nice. Still haven't done the time to run it on this one. The reason I haven't run it YET is: I tried to install WinXP. It SEEMED to work until it rebooted. It came up with a "unmountable_boot_volume" error. A little looking around says that the HD is UltraATA/DMA with a regular 40 conductor cable instead of the "required?" 80 conductor/40 pin Ultra Cable. Just got a cable tonight. Trials tomorrow. Stay tuned. Have you used Ultra HDs with regular 40 conductor cables? Have you seen any indications of any difference. Do you think this MIGHT be the cause of prior difficulties?

Update: The new 80 conductor cable fixed the 'unmountable_boot_volume' error. Still processing on XP. Don't have the modem and sound card back in yet. Now I don't know if I want to un-install XP to TRY Win98.