Hello A friend of mine has a strange problem with his computer. It's a K6-2 450MHz CPU, 64MB Kowa PC133 (I think) DIMM, and a MVP4 Motherboard. The problem is this: The only operating system I can install in Win98SE ... just! I've tried all other MS OSs with no success ... sometimes not even as far as copying the install files to the HDD during the installation procedure ... It's not the CDs, because I've used them on subsequent machines and they all work fine ... When I install 98SE, if I try to install ANY other piece of software, it just blue screens and after a reboot, Explorer no longer runs ... I managed to find a PDF manual for the motherboard to make sure the jumper settings were correct but there doesn't seem to be setting for either a 450MHz or 500MHz K6-2 ... Could anyone email me the jumper settings they use that they know work fine? I've even tried knocking down the speed of the CPU using the M/B jumpers to 300MHz but there's no difference - it's still flakey ... I'm wondering if it's a CPU/MBoard compatibility problem or possibly even a duff memory stick ... I had a problem some time ago with a new PC which wouldn't install OSs because they memory wasn't compatible with the M/B ... I know the K6 chips aren't exactly the World's most favourite processor but surely they should be slightly more reliable than this ... Any help would be greatly received. Many thanks Nick

Could it be the CDROM in this computer?

Hi Badboy I don't think so because I can get 98SE installed ... it's just when I try to install any other piece of software, Explorer crashes ... I'm going to do some "out-of-case" tests with the M/B today - just 'cos it's easier to get to all parts of it ... I'll post whatever results I get ... Cheers Nick

The reason that I ask is that I had a CDROM go bad one time and as it failed, it got “picky” about the CDs it would and wouldn’t read.

Did you try going to the AMD site and see if they have the jumper settings? I haven't been there in a while, but they used to have a section for the K6-2(maybe called archive now) that had recommended boards and their respective jumper settings for a particular chip. Here is the link: http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_1260_1217^1101^2342,00.html Does that motherboard support the proper core and I/O voltages? I had a K6-3/450 that I bought with a board used. Turns out the board revision wasn't high enough. The jumpers and such were there, but it would crash when trying to load Win95 or Win98SE. I had to go back to a K6-2/350 and worked like a charm with Win98SE. Needed a patch for Win95 for timing issues,(patch available on the AMD site or possibly a link to the Microsoft site). hth

Forgot to add that you might want to try posting in the CPUs/Overclocking forum, too.

Hi Frank Thanks for the reply ... I had a niggling feeling it might be something similar to that after looking at the jumper settings in the manual. Strangely, it has (in order in the manual): K6-2 300 K6-2 333 K6-2 350 K6-2 380 then K6-2 533 (!!!) K6-2 475 but no K6-2 450 or 500??? Weird! I'm going to try and find a 350 and see if I can get things working ... Thanks for your help! :o) Nick and noticing the largest it doesn't have any for a 450 or 5