I used a program called cpuid and it states under chipset info i have a via host bridge, i am assuming is the north, but under south bridge there is nothing?? Also shows info on vga device .. S3TRIO32/64/64V+ (which would be my pci video card?) NO AGP info (because i haven't a agp card) I am sure i have a north and south bridge by looking at the board. I havent been able to start my computer except in safe mode and i'm currently in the process of elimination. Any help would be great, Thnx, bonnie.

Bonnie, I think you're barking up the wrong tree here. Have you tried to install Win95 on top of your current install? Skip

Barking up the wrong tree? What do you mean?

I mean I don't think your problem is hardware related and certainly not chipset related. Win95 will boot into normal mode (as on a fresh install) without knowing anything about your chipsets. It discovers this stuff during its initial hardware search. Even if you don't have chipset drivers, Windows will still boot normally although you won't have sound, video, modem, lan or anything else chipset related. You should have a crappy display, mouse, keyboard, and drives...and never hit safe mode. That's what I meant, Skip

So you think i should install it again? But I still will not know what the problem is...what will i lose by doing this and what do you think might be wrong?

The information you got from cpuid isn't needed. The problem you're having is most likey a software problem and not hardware. And I'm not really sure what you mean by 'north' and 'south' bridge. It sounds like a card game. If you reinstall windows over your current version and specify the directory to be the same as you have now--'windows'--then you won't lose anything. I think for windows 95 as with 98 you need to rename win.com to something else. This may not fix your problem since it may be a problem with some of the other software you have on your compter. But if you do it right it won't hurt anything. Otherwise, there's many things that could be causing your problem and there's no way for us to know for sure what it is.

Well to put it in lamens terms dave, the north and south bridge is essentially your chipset...The north bridge being the chipset closest to the cpu, agp, ram and the south bridge is the one thats further away and smaller and in the area of the pci, isa, etc. I'm sure you know what chipsets are, just never heard the phrase north and south bridge right? The term is actually used on a regular basis... Go Here, http://www.via.com.tw/en/apollo/KT333.jsp Just a little triva for you DAVE.