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music_beans
11-07-04, 06:22 PM
I have Windows 98 Second Edition with an ATI Rage 128 graphics card.

Recently, my computer has been hanging at random. Usually when it happens, I would be playing a Shockwave game, minimizing or restoring a window, scrolling through a web page, opening up a menu, or typing a message here at DBSTalk. After it hangs, there is usually a visual error on the screen (ie half of a window that was being restored).

I have the most recent ATI Rage 128 driver (although in the settings it says its a Rage Fury Pro)

Can you help?
SimpleSimon
11-07-04, 10:42 PM
My gut feel is a bad RAM stick, but it could be almost anything.
nsafreak
11-08-04, 12:08 AM
Could be a lot of things really. I've seen anything from a bad RAM stick to a power supply that was going bad cause this type of problem. What changes have you made to your system hardware or software wise before this started happening?
music_beans
11-08-04, 06:52 PM
None.
DonLandis
11-09-04, 03:23 AM
Must be an old computer- Have you looked inside lately? Maybe the CPU fan is not turning or huge dust buildup causing a lack of cooling.
music_beans
12-06-04, 07:39 PM
Sorry I was so late in replying. Last time I checked, the CPU fan wasn't clogged with dust. (just the usual dust buildup). And, despite my last reply, I added a second hard drive to my computer. I don't think the cause of these errors is RAM, or the CPU. I have the feeling its my graphics adapter.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;175148

Here is a M$ KB article about it, although the cards listed are a bit old. I bet my Rage128 is based off them. I tried all methods listed (getting latest drivers, adding DevBMP=0 to Win.ini which caused fatal exception errors)
cnsf
12-06-04, 07:56 PM
If you have the option in your bios, try to clock down the card. You may have a bad clock ratio for it.

It really does sound like a cooling issue though. Have you tried a different video card to try and narrow down the problem?
music_beans
12-06-04, 08:03 PM
No. Im not able to since I don't have another video card, or that my BIOS doesnt have that option.

I still doubt its the CPU causing the problems since the hangs occur at random times. They dont happen at fixed times. The computer could be on for days before it hangs, or it can be on for just 10 minutes, and hang!