GameBanshee Forums

Help guys, my old PC has become very unstable. I recently installed Norton AV 2002 (God, I hate Norton, it's like having a virus in your PC, such a system hog--but I've been getting emails with the Klez virus like every day, so I need it).

Yesterday, I ran out and bought NWN. Tried to install it on the new PC and found out I need Win2k Svc Pack 2 (I have Svc Pack 1), so I couldn't wait so I went to the old PC and tried to install it there. Before doing that, I decided to uninstall BG2 and ToB. ToB uninstalled fine, but BG2 is still listed on the Add/Remove Programs list and it put an uninstall BG2 shortcut on the desktop??? Why? Then I tried to uninstall Grim Fandango, and the computer hung during the uninstallation. Had to reboot with the reset button... The red light was not on while I rebooted, so I was hoping it didn't freeze while it was writing to the hd. Then, I tried to install NWN. When it asks for Disk 2, it freezes completely halfway into the installation. I tried doing it again as a minimum install with no textures selected, but same thing happened. Any idea what is causing this? Then I read about a lot of conflicts between NWN and SB, so I went to upgrade the drivers for SB--PC froze during installation!!! I have the feeling there's a worm or trojan horse that Norton isn't finding... Now the old PC is totally unstable, and freezes up frequently. Guess that's motivation to finally network the 2 pc's, so I can save important files to the other's hd (I just received my cable router)

BTW, the sys info for the old PC is:
Athlon 800 mhz cpu
Asus A7V/Via KT133A Apollo chipset
Visiontek Nvidia Geforce 2 GTS 32 MB video card, latest Detonator drivers installed plus Direct X 8.1
SB Live Xgamer sound card (need the latest update, but installation problems are preventing this)
256 MB RAM
80 GB Seagate Barracuda hd
Pioneer 16x DVD ROM
Win ME (awful, I know, but no cash yet for a full version of Win2k)

I sense an fdisk/re-format/re-install in your future . . .

I've heard that Windows ME has a lot of compatibility and stability problems, so unless you're really attached to it, I'd try to russle up a copy of Windows 98SE and run that instead.

I've seen WinME crash within 3 days on a very new off-the-shelf HP Pavilion. I simply don't trust it.

HLD has made a very good suggestion in finding a copy of Win98. Older, but so much better.

I'm about to break down and order a full version of Win2k ($245!!!), which is what I have on my other PC. It's totally stable, and I like it a lot more than WinXP. Seems I've been seeing a lot of complaints about xp on the forums out there, too. WinME sux--it's true. I've reformatted so many times, sigh...

My problem with Windows 2000 is that it's a resource hog. I think I read somewhere that it consumes the equivalent of a P2-200 MHz in system resources just to run the operating system. We have some P3-500 machines at work that came with Windows 98SE, but our IT people wanted Windows 2000 so we re-imaged all of them and our desktops's performance has taken a serious hit with most applications (especially when I want to play X-Wing: Alliance or BG2 at work).

My experience with Windows 98SE is that as a general-purpose home use operating system, it's very stable and comes with very low overhead in terms of system resources. That said, I don't swap out a lot of hardware and when I do something drastic (like switch motherboards) I usually do a full format/re-install anyway. Again, unless you are absolutely smitten with Windows 2000, I'd try and pick up a copy of Windows 98SE at a computer shop, trade show or over the internet (even if it's used) because Windows 98 is the best of the Microsoft 9x operating systems and is much more efficient than the NT/2000/XP monsters.

Originally posted by HighLordDave
My problem with Windows 2000 is that it's a resource hog. I think I read somewhere that it consumes the equivalent of a P2-200 MHz in system resources just to run the operating system. We have some P3-500 machines at work that came with Windows 98SE, but our IT people wanted Windows 2000 so we re-imaged all of them and our desktops's performance has taken a serious hit with most applications (especially when I want to play X-Wing: Alliance or BG2 at work).

I find that it's not so much processor intensive, but a huge memory hog. I wouldn't run either on anything less than 256MB RAM.