Hi again Shelly,
Sorry for the delay in response as I've been busy!
I'm not entirely sure your Win98 installation can be trusted as it appears some basic core pieces of Win98 are having problems. This wasn't too uncommon with Win98 and Win98se as it had some issues that need resolution and a bit more difficult to get solid/right without a firm planning of hardware.
It looks like you already have an IRQ conflict Graphics controller and Audio controller. The entries for "Steering" you can ignore- those are a placehold for each IRQ so most IRQ's should have two entries: a device + IRQ holder for Steering (most, not all). You may wish to enter the BIOS and disable any devices not used- such as spare serial ports or such. Sometimes ya gotta disable some things in hopes of shuffling IRQ's around for Win98. Happily, this is a thing of the past with XP.
Your motherboard/system is long past it's end of life, you support will need to be home-brewed vs. looking to MSI. Luckily VIA Arena is a site for hardware junkies with old VIA based systems, which your system is VIA.
Your system has the VIA MVP4 northbridge and VIA VT82C686A Southbridge. There are fixed/patched drivers that have been worked on since MSI stopped supporting your board.
Unfortunately, it's important to do several things first with Win98- such as isolate and fix all IRQ conflicts first, then install the OS, then some very important OS critical fixes, then the chipset (northbridge) drivers.. from there, south bridge drivers- then drivers for all your add-on hardware or cards (if any). If you haven't done too much work already, you may wish to consider fdisk/format and starting over as it may yield better success. You can use your basic install NOW though to isolate and fix IRQ problems.
If I were in your shoes, I'd do the following:
1) Use the Win98 now to get all IRQ conflicts handled. VIsit the BIOS and see what you can disable. COM2 usually comes to mind, and possibly COM1 if they have no modem, serial mice (not usb) or other serial devices.
2) Once all conflicts are cleared/no shared IRQ's (and BIOS has been triple checked for enable/disable of devices you wish to use and wish to disable) you can then format/wipe out and re-install Windows 98 se.
3) Once Win98se is installed, the FIRST thing you need to do is apply the IDE Cache fix. Without this fix, just about every time you are asked to restart your computer or shutdown, you're likely corrupting data on your disk lol (BIG screw-up on Microsoft's part):
http://www.microsoft.com/Windows98/downloads/contents/WUCritical/q273017/Default.asp
4) You then install Winzip (floppy or cd) so you can perform the Chipset 4-in-1's. I recommend the 4.43's found here:
http://www.viaarena.com/Driver/VIA_4in1_443v.zip
5) If you are using the integrated motherboard video, it should be the KPLE MVP4, which you can get the drivers here:
http://www.viaarena.com/Driver/KPLE_WinME_3124_logod.zip
If you are using a 3rd party AGP card, you can skip this for now and complete after everything else. It's also important if using a 3rd party AGP card you have the integrated video disabled in the BIOS or by motherboard jumper.
6) Obtain the VIA Audio drivers here:
http://www.viaarena.com/Driver/vinyl_audiocodec_v680b.zip
If you are encountering problems AFTER the northbridge/4-in-1 driver install, you can patch your MSI Installer here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...d8-c094-4255-b702-de3bb768148f&displaylang=en
If you are having difficulty getting Windows Update or other components of IE working properly, you can update your IE for Win98 here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...cb-5e5d-48f5-b02b-20b602228de6&DisplayLang=en
Good luck!
