Hi, I have a couple of questions that I hope can be answered by someone
here.

To make a long, sad story very short I recently had a new motherboard
installed. It's an A7N266-220D-VM (Asus) and with that I also upgraded
to 256MB RAM and an 80GB hard drive.

1) Is this a decent motherboard? I previously had a Pentium 3 (450MHZ)
but a friend of mine told me that my new MB is actually less powerful
than my old Pentium. Is this true?

2) My previous system only had 126 MB RAM but it seems I could run many
programs at the same time. Now with my 256 MB RAM I seem to encounter
memory problems running less programs that what I ran with my smaller
system.....so my question is: is this a problem with my motherboard OR
should I give in and upgrade to WindowsXP? (I'm currently running
Windows98....maybe it can't handle such a powerful system???)

3) I cannot turn my computer off. Not through the start menu, not
through cntrl - alt - delete and not by pressing the on/off button (as
soon as I release the button my computer reboots even after holding the
button for 10 seconds!). Does anyone know why this would be happening
and if there is a fix for it somewhere?

Thanks!

Regards,
Liana

Liana wrote:
>
>
> 1) Is this a decent motherboard?

Asus is a very good brand (I don't know the particulars of your model)

>I previously had a Pentium 3 (450MHZ)
> but a friend of mine told me that my new MB is actually less powerful
> than my old Pentium. Is this true?

No. And the statement is rather stupid.

>
> 2) My previous system only had 126 MB RAM but it seems I could run many
> programs at the same time. Now with my 256 MB RAM I seem to encounter
> memory problems running less programs that what I ran with my smaller
> system.....so my question is: is this a problem with my motherboard OR
> should I give in and upgrade to WindowsXP?

Never try to upgrade to solve a problem! Sounds to me like the whole job
was not done correctly.

>(I'm currently running
> Windows98....maybe it can't handle such a powerful system???)

Nonsense.

>
> 3) I cannot turn my computer off. Not through the start menu, not
> through cntrl - alt - delete and not by pressing the on/off button (as
> soon as I release the button my computer reboots even after holding the
> button for 10 seconds!). Does anyone know why this would be happening
> and if there is a fix for it somewhere?

Sounds to me like the whole job was not done correctly.

>
> Thanks!
>
> Regards,
> Liana

> To make a long, sad story very short I recently had a new motherboard
> installed. It's an A7N266-220D-VM (Asus) and with that I also upgraded
> to 256MB RAM and an 80GB hard drive.
>
When you upgraded to 80Gb, was a 'clean install' done or was the old
hard drive copied to the new drive?
What speed processor was included with the motherboard?

> 1) Is this a decent motherboard? I previously had a Pentium 3 (450MHZ)
> but a friend of mine told me that my new MB is actually less powerful
> than my old Pentium. Is this true?

I agree, nonsense!AMDs work very well and Asus has quality products.
>
> 2) My previous system only had 126 MB RAM but it seems I could run many
> programs at the same time. Now with my 256 MB RAM I seem to encounter
> memory problems running less programs that what I ran with my smaller
> system.....so my question is: is this a problem with my motherboard OR
> should I give in and upgrade to WindowsXP? (I'm currently running
> Windows98....maybe it can't handle such a powerful system???)
>
Was this new memory or was the old 128MB also used?
Specs call for 2 x 184-pin DIMM Sockets support max. 1.0GB
PC2100/PC1600 non-ECC DDR SDRAM memory
If you have 2-128mb boards, try removing one at atime to see if you
encounter memory error messages. Or take it back to the shop and have the
memory tested.


> 3) I cannot turn my computer off. Not through the start menu, not
> through cntrl - alt - delete and not by pressing the on/off button (as
> soon as I release the button my computer reboots even after holding the
> button for 10 seconds!). Does anyone know why this would be happening
> and if there is a fix for it somewhere?

Check you control panel/power managementadvanced settings for the 2
or 3 options for what the pc will do when you press the power button,
typically:hibernate, reboot or shut off are the choices.
Here's a reference site
http://www.blueowltechnologies.com/pm98Configuring.asp


If its possible for you to do a complete fresh installation, that
will be an option, although its normallly the last option if nothing else
works.
If you have problems opeing multiple applications, and get windows
error messages related to memory, try removing the memory sticks and reseat
them one at a time.
It could be they are not making clean contact with the socket or
there is a bad chip. They should be under warranty, so handle carefully and
follow anti-static procedures.
It would be helpful to have the exact wording of any error messages
you receive. Also, you should question whoever did this work for you on
whether the correct motherboard drivers were installed, video drivers also
may need updating and the Windows 98 should have all critcal updates, except
perhaps Internet Explorer 6. There are some reports it does not work well
with Windows98.

And I agree. Do not upgrade to Windows XP because you are having
problems. You would need to run an XP compatibility test to be certain all
your hardware and software will work correctly, and if you choose XP, I
recommend a clean installation, which basically means erase everything on
your hard drive before installing XP. You will need to save whatever files
you consider important to CD, floppy or another hard drive if you still have
your old one; thats will work.

Hope this helps and good luck.

markh