New processor gives registry problem

I've just hit a problem an I *think* I can see the cause but can't see how to solve it!

On a machine running Win98SE, I've just upgraded the processor. Now when I boot into Win98 I get the message, "Windows has encountered an error accessing the system registry. Windows will restart and repair the registry for you", I press 'OK' and it reboots and runs a DOS looking "Microsoft Registry Checker" which says, "Windows found an error in your system files and restored a recent backup of the files to fix the problem".

This then takes me back to the beginning with, ""Windows has encountered an error..."!

My guess is that in the registry the key, HKLM\hardware\system\CentralProcessor\0 identifies the CPU installed and now it's different. Now matter how often I restore the registry it will always be different!

If I put the original processor back in, everything is back to normal again. Reinstalling Win98 is no help, presumably because it sees no need to replace the existing registry file.

It seems to me that I need to be able to tell it to reload its knowledge of the CPU but how can I do that? Any ideas gratefully received.

 

reinstalling windows 98 WILL recreate the registry as long as you install it OUTSIDE of windows (boot from cd or boot disk and run setup that way...NOT by booting into windows and running setup). the downside is that you will have to reinstall all your software.


have you tried scanreg /fix?

 

Well, I DID install Win98SE from a booted CD and the registry did not seem to be affected (at least the problem did not go away). I did not lose any of the program settings (and I never have in the past, having gone through that procedure).

I've not tried regfix partly because it seems that this is what the system was doing anyway and partly because once booted with the new processor, pressing the OK button on the dialog causes the machine to reboot and although I could probably run it without pressing OK, I'm a bit wary of running programs on a machine which wants to reboot.

It has been suggested that the processor is defective. Any thoughts on that?

 

Has the Windows IDE Hard Drive Cache Package from http://microsoft.com/windows98/downloads/corporate.asp or the update site been applied to this system? There is a chance that the new combination shuts down w/o completely writing the registry.

Another good possibility is that the RAM was damaged (or unseated) on the install - you might try reseating it. Are the front side bus settings correct for the new processor in the bios?

The board will handle the new processor w/o a bios upgrade?

You might also "reset configuration data" in the bios (never hurts).

 

I'll check out the Windows IDE Hard Drive Cache Package

One of the two RAM DIMMS was removed and replaced (and again to make sure it was not causing the problem) but with no joy. Of course, there is no problem identified with the original processor.

The board (GA-7VTXE+) claims to support Athlon 500MHz - 2GHz but it might be worth while looking at any BIOS upgrades

"reset configuration data" is probably worth a try.

Many thanks for some constructive suggestions.