Steer,

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1.Defrag your hard drive.
2.Do a full scandisk on the HD.
3.Install available updates for Win98se.
4.Run the Dell diagnostics to test the hardware.
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You can download the latest diags file here.

This file contains a compressed (or zipped) set of files. Download the file to a folder on your hard dive, and then run (double-click) it to unzip the set of 1-5 files. Follow the instructions to create a set of floppy diskettes, and then use the diskettes to complete the installation.

To start the diagnostic tests boot the computer with the diagnostic disk in the appropriate drive.
The files will automatically load into the system.
The system will prompt for one several choices, depending on the extent and specificity of the tests to be run. For example, the choices will include:
(Fully test all devices, Quickly test all devices, Select Device to test, Exit to MSDOS.) Depending on the Diagnostic version,
some of these choices may not be available.
You should try running the (Fully test all devices), if any errors are encountered
when try to use this choice then use the (Quickly test all devices.)
If any errors are encountered when the Diagnostics program is running,
then it is an actual hardware failure.
Fully test all devices, will run an entire, comprehensive test on the computer system.
Quickly test all devices, will run all tests on the entire system, without running as an exhaustive test on the hard drive as the Run All Tests selection will.
Select a device to test, allows for the testing of specific components in the system; this choice is used if there is good reason to suspect a specific component may be the cause of the failure.
Within select a device to test, are several specific tests which individually test RAM, System Set (the chipset on the motherboard), Video, Keyboard, Mouse, Drives, Ports (serial and parallel), SCSI Devices, and Network Interfaces.
Exit to MS-DOS will exit the diagnostics to a command prompt.

NOTE: For most situations, you should Run Quick Tests.
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You must have the Dell Resource CD or Windows CD, in the CDROM or DVD drive.
If you have a CDRW-Drive you must also have a blank formatted CDRW disk in that drive.
Disconnect all devices from the back of the system other then the, mouse,
keyboard, and monitor.
If you have a USB keyboard or mouse, you must switch to a PS2 keyboard or mouse. USB devices are not recognized by diagnostics.
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