Witsend wrote:
I can now ping websites... however... no application requiring
access to the internet connection will run without fatal error...
:-(

IE continues to fail immediately on start up, with the same error
as previously. OE fails with MSIMN caused an invalid page fault
in module unknown at 0000:00580404.

A good first step with any error message is to do a google search on
the error message.

For example:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...known%3E&meta=

One of those results is this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/238585

Read that and see if it applies to you.

I'm going to run down a list of probable reasons why your win-98
system is unstable:


1) Your hard drive is more that 5 years old, and has developed bad
sectors. Run Scandisk and do a surface scan. You may have to replace
dammaged files from their original CD or from the internet.

2) You haven't run scandisk for more than a year, and you have
crosslinked files. Again, run scandisk. You may have to replace some
system files that have become corrupted.

3) The memory in your system has become faulty, or needs to be
re-seated. With the computer turned off (and up-plugged from the
wall), and with the case open, wiggle the memory modules with your
finger. If your system has less than 128 mb of memory, try to add
more to bring it up to at least 128 mb, and 256 mb if you can. Wiggle
or re-seat your video card while you're at it. If there's lots of
dust in your computer (especially on the CPU fan, heatsink, or inside
the power supply) then try to blow out all the dust. Dust buildup
prevents airflow and causes system components to run hotter than they
should. Some components don't operate properly when they're running
hotter than they should. Your CPU fan may have failed and doesn't
rotate any more, or maybe it's jammed with dust.

4) There are some things running at startup that are causing problems
or otherwise don't need to be running. Start your system, and when
it's up and running, go Start, Run, and type "msconfig" and hit
enter. You will see a bunch of tabs. Select the Startup tab on the
far right. There will be a bunch of entries with check-boxes. What
items have a check in the box?

5) Your system needs to be updated via the WindowsUpdate website. See
if your system can access the website
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp (using IE).

6) Your system has been infected with a trojan, worm or virus. There
are a few things you can do, but I won't outline them here until all
of the above have been eliminated as posibilities first.