Win 98se startup problems

Ok this is finally driving me nuts. I just did a fresh install because I've been having this problem for some time now and I thought it would help but it didn't. The problem is upon startup/restart windows doesn't load, it just locks and hangs. And now its not wanting to load into safe mode everytime.

what I've tried.
1) reformat and fresh install with all the latest and greatest drivers
2) msconfig and disabled all startup programs
3) set to process system ini files only
4) tired step by step confirmation about half the time its the only way i can get it to start
5) scanreg nothing out of whack
6)installed all the windows updates


my components {no problems with anything}
ecs k7s5a pro it did it with the newest bios and cheepoman upgraded bios for ocing
xp2000 pally
nvidia tnt riva 16mb pci card yeah I know with latest drivers
256mb kbyte ram memtested perfect
wd hard drive no bad sectors been a perfect drive
norcent 52x cdrw
best data 56k v92 modem

I know its not a hardware issue it has to be either a driver issue or something in the software but I can't figure out what any suggestions any thought on ways to detect wich driver it could be?? I've looked on microsoft support and did everything they suggested and I've googled it and haven't found any help there.
Thanx in advance for the help or suggestions

[Chuckiechan]

Can you start it with a boot disk from the A drive?

not sure what you mean by that I can put a disk in the drive and boot yes. Do you mean put a startup disk in the a drive and then start windows from my hdd? I can boot up regularly sometimes just not evertime...guess i should clarify that. It gets almost there and then dies and hangs that why I'm thinking its a driver. Just can't seem to figure out wich one

[Brainchild]

Sometimes a reinstall, leaving the OS on it works miracles.Just tell it to save the system files.I had to do that last night myself.

well if anyone else can think of anything i can try post it up I won't be back till sat night any thoughts suggestions would be great. I'm thinking it might be a bad static virtual device driver (VxD) but I'm not sure and not going to dive too deep into it tonight

[Chuckiechan]

I'm in agreement with brainchild about the reinstall. I would also do it with only your video card, and remove your other cards and delete them from the device manager so Windows dosen't even see them.

Note: you have checked your device mgr for duplicate installations, I will presume.

I really suspect a driver conflict. Also, I have the same board - I think and I can only OC to 143/143 using cheapo, but it is as stable as a rock. Maybe you are too high. Try going back to defaults, then disable Lan & on board sound (if you aren't using it). Then set the OC to 143/143. Leave the rest of the settings at default.

Also, try a different ram slot.

G'luck...

Well it doesn't have anything to do with oc'ing because the problem was there even with the regular bios running at normal sppeds.

Its a fresh install and there are no device conflicts listed but I'm with ya on thinking about disabling onboard everything and removing the cards and going one bye one on the new install. Thats about the only thing I haven't tried and it didn't occur to me to do it till i was out of town this afternoon.

Another question??Chuckiechan and others with this board if your running win98 have you gotten your rear usb 2.0 ports to work?? and what did you have to do? I don't have front usb in this case and haven't hooked them up yet and need my usb ports but when i try to use them it autodetects and says unknown device?