Newbie looking for a hand

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bigbucks

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Hello to all. I am a new guy with not alot of computer knowledge- YET! Looks like spending alot of time here will help.
OK here is my problem. I am putting together a new system for my brother. He had a 4 year old HP pavilion 6630 with only 500 Mhz. I had already installed a CD burner and a secondary hard drive, plus I replaced the modem because of a lightning strike. So instead of throwing it away I decided to build a new system using some of his stuff. I bought a motherboard/ cpu combo and used his CD drive, floppy drive, modem, and both hard drives. So, I bought a case with a 350 watt power supply, and a motherboard/cpu combo. Here are the stats:

K7 triton motherboard GA-7VT600
VIA KT600 chipset
256 mb DIMM RAM
Nvidia video card (low dollar)


I put it all together and fired it up. It starts up but anything I try to do locks it up. It still has Windows 98 and I can't get it to do anything. The instruction manual has a section on BIOS setup but it really doesn't explain how to do anything. Is there something I have to do in BIOS?
Windows 98 starts up but that is it. All the old icons are there but if i try to run a program it locks up. CTRL, ALT, and DELETE wont even clear it. I have to shut it off with the button and restart it. Also, upon startup I get a message saying MRTRATE.VXD is missing- press any key to continue. I think I am in over my head.
Also, the sound is very low and in the FAQ section of the manual it says that i should get speakers with amplifiers built in. Would a sound card do the job and be a better option?
So, I guess my question is what can I do to get it running, or would it be better to put on Windows XP instead of messing with it? Thanks in advance for any help. It is greatly apreciated.
 
boot up in safe mode, remove ALL devices under my computer and reboot...

or delete and then reinstall the OS - which of course means resinstalling all of your programs. . ..
 
it is not wise to use parts from a computer you know has been hit by lightning or otherwise from a severely damge pc. those parts can slowly kill your new components from your new computer.

i read this in an article where a guy put parts from a computer that was put together wrong and it fried the system. so the guy uses the muse, keyboard and other parts to make a new computer which slowly and mysteriously dies.
 
umm

Well if iwas you i would not use components from a lightning storm which effected the modem which could have effected something else in the computer. Aslo you should try reinstalling you operating system, i doubt he has anything that important in his harddrive.
 
Thanks for the tips guys. As for the modem being hit by lightning, that was a year ago and I used the new one in this system. I dont think there was a problem with any other parts, cause nothing else ever turned up. So I deffinately don't think I have any lightning damaged parts in this unit.
I tried running the system restore disk that came with the original HP pavilion but it wont run. I will try to remove all devices under my computer in safe mode and rebooting. I'm not really concerned with loosing data and reinstalling programs. That wouldn't bother me at all. Thanks
 
Went from bad to worse. I removed everything in the device manager under safe mode and rebooted. But when it rebooted it kept loading everything 2 or 3 times (the software and drivers). Well, I don't know what happened but now I can't even get it to turn on the monitor. Even the keyboard wont come to life. So now I am REALLY stuck. Looking for advice from the smart guys (and gals :) ).
 
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