I have read the FAQ but it did not help me. I only boot this computer up when I need to print something. I have three computers networked (Mac OS9, NT4 and Windows 98) and this is the one with the actual drivers. One day it would not boot past an error "Conflict I/O Ports: 378 3F8" when it had worked fine prior. I have not installed software or hardware. Everthing is the way it has been for a couple of years.

I am given the option to "continue" booting past the error message by hitting F1. I did this and was prompted to insert the Windows 98 CD (of the three networked this is the Windows 98 system). I have been able to boot to my desktop and I can see all of my icon/aliases intact but it hangs up so I cannot use the computer.

Before I start feeling around in the dark I was hoping someone might have some idea what could have happened.

Thanks

PI 200mhz Windows 98 96mb RAM

It sounds Like your Bios is set wrong.
This may be due to a dead Bios Battery

378 is normal LPT port address
3F8 is the normal com port address

You need to boot up to the bios setup and allow it to find and set the defaults
Then find and set the feature in bios To allow updates
Save and exit.

it would be a good idea to replace the battery soon.

I will replace the battery ASAP. Thanks Rick.

I replaced the CMOS battery and disabled onboard ports and was able to boot up Windows. However, I have not been able to get the printer to print since. By disabling the ports it doesn't see the printer yet enabling them brings back the IO conflict and checksum error. It has been some time since installing everything in this system. I do have add on cards that allowed a game port I did not have. I do not even use the joystick anymore. I hope a simple suggestion is simpler than retracing my steps and removing the card. I may still need it for something else. It has been a long time. I am moving in a couple weeks and I do not want to devote this much time to this but I need the printing option. Thanks again for any assistance.

In the process of going through this I removed the ports in the Windows Device Manager. Now when trying to reconfigure the LPT port it wants the Windows Install disk but cannot find the file when it is inserted.

Am I correct in finding inconsistency in behavior to be the norm when resolving computer problems? I think I repeated the same thing a few times attempting to reestablish an LPT port and rebooting. Suddenly the same thing that did not work, worked. I am able to print and all is back to working order.

BanishCD is a small utility that allows you to change the path that Windows will look for the CAB files (www.analogx.com/contents/download/system/banishcd.htm)

Probably Windows is trying to find the file, on a drive with the same letter, as the drive that the Windows disk was in, that was used to install this copy of Windows. Did you understand that?
I'll re-word it.
If drive E: was used to install, then Windows is looking in drive E: for the file, but that drive letter is probably now being used for something totally different [like a HDD partition], and you now have the Windows installation CD in drive G: or whatever.
So you need to use the program above to change the drive letter in the path to the one you are now using.

What I do is to copy the Windows installation files to a partition other than C: [G: actually] and install from there, then leave the files permanently in that location. So when Windows needs a file it fetches it in a flash with none of this hassle.
If you did this you could re-run setup.exe from there to confirm the windows installation and the new address of the files would be entered in the registry.
BanishCD's method helps you do this even easier.

Go into the bios and enable the on board parallel port. Disable the on board serial or com port.