> I had thought that the main problem was a corrupted registry/win98 and
> attempted to reinstall this from the original disk. The instillation
failed
> but for some reason it changed things so that now, while we still get the
> "OE" errors and other messages which occasionally crash the system, we can
> generally keep the computer on and go to AOL for extended periods.
However,
> now we no longer can access the net at all. I don't think that AOL is the
> cause because I installed a clean copy and still had all the same
problems.
>

 AOL in versions 4.0 and later muck around with a *lot* of critical Windows
system files.  In order to have it work properly you may have to fdisk
your DOS partition, reformat the HD, install Win 98, then install AOL
again.  If it comes to this, make sure to back up anything that is
not replaceable (documents, spreadsheets, personal financial information,
etc.) because it will all be gone afterwards.  (This is one of the many
reasons people who are tech-savvy move away from AOL at the first
possible moment.)

Maybe someone will have a better idea; this is the Last Resort Option (tm).

Hope this helps,

Xylis (nick on #tenchiff)