i start up my computer and a short time after starting up, it freezes and the mouse is frozen in place... i've havn't tried too much, but i cant install a firewall because it freezes... Any ideas why its doing this and how to solve?:

Will it boot into Safe Mode?

To get into Windows 98 / ME safe mode, as the computer is booting press and hold your "F8 key" on the top of your keyboard or press and hold the left or right Ctrl key as the computer is booting. If done properly you should get into the "Windows 98 / ME Startup Menu". In this menu choose option 3 by pressing the 3 key and press enter.

Note: With some computers if you press and hold a key as the computer is booting you will get a stuck key message. If this occurs, instead of pressing and holding the "F8 key", tap the "F8 key" continuously until you get the startup menu.

yes, i've been in safe mode before and i am in it now...

As Safe Mode only loads bare necessary Windows drivers we can suspect a third party driver and or it's associated hardware.

The first suspect would be your graphics card. Do you know the make and model of it?

I would suggest uninstalling and then reinstalling the drivers for it.

okay, but i dont have software for my graphics card, how do i re-install this without access to this?

It is most likely ATI or nVidia based.

Both have all the drivers on their web sites.

You need to know your model of card.

It should be listed in the Device Manager as either Display adapter or if it is not recognized it will be listed as Other devices.

You can open Device Manager by double-clicking on the System icon in Control Panel, and choosing the Device Manager tab. It is also accessible by right-clicking on My Computer, selecting Properties, and selecting the Device Manager tab.

will this graphics card be called a graphics controller??, listed under "Display Adapters?" because its an Intel(R) 82810 Graphics controller and i have found updates for the controller and driver on the Intel site, however i can not find the graphics driver anywhere on my computer...

That is what you want yes.

See if you can install it.

If there is any problem installing it the computer manufacturer might have a better match.

okay so i downloaded the graphics controller update, i've placed it in a folder to place on my flash drive, but it claims that this is a read only file and i can not place it in the flash drive because its read only, does this have anything to do with the fact that its a Setup file? will it do anything to my computer if i set it up on my computer, then place its components on the flash drive?

You want to run it on your computer.

Run the Setup.exe and it will install the driver.