Crucial is a bit more expensive than bottom of the barrel memory from newegg, but it’s worth it.
Also, the memory test that runs at boot time is a joke. I went through two faulty 1GB DIMMS, and the POST memory test never complained about them. If you suspect a problem, get Memtest-86.
I believe this sentiment should have been prefaced with ‘IMHO’ or ‘I’ve always had good luck with…’ or some such thing. There’s plenty of worthwhile, non-Crucial.com memory out there.
To the OP, this is actually one of the best parts of building it yourself. You learn. It costs a shit-load. But you learn. Mostly you learn to back the really important shit up.
There’s a problem with some timing loop in something related to the network that causes a divide by zero error; unfortunately, it’s been about a year since I dealt with it. (I can’t seem to find my notes on the subject either.)
I do remember that turning off the networking didn’t help, MS online support didn’t help. I know you had to follow through the install, boot into DOS with a floppy, and replace certain files with new versions, which were a pain to find online. (They were not on MS’s website.)
Also, on a system with a “large amount of ram” (500 MB+), W98 has severe problems allocating memory too; turn off as much of the virtual memory as possible, and running in “server mode” helps too. (You can do this from the Properties menu on My Computer. It will claim this is a problem, and I think it asks you if you are sure you want to do this.)
It’s possible. It doesn’t like it, but it is possible.