No idea but how about disabling the on board NIC and installing a NIC card?
Might be worth a shot if you have one laying around or can borrow one.

--
Regards

Ron Badour, MS MVP for W98
Tips: http://home.satx.rr.com/badour
Knowledge Base Info:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=kbinfo

"Wayne Roop" wrote in message
...
How can a network adapter(NIC) affect or be affected by the amount of
memory recognized by Windows? I have 1GB of memory consisting of a
matched
set of Kingston KHX3500 512MB DRAM's. The m/b is a MSI 865PE Neo2
FIS2R(MS-6728). The NIC is built-in and uses the Intel 82547EI chip.
Vcache
is limited in System.ini to 512MB.
If I disable the NIC in BIOS I can boot with no memory limit set. With
the NIC enabled in BIOS and installed for use in Windows the boot hangs at
"Starting Windows 98". If I limit the memory to 768MB through Msconfig I
can
boot fine with the NIC ready to use. I've had the memory up to 819MB
before
hanging repeatedly. With the NIC enabled in BIOS but NOT installed in
Windows I have no problem.
Other than memory, what could cause this? I don't have another GB of
memory sitting around to be able to swap. I did switch them around, but it
made no difference. I've Googled the 'net and newsgroups and found nothing
to help with this strange problem. I e-mailed MSI a month or so ago and
they
were no help(they did answer.) Different drivers don't matter either. I
would really appreciate any ideas.

Thanking all in advance,
Wayne R.