HELP!!! New Hardware Killed Windows!!!

I just upgraded my computer and although Linux works perfectly, the rest of my family only uses Windows. I tried installing Windows 98 and Windows ME multiple times but only recieved errors. I reformated the drive and started over, but that didn't help. I removed RAM modules one at a time thinking maybe one of those might be causing problems.

I have changed BIOS parameters in the hope that maybe one of those would make a difference, but to no avail.

Old System:
Intel 333Mhz CeleronA
ABIT BH6
128MB PC100 SDRAM

My new system is comprised of:
250w ATX power supply
AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1 Ghz
ABIT KT7 mianboard
2 Maxtor 30 Gigabyte Hard Disk drives ATA66 (1 for Linux, 1 for Windows)
Best Data 56SF2 modem
VisionTek GeForce2 GTS video card
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live sound card
Temperature is constant 78 degrees Fahrenheit

The power supply is rated by AMD so I can't believe that's the problem, but I was thinking about a new power supply anyway, maybe 350w if they make 'em.

The errors at first came at about 70% of the way through the installation, with a USER.EXE module error. After that, they became more technical, and more often. They biggest hang up was during the end part of the installation where the components are upgraded and hardware devices are detected, that crashed 100% of the time.

I'm baffled how I can run Linux (Mandrake 7.2 PowerPack) flawlessly but Windows (98 and ME) keeps shutting me out. I can't believe that Windows sucks up wattage to the point that it would starve the processor, that just doesn't make sense.

I forgot to mention I just downloaded a new BIOS version and I'm going to install that and see if it makes any difference.

BTW I've already compiled the 2.4 kernel and it works great except for a few permissions such as floppy drive access, in fact it's what I'm running right now. Thank goodness for boot disks, and also, I don't use LILO, I use GRUB, which I like better.

If I can't get this situation remedied in the next few hours, then I'm going to swtich back to the old motherboard until I can get some answers and maybe a new power supply.

Well, I installed the new BIOS, fdisked the drive, formatted it, and proceded to install Win ME. Everything went smooth until the install was 97% complete. Then the same problem I mentioned earlier bit my ass. here's the screen dump:

An error has occured:

File name VMM(12) +00001E4CE ERROR: 06 : 0028 : C0276E4C

I also recieved this error

Error: 0E : 0028 : 00000004 IFSMGR(01) + 00002C35 Error : 0E : 0028 : C0035685

This beats the hell out of me.

I saw over at AMD that a few of the power supplies are only 145 watts. Those must be class A amplifiers costing megabucks.

Well, tomorrow I'll be back to the Celeron (minus the SB Live in favor of the AWE64) and I'll overclock it to 416MHz on the 83MHz Front Side Bus. Damn it. I wait months (years) to upgrade and all this takes place. My Playstation (a 1000 series) died a while back from the infamous overheating, so I'm going to keep searching for answers. Hopefully they are out there. Thanks for the responses.

To avoid a long and drawn out family battle, I reinstalled the old motherboard and processor. Windows installed fine and is running without problems.

By the way I took a closer look at my power supply and although it's rated a 250 watts, the output is closer to 135 watts, so maybe the combination of the Global Win CPU fan and all the other hardware cause a fluctuation of the voltage enough where Windows couldn't install or run properly.

I can't say enough how immensly impressed I am by Linux and the few SECONDS it took to seemlessly switch from one board to another. I'm going to post in a few other forums and submit the problem to a few experts and see what they say. I might just end up getting another case and moving the Linux drive to that along with the AMD.