I tried deSitters suggestions and it did not clear up. I even reset the DSL Router (no more DSL, but it does DHCP) and still no luck.

On my Celeron 700Mhz system I installed Windows XP Pro over 98SE, and got the same results. A freeze for 30 seconds and then a lockup, or a "bad pool error" or something about a bad pool or the pool was too large. Then I get control of the system again.

Any ideas besides the switch to Linux?