Win98 box, several odd problems

[Redfallon]

Office computer, Dell, early p4 having some strange issues. Problems printing large files (usually pdfs') through a connected laserjet 2100. Printing to other network printers is hit/miss also. Computer occasionally has a "fatal exception error" and often won't release renew it's IP address on the network. Strangest thing of all, downloads from the internet won't work. The download page loads, but no redirect and no download. Even manual FTP downloads won't work. Have checked for virus, spyware scans with updated adaware/spybot, no luck. Anyone have any insight into this? I've tried rolling back IE and tried upgrading to IE6 sp1, neither fixed the problems. The fatal exception most often occurs in IE. Nuke/pave is not a nice looking option. Any suggestions appreciated, thanx in advance guys and gals!

[GaryRouth]

. . . seems like it could be a number of things, but for a quick fix try, what about uninstalling/reinstalling the networking? Try removing DUN from the Setup tab in the Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, and removing everything in your Network applet as well. Reboot, and reinstall Networking in Add/Remove, and reinstall the adapters drivers.

If that doesn't do it, try a similiar approach with the printer drivers?

If some of the errors seem random in nature, you might run diagnostics for the memory and hard drive.

And there's always the SwissArmyKnife approach: an over-the-top reinstall - but you've got to be extra careful nowadays to get patched up immediately after trying one [enable your firewall first thing], since you don't want to be on the Internet unpatched/unprotected.
. . . Gary