Some Athlon boards crunch with Win95A

Taiwanese motherboard manufacturer Epox has issued a warning that installing a version of Windows 95 on its Athlon 7KXA motherboard which uses a Via chipset can cause BIOS corruption. But a similar problem appears to affect other Athlon mobos using the KX133 chipset too. According to this Epox page, installing the retail release of Windows 95 4.00.950 (Retail Release) affects the BIOS, meaning that a consumer's PC will not work next time it is rebooted. Epox is suggesting that the best workaround for the problem is to avoid installing this particular implementation of Windows 95, instead installing OSR2x or later. However, if the BIOS is damaged, consumers will need to contact their suppliers or Epox themselves to arrange for the BIOS to be re-flashed. C'T magazine, has more information on the problem, which you can find here. According to this piece, which is in German, the problem is not just restricted to Epox, but other boards, including NMC and Aopen boards, are also affected by a similar problem. That would seem to suggest that the conflict is with the chipset and the OS, rather than the Athlon microprocessor. No one from Via was available for comment at press time. ®