Protection Error

[Managarm]

I bought a second hand Pentium 4 machine on wednesday and I'm going to put Linux on it. There were loads to choose from and in the end have decided on Ubuntu. It has good reviews and on their website you can order free CDs. The machine came empty and so to test that it works I tried to install Windows '95 which I got with another machine. It installed fine but when I restart the computer I get a message saying "Error initializing device IOS: Windows protection error. You must restart your computer."

Now as far as I know doesn't this error message mean that there could be something physically wrong, specifically the memory? I ask because when I bought the machine the guy stuck an extra 256mb of RAM in it? Could this be the problem? I'm not too bothered if this is a Windows thing but if it's a physical problem I need to know soon as there's a seven day warranty on it. (starting from Wednesday.) Any help on this non-Amiga topic would be much appreciated.

[Managarm]

Thanks. I was thinking of just downloading my new OS anyway but the problem is that I don't have the internet at home. I think I'll head to the internet cafe. I'm at work now and I clicked to download the live CD and it started coming up with an estimated time of 38mins which is not bad. I really hope this is a peculiar Windows thing and not a hardware fault.  

[Managarm]

Great, thanks for that. I'll test it when I get home. :-)

[Managarm]

The replies flood in, thankyou!!! I really hope that it's something as simple as my CPUs going too fast. The old PC I was given a few months ago was only a Pentium 2. (Incidentally it's now gathering dust as I entered into something called 'DLL Hell' and have decided that Windows hates me personally.)