Cant Install overwhelming majority of software
 

One of my computers (AMD T-Bird 1 GHz, Windows 98, Hitachi DVD Rom GD 7500, IDE Disk Type 47 (30 gig), NEC Floppy Disc, Radeon 7200 Series (Radeon 64 DDR)) almost always freezes up when installing something from CD. I have tried a different HD, and a diffrent CD rom, reformating the hard drive, reinstalling everything.... Does any one have any idea what the problem could be? I can read CDs when not installing and unzip stuff on cd.

Have you recently added memory? You might want to check it, as bad memory can cause a lot of weird symptoms.

It could be your memory. Try a program like memtest86 to find out.

(damn, Slavakion beat me to it by >< this much...)

I have not recently added memory and I did try programs like memtest86

I'm goign to guess that if the freezes only happen when installing from cd, that it's some sort of cd/cdrom issue. If you are installing any new games, the cd's are copyprotected and there are a lot of incompatible models that can't properly read those cd's. It's also possible that the cd's themselves (especially if they are burned copies) are dirty or are starting to deteriorate and causing read errors.
I have also noticed that some of the freezes during an install is related to something that the program is doing in the background, and that could make you see "freezes" when the install is still going but not showing any updates.

I;d be willing to bet since you tried different cd-rom drives and different hard drives its an ide channel problem, try putting the cd-rom on a different ide channel, maybe the same as yoru hard drive. Or possibly just replacing the IDe cable. Also make sure you install all the latest motherboard drivers, I know Via chipsets can have problems if you don't install their "via 4 in 1" driver package.

Try copying the install files to the hard disk and then installing. That will isolate your problem better. If the programs insist on being installed from the CD, rip it to an ISO and mount the ISO.

what bal said!! sounds like it's either the IDE controller, or the IDE cable itself.