Clean install your previous Mac OS 9.X CD and all the Apple updaters. One good backup is to drop your system folder on Disk Copy and then make an image file (don't bother compression) and - voila! there it is. Or partition. My preference is to backup, initialize, do clean install, apply the Mac OS Updater - using the Drive Setup from the updater.
I would try turning on "Mac OS 9.1 All" extensions first though.
Unlikely but maybe you a) have an extension that isn't needed now with 9.1, b) need an update to the driver to those devices.
I thought my USB PCI card wasnt' working. Needed to be reseated, and possibly extension(s) I needed before for USB modem were now part of 9.1 (but I also installed the recent USB DDK 1.4.7f2 which is posted for public download testing - look on MacNN for mention and/or VersionTracker).
Greg