[eds-dad]

I am building a PC for myself at home, and have come across a build error that I have not encountered before.
I am trying to build a P4, 1gb ram, etc etc with either xp or 2000 (I now don't care which) HDD's are new, as are the IDE cables, motherboard and RAM
I can format the HDD's as FAT, and install windows 98 with no difficulty. I can load other software on top of that and it runs fine.
As soon as I try to install 2000/xp it crashes. It is fine copying the files over, and fine immediately after that. It gets to the "please wait checking your PC's hardware", flashes black and re-boots. I get the dual boot option and it will correctly go into 98 if I ask it to, but gets stuck in a loop otherwise.
I have built loads of PC's using the same discs, and of similar spec. In fact I am co-building one of almost identical spec and it has no trouble at all.

any one have any idea what the problem might be?

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did you try running diagnostics on your hardware? check if there is any BIOS update for your motherboard.

[samiko]

did you try running diagnostics on your hardware? check if there is any BIOS update for your motherboard.

[eds-dad]

yes, I have tried. There is no update for the board that I can find, and the hardware all checks out when you scan with win 98.
I am assuming that it is a hardware carsh that is causing it?

[samiko]

it looks like a hardware issue.
what devices do you have plugged and connected to your PC?
disconnect any removable media like usb keys and SCSI drives, keep it simple and sweet.

[eds-dad]

I have done that. I have two CD/DVD drives, On new HDD, and a 128mb video card. Everything else is removed.
I tried starting the PC with an old win2K HDD in it, and that reported an error as well!

[samiko]

how much RAM do you have on your machine?

[eds-dad]

1 gb as 2 x 512, both new, andboth check out via the on screen boot message.
I am wondering whether it might help removing one of them and the 128mb video card incase they are being over loaded during the hardware test phase?

[samiko]

you RAM looks fine to me, I am not sure about your graphics card though. Its worth trying.