Tmsnake1

Ok 1st off let me just say that Ive been building computers for friends and family memebers for a few years. Im not saying I know everything about them, but Ive managed to get this far without a problem.. So anyway here goes.

Ive got an Asus MotherBoard P4b533-E and a Pent4 1.7 processor, 256mb Kingston Ram, IBM 20GB HD, and ATI Radeon 7000 Vid Card. I dont see a reason that any of these would not be compatable with eachother but if someone knows something I dont let me know.

Here is the problem. During the install of XP pro (which ive done well over 100 times) The system crashes. I reboot start it up again and it crashes again during the install. Keep in mind i have nothing else in the system. Barebones! ON the 4th try of installing it works and installs fine.. But i really didint change anything. Once windows is loaded it works for a while and then just hangs. Sometimes it takes 20 seconds to hang other times 10min. This is with nothing at all installed. Not even the drivers for the Motherbaord. Ive even changed the VId card and still same problem. SO i can eliminate that as a problem. But, in safemode the computer works 100% ok. So im not sure where to start here. Is this a defective Motherbaord or is it a software conflict. Any help at all would be great. Thanks!

egghead

Try different ram. bad DDR ram causes all sorts of issues. If you don't
have extra memory sticks to try, try forcing the memory ratio to 1:1 with a
FSB=100. This will underclock your memory, causing it to run as
PC1600/DDR200. If this solves your issue, you know it is your ram.

cheers
egghead

---

Tinker

You may want to check the BIOS settings to make sure you are running in 400 Mhz FSB. From what I have read about this board it will run 400/533 FSB. While in the BIOS make sure the settings for the graphics card are correct. Go to the ATI site and see what they recommend for BIOS settings. Also as Egghead suggested check you RAM, always a nasty place for problems.....

Tmsnake1

After changing the Ram, Hard drive and processor. It was still Crashing. I then put all those parts on another Motherbaord and BINGO. It works.. So its the Friggen Motherbaord. Grrrr. Now i have to see if Asus is going to send me another one but while im at it I might as well hope to win the lotto.