OS will not boot properly

[radioshack]

Hi

I've built a couple of new systems with no problems and also successfully replaced a motherboard in an old PIII. I'm now tring to get a computer built from used quality parts and I'm tearing my hair out trying to get the OS to boot.

The specs are: MSI MS-6315 M/B, 733MHz PIII CPU, 128MBRAM, 13GB HDD.

After buyilding the machine the BIOS came up OK and the XP installation from CD went according to the book until the system had to reboot.

It just won't boot from the HDD. Mostly it just freezes after it goes the the BIOS diagnostics. The wierd thing is I sometimes get a very feint windows startup screen on the monitor. Starting in safe mode, it starts loading drivers and then freezes.

I've swapped hard drives, Swapped RAM, Swapped cables, changed the boot up sequesnce in BIOS, tried repairing the installation from the XP CD.

Nothing has got me any further.

I'd appreciate advice from anyone who has had this sort of experience.

Cheers

[CaptainMoustache]

sounds to me like a hardware problem, but that is the worst case scenario. When you say you swapped those components, did you move them around or test different parts?

[glc]

I'd download and run diagnostics on the hard drive first. 128mb ram is pretty light for XP - you may want to dig up some more ram, and test what you have.

All major hard drive manufacturers offer free diagnostics for download. Memtest86+ is an excellent ram tester.

Are you sure you don't have something overheating? It's easy to install a Socket 370 heatsink incorrectly on an exposed core processor.

[radioshack]

I actually tested different parts that I took out of a working computer. So far the only things I have not swapped are the CPU and the motherboard.

[radioshack]

Originally Posted by glc I'd download and run diagnostics on the hard drive first. 128mb ram is pretty light for XP - you may want to dig up some more ram, and test what you have. All major hard drive manufacturers offer free diagnostics for download. Memtest86+ is an excellent ram tester. Are you sure you don't have something overheating? It's easy to install a Socket 370 heatsink incorrectly on an exposed core processor.

Thanks for the response.

I'm sure the problem is not the HDD as I've swapped it with one I know is working and nothing changed.

I'll install some more RAM and see if it helps. I'll also check the heatsink, but the temperature seems to be OK from looking at it in the PC Health section in BIOS setup.

[radioshack]

Hi

Sorry it has taken so long to reply on this.

CaptainMoustache was right. It was a hardware problem. The motherboard appears to be the problem.

Thanks for the help.