Completely Stumped

[lpc300]

Hi all,

Hope someone can help with this problem...it's got me stumped. About a year a go I built a system for a friend for her birthday. Small form-factor computer, Here are the components: Asus A7V400 Mobo, AMD 2400+, 256mb RAM, WD 40gb HDD, Memorex DVD-RW, FDD. The case, though small, has a 400W PSU...something difficult to find. All the parts were new except for the HDD, which came out of her old system and the DVD-RW which I canabalized from my 'B' rig. Using Norton Ghost I created an original configuration image on a DVD-RW just in case of emergencies. During Christmas break, her daughter came home from college, got the system infected with viruses and after a lot of work, it was easier to just use the image, which worked fine. Two weeks ago, daughter came home for break and guess what? Computer is all screwed up, again. It was unbootable, this time, with a BSOD reporting that Windows system files are corrupt. I decided to run the image. This time when I rebooted, I didn't get a BSOD, but instead got error messages saying that Windows system files have been replaced by unrecognized versions...Windows will now shut down. Tried to restore from the image several times...same result. Figuring it may be a harware issue, I took it home, disconnected the HDD, connected a HDD that I knew worked, tried to restore from the image. Same result. With WD's diagnostic software, I wrote 0's to her HDD, the tried to restore. Same. Did the same thing with my HDD. Same. Figuring maybe the image was corrupt, too, I tried to install a fresh copy of XP Pro. Did a full (not quick) format and started to install. At 4% goth an error saying that Windows was unable to install a file. When I tried 'Retry' it installed. At 43% got the same error. This time 'Retry' didn't work and I had to abort. Tried to reinstall several times both with her and my HDD's with the exact same results. The files that couldn't install, weren't the same each time. Next I tried a different optical drive. No difference. Figuring that there was the possiblity that my XP copy was damaged I installed it on a working system. No problem installing.

I am totally stumped as to what could be going on. Any ideas?

Thanks in advance.

[glc]

Start by testing the ram.

www.memtest.org

[lpc300]

206,000+ errors so far. Guess it's the RAM. Thanks GLC.