Windows Install Problem

[BFD Deadeye]

Hi all,
I'm trying to get Windows installed on a computer. It's a custom built 266 MHZ, 128 MB RAM, and a 20GB HD. I have tried 98, ME, 200, and XP and they all freeze during setup when you enter the user info. I have tried a barebones hardware install, and switched RAM.

I did reset the BIOS, and it did boot into Windows ME safe mode. So I know it installed ME. I can only browse around in safe mode for about 2 minutes, and it locks up, then gives me a Windows protection error BSOD, then shuts off. The first time I got into safe mode, it gave a fatal error referring to mstime.dll. I did a Google search on that to no avail.

I'ts my son's machine, and I remember a few years back, the only way I could load Windows, was to pop his HD into another machine, load it, pop it back into his machine, and do the ENUM trick. I'd like to get to the bottom of this problem, though, so I'd like to avoid doing that again.

Once Windows is loaded, this has proven to be a very stable system, so I don't think it is the proc or MOBO. Any ideas?

[Force Flow]

Has it been overclocked?

[BFD Deadeye]

Negative. It's all standard.

[bonzai]

It would be nice if you had all the extra hardware available to troubleshoot this, so you can find out which one exactly is the problem by switching them one at a time.

What you have been doing so far is good, installing only with the barebones required hardware, which is processor, hard drive, video card, RAM, and motherboard that's it.
First load Fail-Safe Defaults in the BIOS and save. Try installing again.

It could be bad RAM, but you said you've switched it. Could also be an overheated or damaged processor, which I am guessing. It would be nice if you had another compatible one with the motherboard to try out. I'm not sure if the video card could be the problem, but I would think that would be the least likely culprit. The ideal thing would be that you are able to troubleshoot this one item at a time. Switch the processor and see what happens.