XP Installation Problems

[dantheman]

I'm having a little problem with my new pc I built.

My pc was working fine for about 2 weeks. It was perfect, not a single
problem. Then, two days ago, I heard a funny noise for about 2
seconds. I didn't think it was serious, but i rebooted just in case.

Unfortuetly, my pc would only boot up to the first windows screen, with
the little blue bar, and then would freeze. I could get into safe
mode, I tryed troubleshooting that way, but again, after about three
additional reboots, It would freeze booting into safe mode.

I tried to format the drive, and reinstall windows. But I cannot
complete the installation; it always freezes at different times.
Usually, I can format the drive over, but past that, I'm lucky if I get
to the GUI portion of the install.

My first suspition was the RAM-new RAM had the same problem. Then I
got a new hard drive-same problem again. I swapped out all the cables,
and flashed the bios, to no avail.

I'm now going to try replacing the power supply. It was a small supply
that came with the case, so I would'nt be surprised. But if anyone has
any suggestions, it would be greatly appriciated!|

Thanks!

 

[johns]

Need to know what parts you are putting together. A noise could be
sound card
getting weird data at bootup, but who knows. Really, only thing I can
recommend
is to pull everything out of the case including the psupply. Hook
psupply to mobo
with nothing else attached except the case speaker, and jumper the
start pins
to see if the mobo will post. If it does not post, then at least you've
only got to
test the psupply, mobo with cpu and just one ram stick in place. More
than likely,
it will be the mobo, or the psupply in that case. However, if it does
post, then
go the rout:
1. plug in video card, and see if it posts .. if yes, then
2. connect monitor and floppy drive, and boot to something .. DOS ..
and
wait a while to see if it freezes up. If not, then
3. connect hard drive and wait to see if it freezes. If yes, try
another psupply.
If still yes, you have a bad hard drive that is loading the supply.
If no,
connect the cd-drive and repeat above. If no then
4. install minimal OS with no drivers. If you can't, then you have a
bad
cd. Try cleaning it with your t-shirt. If you get the OS to
install, then
5. Put everything back in the case, and see if it boots. If not, you
are shorting
your mobo to the case somehow. If yes, it boots, then you should be
able to tell what the problem is as you add back the rest of the
stuff and
load drivers.

johns