Well...I recently got a new A-bit IS-7E. Tried intsalled everything and tried to boot up XP. I got the black Windows XP screen with the loading bar for about 0.1 seconds then a reboot every time!

Thinking it might be a memory prob I tried various different combinations. I have two pc2100 256 sticks and two pc3200 512 sticks. Tried all combinations and still the same problem. I wasn't trying to mix the pc2100 and pc3200 sticks.

So...thought it might just be a problem with XP so i tried to do a fresh install but I couldn't get the XP disc to boot. When I got the message "press any key to boot from CD" none of the keys worked and I went back to the windows boot screen but the keyboard was disabled so I couldn't even try to start in safe mode and had to wait for the timer to run down on "start windows normally" when it would just restart again.

Tried tinkering around in the BIOS too with no joy at all...always get the same restart at the same point. Is the mobo faulty? Do I need a BIOS flash? Should I take it back to the shop? SHould I just throw it out of the window?

I've changed back to my MSI 648 Max now and the system runs just as it did before...fine.

Specs: 2.8E P4, 1GB hynix PC3200 (2 sticks), Sapphire 9800pro (XT bios), two IDE HDs (80gb & 40gb), LG super multi writer, Antec 425W PSU

This sounds like a software/driver issue and not a hardware issue, but try with a single stick of RAM. You can add the other RAM later. I'm not an Intel guy, but when I'm swithcing to a new mobo I uninstall the chipset/mobo drivers (and any mobo software)for the old mobo before I switch out the boards. Do you have a spare HDD that you can try installing XP and see if the system will load.



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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

So...Is it just that i need to completely uninstall every driver from the old system? I thought I did but just realised I forgot to uninstall absolutely everything. Thanks for pointing out my hopeful stupidity to me. Was rather frustrated so rational thinking was not in operation before. Sounds so obvious now...Thanks.

Will try that now and hopefully it'll work!!! If not...I''l be posting again in an hour or so...

Someone will be here to help...Try using just one stick of the RAM when you boot...

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

Tell us about your power supply.

Sorry, I'm a turd. I just noticed that you already told us.

Reading is fundamental -

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>

Yay!

Success! Took long enough though. Went through a load of crap trying to install a fresh copy of XP. For some reason, Xp doesn't like to delete a partition when it contains an installation. Had to install one copy on another drive but when I tried to boot up and delete the original, it wouldn't format either XP partition! Good old PartitionMagic saved me there by deleting the original installation.

Now I need to connect the other HD and hope I can delete the XP partition on that...Fingers crossed this won't F*** it all up again.

Thanks for the help...I always get answers that work here. This forum rocks...

Congrats! Glad we could help.

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<font color=red>You're a boil on the arse of progress - don't make me squeeze you!</font color=red>