System Specs System Board: ECS PT800CE-A (new) CPU: Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz w/ Hyper Threading Tech (new) 512 Mb RAM PC2700 (DDR333) Single Chip (new) Video Card: nVideo GeForce2 MX400 w/64Mb vRAM (PCI) (used but working) Mouse & Keyboard: Basic windows keyboard and new optical mouse Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda ATA IV 80Gb (used, tested as working) Case & Power Supply: Antec SLK3700-BQE with 350w Power supply (new) Optical Drive: I/O Magic DVD writer Drive (new) No floppy drive installed. I have recently tried to assemble a new computer with the above parts for use as a linux machine, but after installing the OS and booting from the hard drive, the computer would lockup and stop responding to any input at the point of loading the GUI. I tried starting the computer using the live cd with the same results. I have tried to install other OS's as well, Windows XP Pro SP 1 and Windows 2000, to see if the problem was with the software, but had similar results. Windows 2000 would go through the process of loading the basic drivers at the start and then lock up at the point when it says it's "Starting Windows 2000". Windows XP would display a console screen that said something like 'detecting system settings' and lock up at that point. I have tried working with each of the 3 OS's with the CMOS settings at factory reset, fail safe, and optimal, as well as with Hyper Threading turned on and off for each setting, but with same results. I have also tried running the Ubuntu live CD with the hard drive disconnected with the same results. The video card was taken from a slightly older computer running WinXP Home SP 1, since this system board does not have on-board video. I do not have access to any other video cards that will fit this system board to test with. I suspect that the problem is with the system board or processor, but I have no idea as to what the specific problem is or how to correct it. link to company's site with system board specs: http://www.ecsusa.com/products/pt800ce-a.html

Are you running this with a 200 clock setting for 800FSB? If so the memory may be overclocked. I'm not an Intel person so I am not sure about running RAM asyncronisly. You should be using PC3200.