my friend has this emachines with a stock processo that is an intel celeron, im not sure exactly which one, im too lazy too look at the front of the case but it works at 2.9 ghz. i recently upgraded to a 4400+ in my pc and a new mobo, and had a hp mobo (msi ms-something) and a 4200+ amd laying around. now the processor that came with my computer was a 3700+ and i switched it out with a 4200+. my stock mobo did not say that it had support for dual core processors, or the amd x2 series, but it ran it all the same. now i have sold my mobo and processor to my friend and after installing the parts we boot up the computer. it gets to the boot screen, satys there for about 4 sec, and then restarts. it will do this all day it simply wont boot up xp. however it works perfect in safe mode for one use, then you have to activate windows the 2nd time u use it, and you cant do that in safe mode so were out of luck. now is this a compatibility issue between the mobo and processor? cause it worked fine in my computer, or is it a driver issue between the new parts? i have installed the graphics and sound drivers in safe mode, and would have updated the bios, but it was unsucessful. i have tried installing windows to his other harddrive with no OS currently on it and it will copy the setup files in the setup mode, but when it restarts to actually install windows all it does is show a black screen and it will stay black. nothing happens, so i cant even install a new os on it with the new parts. im thinking of getting a new mobo for it, but will this fix the issue? or what the heck is going on here. Amd X2 4400+ @2.4ghz 3Gig Corsair Msi-Ms-7184 mobo ATI Radeon x850xt pciXpress 256mb Antec Trupower 430watt Creative soundblaster pci 200Gb seagate IDE 7200rpm 250Gb Samsung SATA

You need to explain the situation a little more clearly. I'm fairly sure you don't need another board. And why would you attempt to flash the BIOS on a setup that was previously working fine? Are you using the stock eMachine PSU? Are you sure it's capable of handling the new hardware...enough wattage & amperage? What RAM are you using? Has it been tested with memtest86 to confirm that it's good? Was XP already installed on the HDD, then you swapped the board? If you can supply more details on how you went about this swap, one of us should be able to help you sort things out. Let me get this straight about your system though...you went from a 3700+, "upgraded" to an X2 4200+ , then "upgraded" again to an X2 4400+? If you're not taking advantage of the dual core, you're no better off now than you were with the 3700+.

i know about the whole 3700+ to 42 to 44 and i am taking advantage of the dual core. i can do more with it, and yes, it isnt as good for games, but it does well enough. bout the same (unlike the 4200 which sucked total buns) and the setup with the emachines is all the psu, mobo, and processor were swapped out with all of the stock parts from mine, except ram, but his is rosewill 1gig ddr400 which is the exact same thing mine takes, and i havn't tested it to see if its good though, i just know that it works in his other board. Windows xp was installed on the main HD of his computer, but there was none at all where i tryed installing another one. basically i just took the parts and swapped them, and they should have at least booted windows in normal mode Amd X2 4400+ @2.4ghz 3Gig Corsair Msi-Ms-7184 mobo ATI Radeon x850xt pciXpress 256mb Antec Trupower 430watt Creative soundblaster pci 200Gb seagate IDE 7200rpm 250Gb Samsung SATA

Still a little unclear, but if XP was already on his HDD, then you swapped the board, it won't work...you'd have to do a "repair install". If you tried to install XP on a formated HDD on his new setup & ran into problems, double check that all the BIOS settings are correct & memtest the RAM. And when attempting the install, start off with minimal hardware & disable the onboard stuff (sound, LAN, etc) until the install is complete.

ok, none of anything that was suggested worked, i still have no clue what the problem was, but i ordered some restore cds that got here today, i restored the drive to factory condition and now it works perfect. Im backing up his files to get ready to do it again on his harddrive as im typing this, but at least i know it works now. (i could use the hp recovery discs because it was my old mobo) Amd X2 4400+ @2.4ghz 3Gig Corsair Msi-Ms-7184 mobo ATI Radeon x850xt pciXpress 256mb Antec Trupower 430watt Creative soundblaster pci 200Gb seagate IDE 7200rpm 250Gb Samsung SATA