I have been trying to install windows on my computer i recently built. I have tried windows xp pro and vista ultimate. Every time i try to install it it freezes like 3 min into the install. I've tried multiple copies of xp and just one of vista. I've checked to make sure all of the components were compatible with each other. I've replaced the motherboard twice and the ram once. I was able to use an old windows floppy and was able to format the hard drive. The same thing happened every time. I'm not sure if it could be the cpu. From what i read it seems it wouldn't let me run certain things at all. I've done bios updates for each board i used. Used different dvd roms. I have no idea what to do! Does anyone have any suggestions?

How new are your hard drives? Don't forget... http://www.techlivenow.com

Last time I had installation problems There were bad capacitors on the MBoard. Worth a look. Bad caps showup as either leaking an oily substance or the top of the cylinder is bulged up. If the MBoard is pretty new that is unlikely but easy to check. Definately sounds like some kind of hardware issue. Harddrive could be the issue too as bigdave commented. PSU is a likely candidate too. If you couldn't prep the drive with the XP CD that points to the drive. Are you using an 80 wire cable on the drives?

What's the Manufacturer of your PC? Life is more painless for those who are brainless.

Never flash your bios unless you find specific info in release notes or related that tell you it will cure a problem you are having. You are taking a big risk when you flash your bios - if the flash fails, and/or the flash chip physically fails while flashing (this is COMMON - these cheap flash chips can only be flashed an unpredictable small number of times), you will have a mboard that will not boot. Windows Setup is very sensitive to CD read errors. Try using a laser lens cleaning CD in the drive. Of course, make sure the CD is clean and free of major scratches. If the CD is a copy, if it is on a CD-RW disk, sometimes older drives will have problems reading it, or any drive may have problems reading it if it was not made in the same drive - try copying it to a a CD-R on a computer with a drive that can read it 100% reliably, and use the CD-R instead. If it is a recent DVD drive, it may require you use an 80 wire data cable with it even when it is by itself on the cable, in order to avoid read errors. Windows Setup is very sensitive to even tiny ram reading errors. See response 2 in this - try cleaning the contacts on the ram modules. http://www.computing.net/hardware/w... If you use a ram checking utility, such as memtest86, do that AFTER you have cleaned the contacts. Ram that works fine in one mboard won't necessarily work fine in another mboard - it has to be compatible with the mboard, which is primarily determined by it's chipset. See response 5 in this for some info about ram compatibilty, and some places where you can find out what will work in your mboard for sure: http://www.computing.net/hardware/w... Correction to that: Mushkin www.mushkin.com Check your hard drive. See the latter part of response 1 in this: http://www.computing.net/windows95/...

I built the computer myself. Here are the specs. Intel core2duo E4300 (did nothing to it) Seagate Barracuda 250gig sata hd (was able to partition and format) G.skill 2x1gb ddr2 800 ram (returned once) Geforce 7950 gt 256 pcix16 (tested in different systems) Msi p6n nforce650i sli (no longer using, returned) Ecs P965t-a (returned once) Coolermaster 350watt psu 20 pin atx power connector and 4 pin aux connector (did nothing according to the mobo manual i can still use it even thought mobo has a 24 pin connection and a 8 pin aux connection) liteon dvd drive (used multiple drives) Windows xp pro (tried 2 different copies. Real disks pretty much perfect condition) windows vista ultimate (tried one copy brand new)

Thank you all for the suggestions but i've tried everything besides replacing the cpu and psu. The bios updates i did to the mobo were all good for it and the cd's are pretty much in perfect condition. As far as compatibility everything should work and i've also read forums of other's with the same cpu/mobo/ram combo's. Now this happens every single time no matter which parts were installed. I try to install windows and it freezes near the beginning when it saids setup is loading files... or something like that. Now with each different part i used it would stop at a different point in the same process. I would always hear the dvd drive stop spinning and then the screen just sits there doing nothing. Sorry for not being specific with when it freezes but right now i cannot put that thing together and go through it again... This is what i have not done Replace the Cpu Replace psu Replace Hard drive Try a different brand of ram Try a different video card Try a different case... So I think i might try a new cpu or psu next... please more suggestions please i'd like to get this over with... This have been by far the most difficult time i've had building a computer.