Ok, slipstreamed xp pro installation with sp2, Clean Install, inspects hardware config, asks me to press F6 if i want to install SCSI or RAID Drivers. then to press F2 for ASR, and then nothing, the screen hangs, cd and hard drives go idle. I know for a fact the cd works, I have another computer in the house I can test things on. Hardware is listed below and much of it is brand new (labelled) MSI K7N2 Delta-L (nforce2) (Brand new) AMD Athlon XP3000+ Barton 400mhz FSB (Brand New) Thermaltake Volcano 9 hs/fan Sapphire Radeon 128MB 9600XT (Brand New) Seagate Barracuda 120Gb 7200rpm (Brand New) 768mb DDR 3200 RAM: 1x 512 Crucial 1x 256 Samsung I don't think anything else is relevant hardware wise? if any more information is needed then I can oblige. I have played around in the bios profusely to no avail. Done the obvious things, fail safe set up, turned off caching, turned off all i/o interfaces, unplugged usb devices, turned off anything i could think of etc etc, still the same. Any help is appreciated, Thanks in advance.

If you are trying to do a clean install why are you selecting asr? You should go to the install menu.

Per, I don't think he is selecting asr, I think he is just saying it hangs after he sees that prompt on the screen. Mannix, Is your drive a SATA drive?

I just don't get it when it is talked openly every day about the best proceedures to install xp/xp-pro that it should only be installed with the MINIMUM amount of hardware. Period...No if's or but's about it.And here he is useing two sticks of ram from two different manufacturers, on a new installation. Not that I am saying it is what his problem is but why create problems if you don't have to. And yes that could be the problem since ram is used from before posting. IN THE MATTERS OF STYLE, swim with the current; in matters of principle, STAND LIKE A ROCK

Firstly thanks for the prompt replies... Per, I am not selecting asr, kurt is correct it hangs just after that message dissapears and just before the long list of deafult drivers are loaded (at least i think thats what it does). The drive isn't sata and both sata and raid are defiantely turned off in the bios so there souldn't be any conflict there. I can understand your frustration lurk but let me assure you I'm no idiot, I did fail to mention I have tried taking the 256 out and using the 512 by itself with no luck. I have even took all of mine out and swapped it with the ram i have in the other pc that the xp disc works on and still the same problem comes up. I'm contemplating installing 98 just to see if i can get an os running but this one has stumped me tbh otherwise i wouldn't of posted.

I misread the asr part. Have you tried changing the cd-rom? It may be the problem.You seem to have tried all else.

Not actually tried changing the cd drive, it seems like such a simple piece of hardware that it never crossed my mind. But indeed It seems I have tried everything else, I'll try using the cd drive from the pc i know the disc works on and get back to you. Thanks lads