This system was running fine on W98. Decided to push it up a notch, to XP Home. I replaced the old 1 Gb WD HD with a 60 Gb drive. I had some issues with the old AGP video board and replaced it with a newer model. ( I tried two different, new, video boards.) Now when I start the install of Home, it gets to a point where it says 'Now starting Windows". It hangs there and never comes back. I decided to try reinstalling the old W98 system. It gets to the point where it asks for the COA numbers and before I can finish typing them in it hangs solid. There are no error messages or beeps. Nothing to indicate a problem. I even repartitioned the HD and reformated, but no change. I am at the point of looking for a new MB and CPU. Does anyone have any ideas I can try before I do that? Thanks. Bob A positive attitude won't solve all your problems, but it will annoy just enough people to be worth the effort.

What CPU and RAM are installed on the MBoard? What PSU? Are the settings in the BIOS for RAM and processor correct. The instructions for Windows will tell you the computer may hang up for long periods. Is the CD you are trying to install WinXP with a full version? Once you started installing WinXP it defaulted to NTFS file system. This means Win98 can't be mounted on that partition. You would need to delete the partition and create and format using FAT32.

Hi OtheHill. Thanks for the reply. The CPU is an AMD 1 Ghz chip and I don't remember the number. It's running 256 Mb. I set the BIOS up to the default settings, just to give it the best chance of working. After seeing that XP wasn't going to work (It's a full install OEM, not an upgrade) I repartitioned it for 98, selected FAT32 and reformatted, before trying to install W98. I tried that a few times and then retried the XP Home install. I gave it a full half hour or more. No luck. A positive attitude won't solve all your problems, but it will annoy just enough people to be worth the effort.

Try reseating memory and all expansions boards. Reseat power supply and data cable connections. Remove any expansion cards (ie, nic, sound) that's not needed to just install XP. Make sure new 60gb is jumpered for master and if all else fails, reinstall 1gb drive and see if win98 boots from it.

What are the specs on the PSU? Try running memtest86 from a boot disk. Run for at least a few hours. There should be an option in the BIOS called " reset configuration data" Enable that setting for one boot cycle and then disable.

Good idea, Syslock. I was planning on trying that the next time I get to work on it. If it works, it tells me something. I'll have to get memtest86 and put it on my bootdisk. I don't THINK there's a memory problem. I did notice the other day, tho, that I have my memory in the last slot (slot 6) and that's kind of odd. Maybe I should move it. ?? Thanks guys, it gives me something to try. A positive attitude won't solve all your problems, but it will annoy just enough people to be worth the effort.

Could it be your new video cards? Have you tried it with your original video card? ___________________________________________ ☺ When everything else fails, read the instructions.