Kay Huff writes (clipped)

<<<<It would never boot after this, not even with a restore disk.>>>>

<<< This is a new system. (home built)>>>>

sorry but at least i am not clear by " restore disk".

are you referring to the set of six floppy disks OR barts boot cd which one builds on one's own BECAUSE unlike systems made by OEM like hp/compaq, dell etc. one does not get a  " restore disk".?? for home assembled systems, of course, as far as my limited knowledge goes. could this be the " AUTOMATED SYSTEM RESTORE " option you get when booting from xp original cd?

<<< Installed a new Motherboard>>>>

<<<<When trying to install Win XP Pro I got an error message that there was a
problem detected and needed to shut down windows>>>>

to me it appears that the error msg is PRECICSELY BECAUSE OF THE NEW MOTHERBOARD.

the whole thing depends on the licensing conditions of the XP installation disk you have and from which you are trying to install.

<<<< Ordered a new hard drive>>>>

this should not lead to any installation problems except, perhaps you need not have spent the money unless, you were sure that the installation problems were because of a dead hard drive.

for starters if you have the original xp install disk i would suggest you try booting from it with " YOUR OLD MOTHERBOARD AND OLD HARD DISK " and see if you can get to the options.... INSTALL/ REPAIR/ EXIT. if ok try a repair option ( i hope in your BIOS THE CDROM boot option is prior to hard disk. if not you will have to change to do so.

sorry and i do hope some other list member is able to give a better diagnosis/fix

you will not believe this but i recently ran into booting problems with a new xp install because i just changed the power supply unit. it refused to boot till i attached the same power supply unit which i had used during the install.

i am still troubleshooting whether this WAS the correct dignosis!!!!

good luck----Venkat

        The NOSPIN Group has added a new feature on our website,
           web based bulletinboard for questions and answers:
              Visit our sister website at http://nospin.com