I have an AthlonXP 1800+ on an Asus A7N8X motherboard. 1GB of PC3200 Ultra brand memory. I had a Buslink DVDRW and a Liteon DVDROM. 500W XConnect PS. Yesterday I got an NEC ND-3550A DVDRW......I took out the Buslink drive, and connected the NEC Drive with all of the same settings. I powered the machine on and only made it too the XP splash screen where it froze. Now I get 1 of 2 results.....it either freezes after trying to load at the splash screen or I get to safe mode, but I cant get it to load normally.....any ideas?? Thanks

Disconnect the NEC drive and see what happens.

Originally Posted by jephree

Disconnect the NEC drive and see what happens.

Tried that....same results. Also tried going back to original config with the buslink drive. Same problems

Did you try Safe Mode Options: Last known good configuration?

Originally Posted by jephree

Did you try Safe Mode Options: Last known good configuration?

Yes and still no luck

Can you view the Event Viewer in Safe Mode?

Start/Run/ eventvwr

Also what type of XP CD do you have? A full Microsoft version or an OEM?

Yes I am able to run Eventviewer and I have XP Pro OEM Version 2002

Do you see any relevant errors under the System tab?

I am not certain about your OEM version but with a full Microsoft version you should be able to boot into the Recovery Console.

As a first try here try FIXBOOT

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314058/