I've swapped the 2GB of DDR RAM at the moment and trying with a spare
128MB
so see if it could be RAM related. If this fails, I'll try your suggestion
and copy the install files onto the HDD from MS-DOS first and install from
there.

Okay, so swapping the RAM out didn't help either so only things left to try
a

1. Don't use CD-RW for set-up
2. Swap the HDD
3. Send motherboard & processors back as faulty

It's still doing the "hang on ALT-CTRL-DEL just before detecting the IDE
devices so let's assume it's that CD-RW drive!

Copying the I386 folder to the HDD and will do install from there.

Cheers, Rob.