Thanks again John.
Top performance is off in the BIOS.
I have started with defalt BIOS settings and disabled hardware I don't need
to start with - sound, LAN, USB, RAID.
I have tried various combinations of DIMMs - one, two or three - all branded
Samsung, Crucial or Exact. Various memory test software has passed them as
okay.
Had a look at the MS knowledge base article, but mostly it discusses
situations where Windows 2000 has booted up sucessfully on the machine once
before.
Also looked at the MS 'Windows 2000 Startup' newsgroup. Similar problems
have cropped up occasionally before, but never been properly explained or
resolved.
I am gradually coming to the conclusion that Windows 2000 and the GA-7VRXP
m/board don't get along - but have seen no reports to confirm or deny that
as yet. If so, then it would suggest that there is something on the m/board
which the default Windows 2000 drivers from the CD foul-up so badly wih that
the op system hangs - seems unlikely, but what else is left ? Other VIA
chipset m/boards I use are fine.
This would leave me with only two options - either buy a different m/board
which Windows 2000 will install and run on, or buy and install Windows XP in
the hope that it will work properly. I'm not really happy with either of
these options as I have two of these m/boards - I'm upgrading both of my
machines - and I don't really want the bloat and expense of Windows XP
compared to the relatively fast and lean Windows 2000 which has been very
reliable for about four years.
Thanks for your help so far - have you any idea what I can do next ?
Cheers,
Kevin.

John7 wrote:
| Hi Kevin,
|
| Indeed, Matrox G400 and G450 are not demanding.
| 330W PSU seems sufficient.
| If present in bios, Top Performance should be off.
| (you may have to press CTRL+F1 in bios main menu first).
| Have you tried running with one DIMM only (either one).
| If DIMM's are OEM, try branded ones.
| Create a MS WinDiag floppy (see MS KB) to have them checked
| or try www.simmtester.com
| Check out MS KB article 315396 (keeps you off the streets for a while)
|
| HTH,
| John7
|
| "Kevin Lawton" wrote in message
| ...
|| Thanks, John.
|| BIOS virus protection is OFF.
|| Have tried various BIOS settings for stability and not 'pushing my
|| luck' with speed.
|| The only graphics cards I have available at the moment are all
|| Matrox ones - G400 and G450 - hardly the most demanding. I could buy
|| a cheap one tomorrow if it would help (suggestions ?).
|| 330w power supply. Only one HD is the system so far, no CDRW or DVD
|| yet, SCSI card and drives not installed yet.
|| Could go out and buy a 500w PSU tomorrow if that is the problem, but
|| wouldn't have thought it was necessary.
|| XP2400 + GA-7VRXP + 512 Mb DDR + G400 + 60 Gb HD + floppy. That's it
|| so far. Anything else I could try before I have to throw money at
|| this problem ? Thanks,
|| Kevin.
||
|| John7 wrote:
||| Hi Kevin,
|||
||| Turn virus / bootsector protection off in BIOS until install
||| finished. It seems the lockup occurs when the videocard is about to
||| go into graphics mode.
||| First, try defensive settings in BIOS.
||| Second, try swapping the card.
||| When graphic mode turns on, the card draws more current.
||| What is the wattage of your power supply?
||| You'll need at least 300W, better 350W.
||| Tell us more about your system.
|||
||| Installing windows on another mainboard, then swapping harddrive
||| to other mainboard won't work.
|||
||| HTH,
||| John7
|||
|||
||| PS: to protect yourself from spam, don't post your email address
||| here or insert something like REMOVE.
|||
|||
|||
||| "Kevin Lawton" wrote in message
||| ...
|||| Please, can somebody help me with this ?
|||| Gigabyte GA-7VRXP + AMD XP2400 + 2 x 256 Mb DDR2700.
|||| The above runs various versions of DOS, from either floppy or hard
|||| drive (60 Gb Seagate), fine - no problem at all.
|||| If I try to install Windows 2000 it all seems to be going well
|||| until I get to the point where it should be 'Starting to run
|||| Windows for the first time' - and it just hangs - forever :-)
|||| I have tried building a fresh install on a Duron 1200 and then
|||| swapping the hard drive over - same problem: hangs after the
|||| 'starting Windows' progress stripe has completed.
|||| I've tried swapping both memory and motherboard (both GA-7VRXP
|||| Rev1.1) and still the same problem.
|||| This is driving me crazy !
|||| Does anyone have any ideas on what I should try next ?
|||| Any help would be very gratefully appreciated.
|||| TIA,
|||| Kevin.