extended XP pro problems

[silversum]

Hello,

A couple weeks ago I bought another 256mb ram for my computer. I decided to reinstall xp so i could reset up my partitions for swap drives and such. So after I do this, everything is fine, and i install sp1a. After this reboot windows won't load. it stays at the splash screen.

So i go in safe mode and remove sp1a. Then it's fine. Then I install my video drivers. A reboot later, the same problem. So i put the xp cd in and when it loads all of the install stuff, I ask it to repair the installation, so it recopies the files and then it loads fine.

Now, when I restart the computer, it once again won't load. Not even into safe mode. Every once in awhile the bios gives me a "primary drive fails" when I restart, so I figure maybe my old 8gb swap drive is dying, so I take it out and reinstall windows. Everything seems to be OK, I get my video drivers installed and sp1a installed, but then I install Opera and zip drivers, and once again, I can't load windows. At least this time I can get in safe mode.

Does anyone have any ideas what could be causing this? Is my aging computer just dying (which I highly doubt)? Did i buy some shoddy ram?

here are my specs

P3 500 slot 1
Asus p3b-f
512mb pc100
matrox g400
100gb WD special ed. ata/100 on a separate ata/133 controller card

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
-
-silversum.

 

[CTho9305]

www.memtest86.com <- give that a run.

edit: yes, i meant memtest 86, not memtest68. sorry .

 

[silversum]

memtest68.com doesnt seem to be a site, are there any other ways to get this program? anyone else have any ideas as to what might be causing my problem?

thanks

-silversum

 

[Crusty]

http://freshmeat.net/projects/memtest86/?topic_id=861%2C146

 

[CTho9305]

I fixed the url .

 

[silversum]

So, I ran memtest-86 and no errors were reported, so I suppose it's not that.

But i still cannot boot into windows, only into safe mode. Does anyone have any ideas to help me out?


Thanks
-silversum

 

[silversum]

I don't know if this could have any effect or not, but i have one 80gb partitoin which is my storage partition kept, but deleted the other partitions when i installed it. could this be what is causing the problems? should i back it up and wipe the drive completely?