Hi everybody i just reinstalled Windows Xp Home without SP2 on a friend's PC (4 times), the problem i encountered on 1st time was it booting with the cd it installs ok then when it restart's to finish the installation it hangs with BSOD (blue screen of death) saying IRQL_LESS_OR_EQUAL atapi.sys.

Then i did it again with another Xp Home Without SP2 cd the same thing happened, so i started checking for any information concerning this and found some little clues saying maybe it's the bios or the HDD cable or the usb connectors.

So the third time i started checking the Memory (RAM) but nothing then flashed the bios but nothing also.

Then i said to myself maybe it's the Usb mouse i'm using that's making the errors, i took it out then the installation was done with success but the pc started crashing afterwards when doing installation of programs or updating windows.

Everytime i was i doing the installation of Xp Home without SP2 except the fourth time i was having BSOD (blue screen of death) saying IRQL_LESS_OR_EQUAL atapi.sys.

The motherboard is old Jetway P4MFU533T with Via Chipset.

Sorry for the long Post but i had to explain everything.

Would be very appreciated if someone would help me.

Thanks

Wait for cluberti to come online and ask him nicely to tell you how to create a memory dump file that he can read afterwards.

I can wait for now cause my friend said the day i gave him back the PC it crashed once and he was going to call me back to tell me if it has crashed again, so for the moment no word means that no crash for 2 days.

for the heck of it, try underclocking ur ram+cpu

Likely bad caps. Did you check the caps?

ripken204 - The pc is not overclocked and i choose for safety the default settings in the bios.

RJARRRPCGP - what do you mean by CAPS there were no cap locks on.

LMAO! Not Caps Lock on your keyboard, the capacitors on your motherboard. You will see many of these "barrel" or "oil drum" looking things near your CPU and RAM. They have a little "X" mark on the tops, which are designed to curve outwards:

| <normal top of cap
) <bad top of cap

If one or more caps are this way, you need to get new ones and solder them on or replace the motherboard, period.