You may try to remove the automaticly integrated SATA_IDE driver.Another idea: Do you have a S-ATA connected CDROM/DVD? Alright, I'll try thatNope, my CD drives are standard IDE Your reported problems are very unusual, especially the error message about the TXTSETUP.SIF file. The BSOD with the message "IRQL_NOT_LESS_THAN_EQUAL" is very common and must not be a real hardware issue. My advice: Check your RAM, use default timings (no overclocking during the XP installation) and try your nLited CD again. I just tried without the Sata_ide and it blue screened without an error message - stop 0x000007e was the only thing identifying the message. It blue screened right after the setup screen loaded FAT and NTFS and said Now starting windows...