os wont boot

If your hardware is ok, then your software maybe corrupted which most probably done by a virus. delete your windows (using deltree command in dos)
and set it up again. Before deleting, save your driver like video display, modem, etc. first because you will need it to restore your computer
to its original state.

Hd in use with no problems on other comp, so I don't think it's viral.

Have you tried to boot from the XP installation CD?. You can try to Repair the OS.

If you see a blue screen at all during the process (especialy right after the OS flashes on), you have a software issue with WindowsXP and need to run the repair as mentioned in the above post.

I haven't received the "blue screen of death".
If the hd/os works fine in another comp, can it really be a problem with the os?

How powerful a CPU fan do you have?

Athlon CPUs run VERY hot. Most socket A motherboards have built-in monitors that can shut down the system if the CPU gets too hot.

Chas

Just because you haven't seen a blue screen doesn't mean they aren't occurring. Unlike Win9x/NT, the default settings for Windows 2000/XP are to reboot when a fatal error occurs. You really need to check the event logs.

I'm with Chas, sounds like a CPU overheat issue to me. But since you say its OK (I'm assuming you tested on another M/B), its probably the CPU fan. It could be that the CPU temp sensor on the motherboard is bad, and that is causing the mobo to power off the system erroneously.

Honestly, it looks like you've tested everything else, so I would say it has to be the motherboard.

Ok, I ran repair from cd boot, and no change.
I setup to stop on errors, so now I do get the blue screen error.
MY cpu temp has never exceeded 47, and 90 % of the time is at 43.
I have always recieved a Sandra warning about slow cpu fan speed, but I had assumed that since it wasn't overheating that it wasn't an error, just a verible rpm w/ sensor.
Will a fan sensor shut down comp?

OK what does the first few lines on the BSD say? that should say why it died. It is logical you could set up parameters to shut down pc on sensor signals not meeting the preset values. Check for this feature in SANDRA or your BIOS setup. It sounds like a driver issue, the likely cause of blue screen errors. Other things to consider are noisey power lines (AC in) problem with the power supply and so on. Try removing all hardware except minimum memory and the graphics card, Hard drive stays of course. Reboot you may get some errors about missing stuff as the drivers look for them but if no blue screen then add stuff back one at a time see if you get a blue screen and when.
Oh, y'all should check this latest on the blue screen of death. Go here!
http://www.bbspot.com/News/2002/10/bsod_ads.html

thanks donmars, I needed that.
I have tried booting with only ram,cpu and vid-card. and then added hd, floppy, ect. each time trying to find problem. Can't get past step 2- hd.But the hd works fine in alternate.I also ran diagnostics from ms-dos, and the hd checks out.
No onboard vid, so I also swapped out known good vid card.
I've changed cpu and ram, and the same thing occurs.

First blue screen error:
"A thread tried to release a resource it didn't own" STOP: 0x000000e3(0x808380e0,0x823cab30,0x00000000,0x00000002)
Microsoft pointed to 1394 error.
Rebooted- Second error:
"Make sure HD has enough space"STOP: 0x0000007e (0xc00000e, 0x80827e11, 0xf8984e08,0xf8984bd8)
Also points to bios incompatability, damaged ram.

You are actually getting somewhere! There is a driver issue on the hard drive that affects it only on that machine and not the other. What are the differences between them. There HAS to be a difference between them! Did you try taking the HD from the second computer and seeing if it works in the problem box? Also, is there ieee 1394 ports (firewire) on the problem box? What about the computer the HD works in, firewire onboard that one? So far it seems not to be a hardware problem per se but a driver issue relative to a component on the mother board itself. This sounds like one of those issues that will make you (me too) want to kick yourself when you find the problem was so simple to locate and fix, well maybe not fix so easily. Try checking BIOS setup for usb or ieee 1394 and enable or disable them and see what happens. If you have a printer hooked up press "print screen" while in bios setup on both computers and compare each and every entry between them for differences. I am assuming they are the same mobo's. Also Verify that your hardware is listed on the Hardware Compatibility List (HCL), go to Microsoft site and search for HCL. Try this page: http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/hcl/default.mspx

Search the Microsoft Knowledge Base for ?Windows XP? and the number associated with the Stop error you received. For example, if the message ?Stop: 0x0000000A? appears, search for ?0x0000000A.? (taken from windows troubleshooting site)

While trying to isolate the problem when I got the error after installing the hd, first thing I tried was to swap hd's. Didn't work.

I have 1394's on both comps, but they are both disabled from bios, as is the bad comps usb drivers.

Back to square one.
I removed everything, reinstalled hd.
Reinstlled xp home- the 39 min installation took 14 hours. computer runs, os runs but extremely slow. Takes about 3 mins to load os. bios fine, ran voltage checks on ps, checks fine too.

I had received my rma for mobo, striped it and was in the process of packaging it up, when I thought I'd give it one more try...
Thing runs like a champ, AFTER I installed new 2.45 drivers for nvidia 2 bridge.An error in original I guess.