I built this system out of canabalized parts more than a year ago for a customer:

Tyan mobo running the most current BIOS flash and chipset update.
AMD Duron 900 Mhz processor
GeForce II 64MB PCI Card
448 MB RAM Crucial PC133
Sound Blaster Live! sound card
3Com 10/100 Secure NIC
WD HDD 40 GB Primary
Maxtor HDD 20 GB Slave
Original OS: WinXP

Some time ago he elected to erase the Primary drive and install Windows 98. Having compared the two he now would like to go back to XP. Worried about losing data he has brought the system in for the upgrade with all the CDs for the software he wants installedm including the original XP CD.

After backing up the data, the first thing I tried was to run XP's compatibility check and uninstalled all problematic devices and programs; rebooting when necessary. Then I proceeded with the Upgrade. Windows copied the necessary files prior to rebooting without a hitch, on reboot the install went as far as the Windows Splash Screen (the Windows XP screen with the scrolling bar below the logo) five seconds later the display disappeared and the install halts. No errors just doesn't proceed beyond this point. I tried all the different video configurations the BIOS has to offer some shortened the length of time before the screen fades to black but the longest it will go is 10 seconds (if that long).

Next I removed everything but the Vid Card, Processor and memory still the install is halted. I tried a clean install same results.

I installed Windows 98 no problem. Windows reports no problems with any of the components currently installed. I ran Docmemory and memory checks out fine. I swapped the video card and processor into a known good system and the good system boots fine. Strangely enough swapping in the known good components a GeForce III and Duron 800 and 384MB RAM (also Crucial PC133) into this problem system I was able to complete the install but ofcourse Windows XP wouldn't allow me to swap the original parts back in once the hard drive was imaged.

Any thoughts?