Motherboard dead?

OK, I tried that, the system restore starts the same way like before and it gets hang up soon and giving the same BSOD with lots of suggestions including missing drivers corrupt files or bad hardware...

Now here I am using a Recovery disk and not a XP CD, what I don't have...I will look into mobo drivers and such, maybe they are needed first although I am not sure how I can put it in without the OS....

 

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sounds like a RAM issue. If the RAM is not at fault, then it's likely you need to Adjust your BIOS settings. I'd suggest reading up on your MOBO

 

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That's what I think, the BIOS is not in sync with the CPU. For example the FSB of the CPU is 333 MHz but the BIOS is set for 200 and that is the highest, so I can't even increase it.

Now the question is, how do I get the correct settings? I can download the mobo drivers from the computer maker's website, but how do I install them without a working OS?

 

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Its possible to "flash" the BIOS with updated software, but I'd explore other options first. Also, are you sure the BIOS only goes up to 200? Sometimes you can increase it if the multiplier is changed.

 

OK, so I changed the FSB to 166 MHz and the frequency of it to 200% thinking that is the multiplier and I would get 333 MHz. This action promptly killed the Mobo and there was no sound or video after that.

Then I did the Clear CMOS trick, because what was there to loose? So I removed the pin connector for a few seconds what is next to the small battery and labeled as such. After that there was immediate improvement, the booting was better and right now I am able to run Ubuntu from the disk. I have it on the old HD but that didn't run so far.

But I am typing this using the new Mobo with the Ubuntu CD not using the HD. Which means that the Mobo is fine, I connected everything OK, but the set up between the Mobo and the CPU was incorrect. Now I have to eat, will report back later...

 

Alright ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for everyone who tried to help, I am back in business. I hooked up the original HD and after choosing F11 for recovery, XP came on just fine and no data got lost in the process and messing around with.

So the problem was the communication between the mobo and the CPU, since this mobo can be used for several different CPUs. After I reset the mobo by removing a connector pin for a few seconds (it is labeled on the mobo as CLR CMOS)*, everything got solved.

As a summary for the mobo change:

Money spent:

$70 for mobo
$10 for thermal paste

Time spent:

40-50 mins for the physical exchange of the mobos
4-5 hours trying to figure out how to make the software work

It looks like that the mobo would have worked with the old CPU right out of the box had I known about the reset. So there was no System reinstall or anything like that needed.

Again thanks everyone. The reason I write down my computer adventures is because people with similar problems can find it later and save lots of time and money by reading it, as I also learnt a lot by visiting other message boards...

*This also answered my earlier question about the mobo holding data or not. It does, and that's what the small watch battery is for (by the way anyone ever replaces that?) to keep basic settings about the BIOS and such.