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I just got this computer for free, and well seeing as how it WAS free I am not going to complain. I have installed the hard drive, and well I have no problems with that part. BUT...When I get it to where XP comes up, It restarts before xp's boot screen comes up. I was thinking its a BIOS issue, and I wanted somebody else's perspective. I know the HD is good because I am using it right now on my old PC. Thanks for the help in advance. I don't know the bios side of things too well. I have copied the specs below so you know what I am dealing with. I am using the same HD from my old computer so I know that isnt the issue, Do you think that re-flashing the bios would help?

SPECS
Key Features
Form Factor Tower
BOARD: ASUS A7N8X-LA
Processor AMD Athlon XP 2.08 GHz

Chipset NVidia nForce2 IGP

Installed Memory 512 MB (DDR SDRAM)

Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

Recommended Use Home Use
Processor
Processor Type AMD Athlon XP

Processor Speed 2.08 GHz

Processor Manufacturer AMD

Socket Type Socket A

Installed Qty 1

Max Processors Qty. 1
Motherboard
Bus Speed 333 MHz
Memory
RAM Technology DDR SDRAM

Installed RAM 512 MB

Max Supported RAM 1 GB

Number of Memory Slots 2 x 184 Pin DIMMs

Supported RAM Speeds 333 MHz

Installed Cache Memory 256 KB
Technical Features
Integrated Input/Output Ports USB 2.0 x 5 • FireWire (IEEE1394a) x 2 • Serial Port x 1 • RJ45 Lan Port x 1 • PS/2 Mouse x 1 • PS/2 Keyboard x 1 • Parallel Port (ECP/EPP/SPP) x 1

Expansion Bays 2 x 5.25" (External Access) • 2 x 3.5" (Internal Access) • 1 x 3.5" (External Access)

Expansion Slots AGP x8 x 1 • PCI x 3
Hard Drive
Hard Drive Capacity 120 GB

Hard Drive Interface DMA/ATA-133 (Ultra)

Hard Drive Rotation Speed 5,400 RPM

Controller Type DMA/ATA-100 (Ultra)
CD / DVD
Optical Drive Type DVD-ROM

Optical Drive Read Speed 16x (DVD)

Optical Drive Write Speed 48x (CD-R)

Optical Drive ReWrite Speed 12x (CD-RW)
Other Drives
Floppy Drive 3.5" 1.44 MB floppy
Audio / Video
Graphic Processor NVIDIA GeForce4 MX

Video Out Ports 15 Pin D-Sub VGA port x 1

Audio Input Microphone Jack • 1 x Line In

Audio Output Type Sound Card

Integrated Audio AC97 Audio Codec
Modem
Modem Type Fax / Modem
Networking
Networking Type Network Adapter

Data Link Protocol Ethernet • Fast Ethernet
Dimensions
Width 7.53 in.

Depth 16.51 in.

Height 15.21 in.

Weight 37.93 lb.
Warranty
Warranty 1 Year
Miscellaneous
Release Date 21 May, 2003

MPN DK218A#ABA

Product ID 20944234

Hello Dylanger Welcome to PCHF

Try booting the computer and hitting F8 until you see the list of boot options. Look for an option that says "Disable System Restart on System Failure" and hit enter on that. What I'm hoping for is that next time it does crash, it will show a blue screen instead of just restarting. Post what that blue screen says (if you're able to get one).

Another thing you can try is taking out all the unnecessary peripheral devices to check if any of those are defective. For example remove modems/network cards/video cards (if you can use onboard video)/tv tuner cards/and all but one stick of memory. If it reboots again, try the other stick of memory (if you have more than one).

This is all going under the assumption that you just did a fresh XP install and you hard drive isn't defective. I'm assuming you didn't just take the hard drive out of your old computer with Windows and everything already installed on it, then moved it to your new one thinking it will boot just fine.

Hope that info helps!

what it says is the following(yes I did get THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH!)

A problem has been detected in Windows and has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.
If this is the first time you've seen this error screen, Follow these steps; Check for Viruses, Remove any newly installed Hard-Drives or Hard Drive Controllers, Check the Hard Drive to make sure it it properly termenated.
Run chkdsk /f to check for corruption.

Technical Info
Stop: 0x0000007B (oxf7900528, oxc000034, 0x000000, 0x000000)

.first, backup all important documents to cd or DVD. then run windows XP setup, from the XP disc, and select "repair installation" if you are using a hdd that has windows on it from another computer, it wont work on the new one. you need to reinstall windows xp, with settings for the new computer. i had this problem when i switched my hdd over from a Pentium III computer, to an AMD Athlon XP motherboard. if the repair option doenst work, completely reinstall it. it will work then.

EDIT> Make sure that the BIOS is set up to boot from the CD ROM, if it doenst boot from there, on bootup, repeatedly press F10 until it asks you which device you would like to boot from, and select CDROM

I did some research on your stop code. It seems to relate to either a failing or improperly configured hard drive. From this Microsoft Knowledgebase article, it seems your hard drive from your old computer is somehow proprietary to that old computer. Check this article out - You receive a Stop 0x0000007B error after you move the Windows XP system disk to another computer

Try booting to the recovery console off of the Windows XP install disk and trying the chkdsk /f /r. If that doesn't help, I would follow AW_3_3's advice on a repair install.

i fixed it, it was the modem that was in the pci slot.