Trouble Installing OS on Budget Build

Hello everyone, I just build my first PS today using the following parts:

ASUS M4N78 Pro GeForce 8300 Socket AM2+ Motherboard
AMD Phenom X4 9500 4M 95W Socket AM2
WD Caviar 500GB Serial ATA HD 7200/8MB
OCZ SLI 4096MB PC6400 DDR2 800MHz
Sparkle GeForce 9400 GT 1GB PCIe w/DVI
ULTRA LS500 500W ATX POWER SUPPLY
Apex PC-389 ATX Black Mid-T Case
Lite ON 22X DVDRW IDE w/Lightscribe
Thermaltake Smart Case Fan Blue LED 9 CM (x2)

I think everything works as they should upon power-up: video works, fans whirl, hard drive spins, etc.

I'm having trouble though installing Windows XP (32 bit). I place the CD in and it starts to read off of it for the files. Then it says "starting windows" and brings me to a blue error screen. It's a lot of text, but basically it says that "if this is the first time you are getting this error, restart. if not..." It lists a whole bunch of possibilities for the error, such as video driver or other hardware drivers, old BIOS, advanced memory settings in BIOS, etc. Is tells me:

Stop: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xF748E0BF, 0xF78DA208, 0xF78D9F08)
pci.sys - address F748E0BF base at F7487000, datestamp 3b7d855c

Rebooting doesn't do anything, and here are other things I've tried:

1) Update BIOS = same result
2) Took out Video Card, used onboard graphics = same result

I'd update drivers and such, but thought that that type of stuff is done after the OS is loaded? I also don't think I had any advanced BIOS memory setting (shadowing? whatever that is). I don't think I need to partition and format my HD before hand, since doesn't the XP disc do that???

Help!!!!

(Thanks in advance)

XP should have prompted you about the HDD.

What service pack is this XP? If it's an older version, it will have difficulty configuring itself properly to run on modern equipment. The solution in such a case is to slipstream the latest service pack into the disk:
http://lifehacker.com/386526/slips [...] llation-cd

Have you confirmed the RAM frequency, timings, and VOLTAGES are set according to the RAM manufacturer's specs? If not you need to go into the BIOS and do this.

If your disk is pre sp1 then you have some work to do.


or you could download and use the rc of windows 7

Thanks Proximon that is quite awesome , no more waiting to install SP3.