Major problems with new system

[mbleigh]

I just built a new computer with these specs:

AMD Athlon XP 2800+
Chaintech 7NJS Zenith
512 MB DDR 2700 RAM
All-in-wonder 9700 pro

And as of now, I have a blank screen. This problem was intermittent at first but now I can't get a boot at all, and when I did I got a "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_EQUAL_OR_LESS" blue screen...HELP!

[teststrips]

First thing I'd to to troubleshoot this is to re-install windows. If you have info you can't overwrite, install to a second drive.. go to a local store and buy one... return it if you have to. If that gets your computer up and stable, then you just had a corrupt install (maybee a new program you installed)

If you're still having problems with a new OS, I'd start with RAM. I had A LOT of problems with cheap ram. Stuff I would have never thought would have happened happened. Stuff like win98 ran fine, but windows2000/xp would not even install.

I've now made it a point to buy branded ram. Kingston, Crucial, micron, samsung, PNY (at your local stores like staples, circuit city) and corsair are all names that I trust.

[Restek]

Unfortunately this is a common problem that I've never seen a satisfactory answer to. I had this problem & solved it by doing a serious amount of driver updating - I flashed the BIOS of both motherboard & video card and updated video, soundcard and chipset drivers. After this the problem went away but I've no idea which one solved it!!

You might also want to search the forums at http://forums.viaarena.com/. When I was searching for info, there were quite a few people there with the same problem