Well, everything seems to be going fine with the installation. I'm stll in the process of installing and the motherboard seemed to have taken the new addition pretty well. Well, I would jinx it but so far so good. I'm installing XP now.

You don't really need a wide range of tools to diagnose the problems because of the single source supplier. Apple supplies you with the Hardware Test CD and TechTool covers the rest.

I knew thayt my comments would spark the inevitable "Mac vs. PC" debate. I almost didn't post it but figured since it was a legitinate option, it would be taken as such. The intitial poster did take it as a sincere suggestion.

I offer it as one who has more experience with PCs than with Macs, but who also has not had ANY hardware/software issues since switching to a mac, even with the iBook I own which is my main system, believe it or not.

Glenn, I have a 300w power supply. I thought that would be enough for such an old system.

Thr installation went well so I'll see what happens next. Thanks for all tips guys.

Just a thought here, are you adding RAM or replacing it. I once tried to add more RAM to my machine and it wasn't the same brand. Computer did exactly what you have been describing too.
I took the memory back and exchanged it for the same brand PnY I think it was and all was fine after that....

I just re-read your post, check and see if the RAM is the same as your old ones...

Nope Greg. It is not. In fact, all of my 512Ram are of different brand. That could have been it but it doesn't matter now because I've changed motherboards and everything seem to be working fine, knock on wood.

For future referrence, has anybody used Knoppix for data recovery on a crashed system? I haven't had to yet (make that 2 knocks Charles), but I have the disc in case. Others have told me it's possible, but none of them have done it yet.

(Charles)
If you are putting in similar/same parts then the energy consumption should be the same and there should be no problems at all.

If your computer acts up again or if you suspect you may have a problem then run prime95's "torture test" and Motherboard Monitor at the same time:

prime95
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm
Say you are stress testing when opening the program for the first time. Torture test is under options.

http://mbm.livewiredev.com/
Check that the 3.3, 5, and 12 volt rails are within +-5%. Wacky readings means you have to mess around with MBM settings of use your motherboard's monitoring utility (not all motherboards have these).

Thanks Glenn for your help. Will do.