ok beehive, thnx.
I tried all manner of things with the BIOS-..ie. boot order, etc.
One hdd is attached. If this is NOT, then the install cd will attempt to install XP without asking for 'press any ...etc.''--- so it has to be plugged in all the time. That's not a bother really as this hdd is used for storage anyway.
It seems there's some ODD or HDD driver issue or ''directional'' deployment problem, as in, which is the boot device[C:] or similar. Prolly quite easy to fix this problem, but Intel are not helping in any way...they told me to go to GB...so where are ya?
This mb[Intel] is a bit of a sticky one[a bitch basically] with the BIOS setts[enumerable ocassions of all sorts of trouble], but there ain't no fixin' this difficulty from in there. It's supposed to be a good OCer and is just for the idio's who try and do that.
I did get some troubleshooting done with intel, but nothing was resolved. They have ''closed the book'' on this board as of 1 or 2 years ago. They offer no assistance with add-on cards that are out of their supported ''range''.
I'ld venture to say they thought this add-on wouldn't fly[it was the only one of it's kind at the time and I think since], so they just didn't bother.
PITA really. When the system gets past the boot page and then from the XP screen- to desktop-about 6 secs], it's very quick indeed. So for now, it's worth the inconvenience but, it's a pity.
Cheers buddy,
keeto