computer won't install windows?

[Zachman]

I just put a computer together using spare parts and I just recieved my cpu. The computer posts, but the computer restarts while the windows setup checks my computer's configuration. What's the problem?

 

[Fistandantilis]

could be alot of things, if it starts and all is wel and starts windoze stuff then crashes or restarts then i would think ram HDD or possibly the chip. how do you have the drive connected to the motherboard, are there two drives...yeah lets start with that, what are the other parts in this "frankenputer"

 

[Zachman]

No, windows has not been installed yet. While I'm trying to installing it, the computer restarts.

 

[Fistandantilis]

are you using two sticks of ram or one, also how many hard drives are you using, is you motherboard making and long beeps, or is there a sequence of beeps?

 

[MBrown]

What motherboard is it and are you trying to load WinXP with SP1?

 

[ProviaFan]

Unplug everything unnecessary to the basic installation of Windows (non-essential PCI cards, USB devices, etc.). Use a modern PS/2 keyboard (no ancient IBM models) and even unplug your USB mouse (I had an XP w/ SP1 install that failed for exactly that reason!).

 

[flibidyflob]

Some of idea of what the spare hardware is you're using would be helpful also. This could be due to something being faulty (memory in particular, test it with memtest86+) or not being sufficient for the OS. You don't specify which Windows version so I'll assume XP. Does the hardware all meet XP's minimum requirements? As has been suggested, pare it down to the bare essentials and work from there but telling us what you're using may shed some light quickly.