**HELP!**WinXP(RC1 build 2505) Won't Boot Normally!

[ibshort86]

k, here's my story:

my dad brought home a copy of WinXP RC1 (build 2505) from his work. So, being the curious little child that i am, i thought "hey what the heck, i'll install it on my computer." I decided to do a clean install. So i backed up everything i needed onto one my my dad's computers, and reformatted my harddrive.

Here's what my system is running now:

Asus A7M266 motherboard w/ original BIOS (not updated from website)
Athlon 1.33ghz @1.33ghz
IBM 60GXP 40gb 7200rpm Harddrive: ~~(2)3.5gig Partitions in FAT32, (1)31gig Partition in FAT32~~
some cheapo 52x PnP CD-Rom
ATi Radeon64DDR vivo
some cheapo 15" Micron Monitor that came with a Pent90mhz years back
Netgear FA312 10/100 NIC w/ Wake-On-Lan
SB Live!X-Gamer 5.1
OS: WindowsXP Release Candidate 1 (build 2505)

Nothing else is on my HD besides the OS.

Here's the problem, everytime i try to boot the computer up, Windows XP wont load. It'll have the black loading screen with the 'loading' bar. But after that screen (i assume its supposed to be the log on screen) it's just a black screen that appears. All i can see is 2 tiny (i'm talkin pixels) white dots. I let it sit for a while, nothing happens. So i restart the computer, press F8, and start the computer in Safe Mode. That works perfectly.

So i guess my question is, What can i do to rectify the problem?

Thanks for any help at all,
ibshort86

 

[y2kc]

Obvious question but here goes, Did you "activate" it?

 

[ibshort86]

wait wait, i thought i had 14 days to activate it? i gotta activate it b4 i can even use it?

 

[ibshort86]

k, just loaded it in Safe mode. pressed the little activate button. and i cant activate it thru safe mode. so that option wont work. thanks tho. Any other suggestions?

 

[ibshort86]

c'mon, one of you smart people probably knows what's goin on. help me out...please?????? so umm, bump.

 

[GonzoDaGr8]

You do not have to activate RC1 or RC2 before you can use it..You have 14 days before it goes "poof". As far as not starting, I could not tell you. Try to re-installing again.

 

[ibshort86]

again?? ***sigh*** alright. but this is gonna be my 3rd time. man this stinks