new cpu+mobo+ram, boots but freezes very quickly

[vifferlv]

I'm installing a new cpu+mobo+ram and reusing old components. It booted up ok but then freezes after about 30 seconds to 2 minutes. I am reusing the hdd which has windows xp already on it, but it will freeze if I never leave the bios or boot from the optical drive. So I can enter windows, but it freezes, same with safe mode. It is puzzling to me that it would be a windows compatibility issue with the new hardware since it will freeze from the bios set-up. I am beginning to think it is a heat issue, but everything seems fine from the outside.

This is only my second build so I may have missed something, but I went over everything 3x and cant find any problems. I thought it may have been the cooler and cpu contact issue, but that looked ok. Putting everything together seemed pretty foolproof and I don't see how I could have messed it up. But any help would be greatly appreciated.

My new components:
e7300 cpu
gigabyte ep43-ds3l mobo
2x2gb corsair xms ddr2 800 ram

old components:
seagate 7200.8 250mb hdd, not reformatted yet
2 optical drives
550w antec trupower
msi 4670 512mb gpu
lian li pc-61 case
win xp sp3, but trying to reformat/reinstall

 

[masteryoda34]

Try with only one stick of RAM in. (And try each one.)

 

[mpilchfamily]

Windows is tied to the motherboard it was installed on. You will need to reinstall windows to get it working on the new motherboard. There are ways to go about using and existing install like that but there is no garrenty it will work right. You will likely be plagued with problems.

 

[masteryoda34]

OP said it also freezes in BIOS.

 

[vifferlv]

Thanks guys, found the problem, masteryoda called it. The 3rd dimm slot must be bad. Ran fine with each stick separately in the first slot. So I moved them both to the 2nd and 4th slot respectively. So far so good. going to let it run for a bit to see if it holds.