[sammyg2]

LOL unfortunately the problem occured as WIN XP pro was going in, on a freshly formatted and partitioned hard drive and nothing else was installed, so I'm afraid it is either hardware related or has something to do with the set up.
I did copy the old hard drive onto this one at first, then decided to wipe it out. Is it possible that something rermained active on the new hard drive even though it was re-formatted and paetitioned?

This same XP version is installed on my computer and works just fine.

I've sent a request to Award for a BIOS upgrade, waiting for a reply.
The BIOS version is dated 3-2-99, that is ancient IMO.
It's very possible is isn't even totally compatible with the larger HD or XP.
Since it did this with WIN 98 I'm betting it is related to the setup but no hardware conflicts show up, maybe a sharing issue.
I'm in no way a computer wonk so I have to fight my way through these problems.
Hopefully flashing the BIOS wil lhelp.