[Fester_Silently]

Okay Folks,
I'm putting together a rig for a friend of mine...here are the specs:
- IT7 Max w/17Dec2002 BIOS
- P4 2.53 Ghz w/stock heatsink & fan
- 1 x 512 Corsair XMS 2700
- ATI 9700 Pro
- 2 x Maxtor 80Gb
- Audigy 2
- Lite-On LTD 166s DVD-ROM
- Lite-On 24102a CD-RW
- Antec True Power 430w

I cannot get this godd@mned thing to install Windows!
Each HDD and optical drive are on thier own cable/connector.
DVD is on IDE1
CDRW is on IDE2
HDDs are on IDE's 3 & 4 (RAID), respectively

I set up the RAID array no problem, but when I set the boot order for CDROM (to load Windows), it hangs at the "BOOT TO CDROM" screen. Doesn't freeze, mind you...just hangs. For a minute or so. Then the screen blacks out for thirty seconds...then the "Windows Set Up" comes up...sloooowly...then (when it asks) I load up the appropriate RAID drivers from the floppy...it continues on...gets (eventually) to the "Windows Is Starting" screen (just prior to the "Do you want to load Windows?" & EULA screens) and hangs. Or freezes. I'm not sure which, because after over a minute and a half of hanging, I lost patience and restarted the b!#ch.
This went on throughout the day, about eighteen or twenty times, for over seven hours, each time with a variation of the above-mentioned hardware configuration: take an optical drive out; put it back and take the other one out; reseat EVERYTHING once or twice; switch the DIMM slots; take out all PCI cards; add juice to proc and/or memory; back to defaults again, etc., ad nauseum!
I am ready to chuck myself and this rig out the window, but I can't, because I promised my friend a rig by Sunday and I will not let him down.
Anybody have any ideas?

On My Last Straw,
Fester

P.S.
Yes - all drives are set to "Master"

[ToshiroOC]

Interesting problem - I have a couple of ideas - first, take the IDE cables for the optical drives, unplug everything to em, then connect ONE of the drives as a slave on a different IDE connector. Second, try to install window again... but then let the computer sit where you think it's "hanging" for at least a half-hour - it might just be that you are getting held up in that one little place and the rest will run fine...

[Fester_Silently]

...I just switched the mobo out with an D845PEBT2 (the "stock" Intel 845E board) and, despite having a slightly different configuration (doubling up HDD's and DVD/CDRW - only two IDE connectors), the SAME problem arose.
So.
Definitely a hardware problem...but WHAT? I'll try your suggestion, but, after two days of this, I'm not expecting much, n'cest pas?

Fantastically Flustered,
Fester