Boot up not staying put

Sorry but I didn't know where to put this as it isn't a 7 problem and the local forum I have had no replies whatsoever.
Have been given an old XP SP3 machine with an Elite 661FX-M board, 1GB 533Mhz RAM, Celeron 2.4Ghz/256/533 CPU and thought I'd clean it up for anyone who wanted it.
Ran really quite well but a tad on the slow side so I stuck in a 2.8Ghz/1M/800 Pentium 4 and an extra GB RAM.
Now the machine booted and got up to desktop and after a couple of minutes rebooted – same process for a couple of boots and then it went to a screen telling me to set up the BIOS for RAID?
Checked the BIOS (Phoenix) and set the machine to boot order Optical > HDD and left the rest.
Now the same happens after a bit longer booted up even getting to downloading Windows updates but then same thing – powers off.
Have checked the board site and it supports Celeron and Pentium up to 3.2Ghz and 2GBRAM so am at a loss as to why this problem is happening, unless the CPU I have put in is a dud.
So anyone got any advice please on what to check out or perhaps alter in the BIOS or even if I have done something very wrong?
If I shoud have put this in hardware threads - sorry mods

I don't know what trouble shooting you have done so far but the first thing I would do is make sure it has the latest BIOS.

If it does or the problems still exist then remove the extra RAM you put in and see how it runs.
No better then switch the CPU back to the original and check that it runs fine again as it did before.

If it runs fine again try the extra RAM and if that works then that would suggest it's the CPU that's causing the problem.
If you can, test the CPU in another computer to help in determine if the CPU is faulty.

Ok Duzzy I'll try the BIOS first - the driver download for this board are the strangest I have ever seen being zip folders containing miles of items which I have yet to pick over.

The other thing that was suggested to me was is the CPU overheating but as it has the standard cooler and difficult to change as the retaining cage is fixed to the board I might have to do bit of "modifying" like fixing another fan over the original and see what happens.

The RAM has got me flummoxed though as the specs say 400Mhz is supported but it just doesn't like it.

EDIT: Big mistake on my behalf, the first thing after changing a CPU is clear the CMOS and load BIOS defaults, this had made a difference in the pass for me.

How did the BIOS go?

Check the CPU temp in the BIOS and if you can get it to boot longer enough try CoreTemp. Click more downloads just under the main download for the stand alone package and you might need to tranfer from working PC by USB.

Where are you downloading the drivers? The page I've check the IDE, Sound, VGA are simple zip files and once extracted have a setup.exe in the root folder or are you referring to the BIOS file. The BIOS I downloaded has only 3 files 2 .txt, 1 .bin. I doubt this board can boot from USB so you'll need either a floppy disk and drive or create a bootable CD, must use DOS. Need help here, just ask.

ICit2lol said:

The RAM has got me flummoxed though as the specs say 400Mhz is supported but it just doesn't like it.

Does this mean it works using the original RAM without the extra 1GB? Have you tried the extra RAM on it's own without the original.

Been a while since I've worked with DDR1 but in the OP you state the original RAM is 533Mhz but the max DDR speed I know of is 400Mhz and the motherboard only supports up to 400Mhz. Please correct or explain.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the extra RAM is PC3200, effective clock rate of 400Mhz and a bus clock of 200Mhz?

Took me a while to find this but this should be ok to use to flash the BIOS but I would try the backup first to see if it can read your BIOS. Also check the PCB revision.
ECS Web Site

This is the page I have been looking at for info on your board - ECS Web Site
States you have an Award BIOS.

Duzzy said:

Took me a while to find this but this should be ok to use to flash the BIOS but I would try the backup first to see if it can read your BIOS. Also check the PCB revision.
ECS Web Site

This is the page I have been looking at for info on your board - ECS Web Site
States you have an Award BIOS.

Sorry Duzzy for late reply mate have been working straight shifts and not much time off.

Yeah I must admit too that I didn't mention earlier that when I first put in the Pentium there was a message in the post about a CPU change. I didn't take much notice of it at the time as I thought it would "self right" but I think you are on the money with the BIOS stuff I am going to reset the CMOS as you mentioned.

That worked Duzzy but got it going really well but I tried upping to 2GB RAM and it started shutting down again (didn't like the RAM I guess).

So I tried reseting the BIOS again but I think I have wrecked it as now it starts up in a DOS screen telling me the CPU info and won't even let me press DEL to enter setup so I have to reckon this one has had it unfortunately.

Well unless off course I can get the BIOS onto a stick or disk with this machine and boot with it?

Whew just got it restored - found a small jumper on two of three pins alongside the BIOS battery and a quick Google had said something about flipping the jumper to pins 2+3 to reset and then back to 1+2.

Now I didn't think for one second it would work but it did!:)

So it's working? New CPU? One or two GB RAM?

ICit2lol said:

Whew just got it restored - found a small jumper on two of three pins alongside the BIOS battery and a quick Google had said something about flipping the jumper to pins 2+3 to reset and then back to 1+2.

Now I didn't think for one second it would work but it did!:)

Sounds like the clear CMOS jumper, removing the battery for 10 sec also has the same effect. In case you don't know, if you clear a CMOS again to prevent damage unplug the PC first and wait 10 to 20 seconds before clearing it and when using a jumper DO NOT start the computer with it in the wrong position.

You didn't answer whether the RAM is the same speeds, if their not you may have to manually set the speed of the RAM to the speed of the slowest RAM before putting in faster RAM as the board may be trying to overclock the slower RAM.

I've never used different speed RAM but I did think the BIOS should config it self for the slower RAM but in your case this may not be happening but then there's timings as well.

It might be best to boot with one stick at a time, download CPU-Z and check the SPD tab and see if the RAM has matching timings for the same speeds. For example if your got DDR266 and DDR400 then CPU-Z reports the BUS speed 133Mhz and 200Mhz so you need to check under the Timings Table if the DDR400 (200Mhz) has a setting for 133Mhz and if it's timings match the DDR266 (133Mhz). If they have a match then set that speed in the BIOS. Here's a post with CPU-Z screenshots to give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Their running DDR2-800 (PC2-6400).

Be aware incorrect RAM or CPU settings in the BIOS will greatly increase the risk of a dead motherboard, clearing the CMOS may work depending on how much damage is caused.

Yeah Duzzy it may sound odd - removing the battery did reset it but flipping the jumper actually seemed to work better. Maybe my imagination but the the machine is running like a runaway train now.

Thanks for the info on resetting the RAM and stuff it's info like this that I find most helpful as I am I think I might have mentioned before a nuts and bolts (hardware) person more than software and electronic machinations minded. This sort of info then is so helpful to me as I travel further into computing.