[sealwatcher]

Hi all,

Here is a problem which is quite similar to others I have read in this forum but there are a few minor differences, so I hope someone can help.

I've installed a new hard drive just today, something I've done many times before without a problem. It is just a backup drive to be used for video editing -not a primary drive. However, once rebooting I get as far as the windows boot screen and then it hangs. The screen goes black, my monitors power down and nothing happens. Occassionally it reboots on it's own accord but instead of seeing the usual dos prompt screen all I get are some nastly looking blocky patterns. I usually have to turn the power off at the wall when this happens. I get no error messages on the screen at any time.

The good news is I CAN BOOT IN SAFE MODE! This is the difference I have found with other similar problems posted. I can boot in safe mode and safe mode with networking no problem. I can see all my HDD's and everything seems fine. From here I've tried doing system restore several times with no effect. Apart from that, I have no idea what to try so I hope someone out there can lend a helping hand.

My setup looks basically like this:

XP Pro, SP2
P4
Abit IC&-MAx3 mobo
1gig ram
nvidia 5700le
c: WD raptor 74gb (running sata 1)
d: sony dual layer DVD r/rw
F: WD 40gb (running on IDE 1)
g: WD raptor 74gb (sata 2)-this is the drive I just added, apart from that my system config is the same.

Thanks again, I look forward to anyone's advice.