XP Home install disaster

I'm clean installing XP Home on my cousin's AthlonXP 2000+ machine, and it's all going horribly wrong. On the second phase (text mode), after selecting Install from Install/Repair/Quit, the PC just switches off completely. This also happened on the 98SE installation before it (until I took out the last RAM upgrade, but that's no good for XP). This is a hardware issue, surely? And if so, what is it?

MB: WinFast K7S741MG Series
CPU: AthlonXP 2000+
RAM: 256MB DDR333

 

Sounds like the ram is bad. Also in the bios check the timing settings and put them to default. also the motherboard bios could need upgrading.

 

aha

I tried taking the power supply out of the case and re-ran setup. No problems so far. Seems like it's a ventilation issue. Well it's one of those cases where the PSU is right up against the processor fan. So a new case it is then?

 

maybe a new power supply is in order. often the ps that comes with the case is fairly cheap in quality. a better quality higher output supply, maybe 400 watts, is what you need. these often have better cooling fans and are simply built better.