Very kind of you. I think the "best" I can do will not be good enough. My brother has a HP Win XP-H recovery cd. But, it is HP, and I think only sp1.

Yes, try to get "somehow" a normal Win XP CD and delete all partitions during install and create new ones. You have a licence you don't need to buy Win XP again all you need is a "normal" WinXP CD. If you'd live in ol' europe I'd send you one.

I'm trying! Just concerned that tonight I start losing options with NewEgg.

Hang in there it's worth it :}

THE “WHITE FLAG OF SURRENDER” HAS BEEN RAISED.

Let me thank everyone who has been generous and giving of their time and effort to assist in resolving the performance issue with the AMD Athlon X2 I recently purchased from NewEgg.

Before reaching any judgment, please read this message in its entirety, and I hope you will follow my line of reasoning.

We all have spent numerous hours over the last 4 days to what end?

To attempt convert a Compaq Socket 939 with 1.75gb into an X2 cruncher.

A noble goal, but obstacles were encountered along the way. A 250 watt power supply was possibly too weak. Mis-matched RAM might be causing a bottle-neck. Low-end Compaq had BIOS that was extremely limited, with no opportunity for overclocking, even though the X2 3800+ is a prime candidate for overclocking. Possibly a “dumbed-down” version of Win XP-H, instead of the “full version”.

Excluding the X2, the Compaq/MS Win XP-H (Compaq version) with upgrades (ram, arctic cooling cpu fan) cost $325.

The various cures (new power supply, new RAM, new mobo/BIOS, new/additional license of OS) are worse than the disease.

If I am going to have to buy a new psu, and memory, and mobo/Bios, etc. from a cost benefit analysis, it dosen’t make sense to do it with this Compaq.

The Compaq worked just fine with the Sempron.

Therefore, I am returning to NewEgg the Socket 939 Athlon X2 3800, and replacing the Sempron into the Compaq.

HOWEVER, my plan of attack IS to over the course of time purchase a new psu (600 watts enough?), new RAM (ddr2 anyone?), a new mobo with BIOS that allows overclocking, and a “free” Linux OS. And an AMD Athlon X2 3800+.

The difference? I will be doing all this for a Socket AM2 instead of the 939.

If I was going to have to spend all that money anyway, I’d rather spend it on a system that will allow the X2 to be overclocked, and be forward-compatible to run Socket AM3 processors when they are available.

So, in the end I will get my X2 3800+. But given all that has transpired in the past 4 days, I believe the proper decision is to build a Socket AM2 system, rather than spend the same money trying to rebuild a dead-ended Socket 939 system.

I hope this makes some sense.

Sincere thanx again to all for their time and effort. At the very least, this has been a learning experience.

P.S. Anyone know which AM2 mobo's are good for overclocking?!