Blank screen on booting

[simonH]

Hi,
Can anyone help with a problem with my computer running windows XP home.
I installed a new soundcard, and when I restarted the computer it appeared to start normally until Windows started to load when the screen went blank; there was no flash of colour or windows logo.
I have tried these things, but with no success:

• Boot in safe mode; half a screen of files come up in black and white, the last being "WINDOWS\AppPatch\Drvmain.sdb" then nothing else happens
• Boot options "Enable VGA", "Enable Boot Logging", and "Last good configuration" all lead immediately to a blank screen
• Booting with my windows installation disc; a blue screen, and sequential messages saying a number of files have loaded, but then a blue screen with the message "File setupdd.sys could not be loaded. The error code is 4."
• Boot with a linux cd that runs entirely from RAM; I get 2 lines of files, and then a blank screen
• I have swapped the graphics card with a working one from another computer, and the result is exactly the same

The computer has an AMD Athlon 1250MHz processor on a K7S5A mainboard, and an Ati radeon graphics card.
I don't know what to try next.
Thanks
Simon Harrison

[NickInTheNorth]

try removing the new soundcard and rebooting

[simonH]

Hi Nick in the north,

I tried all the things in the first post with the sound card out; with no success.
Thanks for the suggestion

Simon Harrison

[simonH]

Hi all,

The problem was caused by a failed stick of RAM.
Dare I try the sound card in?

Simon Harrison

[Mr_Me19]

If the problem was with RAM then there is no reason to worry about putting the sound card in. The chances of it causing the fault in RAM are very slim. I wouldn't worry about it too much. Of course that is just my own opinion.

[simonH]

Hi Mr_Me19

Your were right. The soundcard is back in, and it has not affected the remaining stick of RAM.

[Mr_Me19]

No problem. Glad to be of service.