Odd problem, is it my mobo? PS? RAM?

I have an MSI board (based on KT400 chipset IIRC) running non-OC'd..
Athlon XP 2800+, 1024MB PC3200 RAM (underclocked due to the proc FSB
handling 166MHz only), ATI Radeon 9600 Pro AGP board, WD 200MB 7200RPM
EIDE drive on IDE0 as primary, IBM Deskstar GXP 30GB drive w/similar
specs on IDE0 as slave. Running WinXP Pro w/service pack 1, swap drive
is the IBM.

The problem: Every so often (once in a 24-48hr period) I'll come back
to the PC and find the system has attempted a spontaneous reboot. I am
greeted with the BIOS message (paraphrased) saying it could not find a
boot sector on my CD-ROM drive and to press a key to try again. My
CD-ROM is set as either boot device #2 or #3, so for whatever reason,
during the reboot it has skipped my HD. If I press the reset button
(soft boot) the BIOS will not find my primary HD - I don't think it
finds the secondary either - but it finds my CD drives just fine on
IDE1. If I power the box off and restart, only then will it find my
HDs again. I've checked my logs and there was no power interruption
(at least not enough of one to cause my router to reboot itself) and
there was no software error or BSOD reported before the soft boot.

What am I looking at here - flaky RAM, a bad IDE port on the mobo,
fouled IDE cable, power supply issue?? I've managed to eliminate the
power connector to the HDs as a possible fault, at least.

Any help would be appreciated. Please feel free to reply here, or to
my email address (yes it is real!).

Thanks!

M.O.
http://www.madocowain.com
http://www.playmaille.com

"Madoc Owain" <nospam RemoveThis @madocowain.com> wrote in message
news:3a8465c3.0402170724.576e4220@posting.google.com...
 > I have an MSI board (based on KT400 chipset IIRC) running non-OC'd..
 > Athlon XP 2800+, 1024MB PC3200 RAM (underclocked due to the proc FSB
 > handling 166MHz only), ATI Radeon 9600 Pro AGP board, WD 200MB 7200RPM
 > EIDE drive on IDE0 as primary, IBM Deskstar GXP 30GB drive w/similar
 > specs on IDE0 as slave. Running WinXP Pro w/service pack 1, swap drive
 > is the IBM.
 >
 > The problem: Every so often (once in a 24-48hr period) I'll come back
 > to the PC and find the system has attempted a spontaneous reboot. I am
 > greeted with the BIOS message (paraphrased) saying it could not find a
 > boot sector on my CD-ROM drive and to press a key to try again. My
 > CD-ROM is set as either boot device #2 or #3, so for whatever reason,
 > during the reboot it has skipped my HD. If I press the reset button
 > (soft boot) the BIOS will not find my primary HD - I don't think it
 > finds the secondary either - but it finds my CD drives just fine on
 > IDE1. If I power the box off and restart, only then will it find my
 > HDs again. I've checked my logs and there was no power interruption
 > (at least not enough of one to cause my router to reboot itself) and
 > there was no software error or BSOD reported before the soft boot.
 >
 > What am I looking at here - flaky RAM, a bad IDE port on the mobo,
 > fouled IDE cable, power supply issue?? I've managed to eliminate the
 > power connector to the HDs as a possible fault, at least.
 >
 > Any help would be appreciated. Please feel free to reply here, or to
 > my email address (yes it is real!).
 >
 > Thanks!
 >
 > M.O.
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.madocowain.com</font" target="_blank">http://www.madocowain.com</font</a>>
<font color=purple> > <a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.playmaille.com</font" target="_blank">http://www.playmaille.com</font</a>>


IDE Cables first
Then Hard drive in a new pc or a diff hard drive in yours (just to see)..
Then maybee PSU
then mobo<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->