HELP! Experts needed!

[Prok]

Hi all, I've made posts about this problem in the past, but I haven't been able to solve it. The system runs at stock and is:

AMD Athlon XP 2100
Abit KD-7 mobo
256mb x 2 Crucial Micron Ram
WD 600JB hard drive.

This system has failed on bootup many times, even after writing zeroes and installing windows xp. Most commonly I receive "unmountable boot volume" as the error message. Running "chdsk /r" fixes it until the next time it is restarted.
It appears to be a hard drive problem, and I have replaced the drive 4 times. I have also replaced the IDE cable with a new 80 pin (just in case) and have even replaced the mobo once. I thought that heat may have been the issue but I got a new fan to blow directly on the hard drive. Regardless of all these changes the drive continues to fail each time Western Digital sends me a replacement. Unless they are sending me faulty drives each time, it seems that there must be something else going on. I haven't checked the psu yet, could someone give instructions on how to do so? Does anyone have any other ideas as to what could be causing this? Any suggestions and advice are much appreciated, this has been a constant headache.
Thanks!

[Sophisticated]

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=88219&highlight=unmountable+boot+volume

check that thread if that aint it do a search because there are many previous threads on this same problem

[Prok]

Yes I've come across that one before, it doesn't solve my problem, I have already done the things it listed. I will try to do a search, but in the past none of them have turned up with anything new. I'm trying to think of other things that could be causing this other than the hard drive. Thanks.

[nikhsub1]

Hmm, replace Mobo, HD, and cable all reveal the same problem... this would lead me to believe that RAM is your culprit... When you have funky (read bad) RAM, bad things can and will happen to your OS. I would run memtest 86 and/or try different ram.

[Big_Baller]

Yes I too would run memtest86. http://www.memtest86.com/

Tell us what it finds.

[Prok]

Thanks, I downloaded memtest86 v3.1 and started running it. How long should I let it go for? Should I just stick to all the defaults? Also, I have two sticks of ram in there, will it run tests for each one? Thanks.

[0-one]

This may sound a little retarted but bear with me. Before replacing the mobo, and HDD and a number of other pieces of hardware, i'd replace the PSU.

A faulty PSU will make everything attached to it (mobo, HDD, optical drives) seem problematic.

If the PSU is giving to low voltage, it can damage the components attached to it, and if it is giving too high voltages it might not be enought to fry the components, but it could damage it and make them fail over time.

If you have a multimeter (Volt-Ohm meter) you can check each of the PSU's power connecters. Test the +12VDC and +5VDC connectors, there should be a screw that if turned clockise increases the voltage, and counter-clockwise decreases it.

Just a hunch, but it could be much more inexpensive than replacing hard drives and the like .

[Prok]

Yes I think you are right that I should check the psu. I won't be able to do that for awhile but in the meantime checking the memory would narrow it down even more. Thanks.

[0-one]

Ok, good luck. It's just that the PSU gets overlooked so many times. I'm sure you'll be ok. :)

-Steve