Really slow install_wtf?

[IAM_7154]

I have a dell optiplex gx150
PIII_1.0
256 pc133
13gb WD HD

this was a case mobo and 933mhz cpu when I got it, I put the psu and hd,and ram in and tried to install xp. It took over an hour to copy files, so i shut it off. I updated the bios, changed hd's, changed cpus, tried different memory, tried different cdrom.
Nothing helped speed it up.

Next I tried copying I386 from xp cd to a hd I know is good, it started out ok for about 5 mins then froze.

Next I put the hd in another comp, installed xp, it was quick, no problems. I put the hd back in the dell and it said NTLDR is missing. Im assuming when I formatted with the xp cd it sets active partiton since I only had 1.

So I'm confused now, if the cdrom isnt slowing it down and the harddrive works fine in another computer, any ideas what it could be?

 

[TheMajor]

check your memory with memtest86+

 

[Leonidas]

if ntldr is missing then you somehow lost an important system file that shouldve been on a harddrive, or atleast thats what i did that caused the problem, luckily i rigged it to work with a copy of ntldr that was on an older winxp gateway restore disk... good luck with it...