How old are the drives? Check in the settings for them, if they are older drives, make sure DMA isn't checked.. and if it is, and the drives are capable, make sure its set right in the bios.. Just for sh*ts and giggles, try using only one drive, on its own cable and see what happens.. Good luck -scoob8000
Problem solved=) Last night I went and picked up the xp cd and reformatted completely and all is better now=) thx for your help guys...