Thanks for the reply. Right, the finishes setup without fault means it goes through the blue background dos based format, file copy and then reboots, then goes through the gfx based setup all the way through 39 mins to 0 etc etc, then reboots as normal. This is when it should start up for the first time, but all I get is the first 2 flashes of the blue bars on the boot screen, and the system then reboots and loops on that pattern. It's a basic ISO I'm trying to create, I've not removed any components, added any apps, only added 1 hotfix, and not changed any options. The entries in the txtsetup file are totlly standard, coppied directly from the guide, using the compressed method after using makecab. Any other ideas? Thanks Nick