Sorry for long delay in replying. Had already followed instructions as per FAQ before posting. This was in my original post before board crash. Yeah I know i should have put that info back in In addition to following FAQ whilst boards were down I re-installed system 2 times (well, you never know) and it still crashes out. System Specs Intel p4 2.8GHz 1GB RAM Win XP w/ SP2 Software installed when crashed was SS 3.2 (downloaded installer from boards) and XP Pro w/ no updates and w/ all updates. .. any other specs/info that would be usefull? Have been speaking to Sony and they said it could be faulty hardware (Mindisc or MZ-N1) is this the most likely reason? Wouldn't have thought it would cause system crashes if just faulty hardware. Daryl