freeze at startup

[Jumby]

Ok, setting up a new system. When I first boot up, mouse is frozen; after I reboot, everything is fine. Am suspecting video card, but it seems strange that it only happens at first boot up. This is an inexpensive system for a friend:
Biostar M7NCD M.B.
Athlon XP 2000
Kingston 512DDR
Video card nVidia g-force 4 MX440 (Mad Dog)(which I have suspected as a problem when I used it another system)
on board sound (which I will disable tomorrow and try a sound card)
WinXP
Thanks for any suggestions.

[philzee]

when the mouse is frozen does the pc speaker beep? (assuming its connected of course) or can you press buttons on the keyboard and get a response? Also, is it just the cursor that is frozen or can you press the mouse buttons and get a response of some kind?

[Whyzman]

Are you bare bootin' this and adding one component at a time??