thanks for your suggestion nosher.
I thought that I had posted the solution here so apologies.
It turned out to be a faulty multidrive ?
I unplugged everything except 1x stick of ram and it booted fine . eventually figured it was the multidrive.
I plugged in a Nokia cellfone without installing drivers just before it packed up and it was probably that that made the MD pack up..
thanks for all your suggestions everyone.
I thought that I had posted the solution here so apologies.

It turned out to be a faulty multidrive ?
I unplugged everything except 1x stick of ram and it booted fine . eventually figured it was the multidrive.
I plugged in a Nokia cellfone without installing drivers just before it packed up and it was probably that that made the MD pack up..
thanks for all your suggestions everyone.