Can't Transcode in either Encore or PPro

Question

Gigabyte GA 965P-Ds3 F10
Intel 2.4G Duo Core CPU
2 Gig Dual Chan OCZ 5-5-5-12 Memory
Nvidea GEForce 6200 LE Video
Maxtor Sata 160G,160G,300G and 320G Drives
Windows XP Professional SP2
Programs on C, Dedicated disks for Scratch and Data.
The prior Components are the same as when I was successfully making movies (32)with PPro 1.5 and Encore 1.5.
Audition 1.5, PPro 2.0 and Encore 2.0 on board.
All drives defragged and scanned.
MoBo swapped out. Problem was there also.
Memory checked --OK.
Drives all checked with Seagate Seatools -- OK.
File I'm trying to transcode is 16.3 Gig.
In Encore I can preview the project without error, when I try making an image file it either quits or freezes.
If I go back to PPro and try to export either an .avi file or a Mpeg2-DVD it freezes at random times. Once I got it as long as 90 minutes.
This problem has plagued me for over a month and I just can't seem to figure it out. I forgot to mention I have a ton of space on the HD's.
What exactly goes on during this transcoding process? Any ideas on what I can do to get the transcoding done? I mention PPro here because they both use the same encoder and maybe my problem lies there, though I doubt it.

Answer 1

Ruud,
Gspot showed there was a problem with the file. What it said was of the 130K frames, most were not needed. I went back to the editor and reconstructed the 130K file. Had problems trying to export to M2v. PPro 2.0 would freeze every time, sometimes in a few minutes, sometimes just short of completing, approx 2 hours(this was a 2 pass vbr setup). I experienced problems just trying to make an AVI file for importing into Encore 2.0. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since I first started this journey(over 300 hours). My first shot at elation occurred when I decided to try an m2v at vbr 1 pass instead of 2 pass. It worked. I say this because of late I have successfully made an Avi file, Imported the timeline and in fact satisfactorily made an m2v file (2 pass). The m2v was also brought into Encore 2.0. Though I have 4 HD's, it seems to me that as I am moving toward a successful product, I'm finding that I've located all my assets on one HD. Is this the way to go? I'd like to thank the alert for using Gspot. And I will, always. I believe that if I had used Gspot earlier I would not have been trying to fix the problem using a bad asset.
I've been able to make an iso file, though having trouble making a playable disc.