Hi, Thanks for the further discussion/links on this issue ! A reply I (thought I) posted last night apparently didn't show up, so I'll have to offer it again here (in my response to zep). At what point during the startup does this loop commence? I assume it must be during the initial POST when the screen is black and the writing scrolls up the screen? When you changed from 'enabled' to 'disabled' in the BIOS you did remember to click F10 to save and exit I presume? What model number and how old is this laptop? owbist, On powering up, I'll get as far as the "Windows" screen (the black screen with the multi-colored progress bar underneath the word "Windows") and then it will flicker totally blue for a fraction of a second and then it goes back to the black HP start-up screen (with the F1 and F10 options at bottom). Then the F5 screen appears (the one with all the options for how to boot up: safe mode, last known good configuration, etc. I tried both of those, but to no avail). Only disabling the SATA setting (and saving it via F10) allows me out of the loop and into a normal boot-up. Re: model #: although I don't have it in front of me at the moment, as I recall it's about 2-3 years old. A DV5000 HP laptop. I wonder why it's getting enabled? That I don't know.. zep, I can't imagine, and Matt, our computer guy, doesn't know, though he suspects some sort of power surge. But, as I wrote in my post that vanished into cyber oblivion last night, my aunt did get a new AC adapter recently. It has been working just fine for weeks. But I have noticed that the plug doesn't have a very tight fit in the computer. She sometimes has to rotate it a bit back and forth in the jack to make sure it's connecting properly. Otherwise she'll get the battery icon in the lower right of the taskbar. I wonder if toggling from battery to AC to battery and back again could send the kind of signals to the computer that would affect the SATA setting. ??? It certainly hasn't affected any other aspect of the computer or its performance that I can see. Anyway, it seems to be working okay for now. As long as it is (and as long as she doesn't really need the SATA setting to be enabled) she/we can live with it. Thanks again for the comments ! Scott

Susie, I have searched & can't find any Avast on it. I also went into the folders. I just did a search on this one & there is quite a bit Norton leftover on it still. AVG is on too & was working when I stopped using this one. I hope to have another one Monday if everyone would just get well..I don't drive (never learned) & all my rides are truly sick. Cat, I think I will try the XP tonite. I do know it has a LOT of problems & need to be started over..it is not worth spending $150 to do that. Nite before last I was trying to fill out a form to order something.. it took over 30 minutes to do it.. The cursor kept freezing plus it wouldn't scroll without freezing. Some on here can vouch for all the problems I have had. If I can get it running I can at least check to see if there is anything else I want saved. I tried to keep things saved as I knew this day was coming. Yes I know now the APC is probably why it wouldn't turn on but I don't think that had anything to do with the other problems. The XP took about 20 minutes to reboot.. this 98 is very fast doing it. Thanks, Dar

Here is some information I got from a colleague of mine. As far as using a borrowed disc: "The only problem may be that if the installed system has had a Service Pack added to it, the disk will need to be the same or there'll be no Repair option, just reinstallation. In other words, if the system is at SP3 level, a WIN2000 SP2 disk won't work". There have been 4 service packs, so it's more than possible! Windows key: will you need it? "As far as keys is concerned, it depends. Sometimes yes. sometimes no. I think it depends on which Service Pack has been installed and whether the key data is accessible when doing the repair". See link for additional info. CLICK HERE

IF the guy is legit and doing a real business he will expect you to ask for references, people doing business out of their homes must expect that, I would check some references. That is not a guarantee of course. You can have dishonest people working at a big box store as easily as you can someone working from home. All the geeksquad horror stories I have read online keep me far far away from that place and those like it, I know people that have worked there and they are told one thing FORMAT it and get it done. In some cases formatting is the best answer but not always. I would delete completely any links you currently have set up to your bank that way you won't have an easy guide to where you bank on there. Clear out your cache on your browser and you history etc so it won't be as easy to see where you have been going. When you take it in have him give you a ticket showing that you did give him your pc with your pc info on it so that you have some proof later that you actually did give this guy your pc. I am sure he is legit but it is up to you to protect yourself. and if it does come down to formatting make some plan as to how your information will be backed up and not just lost. Just because your pc won't run windows does not mean it won't run, one way to get to a hard drive and salvage the info is to use a free linux live cd, it is put in the cd drawer and the pc is booted to linux from the cd once the pc is up in linux it is possible to use the linux operating system to go into your files and folder on the windows operating system and copy them. One good reason everyone should have at least one free linux cd around. Just in case you should want to discuss that here is a link that might be useful. backup