Why you should not be using MSconfig to control startups!! http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=149804 Many people frequently use MSconfig as a long term solution to control startup processes and services. You will also see many websites condoning use of MSconfig and teaching you how to use it for controlling startups. This is a very bad idea for many reasons. 1. MSconfig was designed to be used only as a temporary debugging/troubleshooting tool. It was not meant to be used for long term solutions. 2. MSconfig does not show all startups anyway. 3. If you uninstall programs while they are being disabled with MSconfig, they will not be uninstall properly and you will have to resort to manual registry editing to properly get everything removed. MSconfig will leave orphan entries if/when installed software is uninstalled while under the control of MSconfig . When/if MSconfig is turned back to normal startup, it will give errors on boot due to those orphan entries. 4. MSconfig and Services: o If you uninstall programs while you have some of the programs services being controlled with MSconfig, the programs will not be uninstall properly and you will have to resort to manual registry editing to get everything properly removed. o When you uncheck a service in msconfig, you completely disable it. If you uncheck the wrong one, you may not be able to restart your computer. o It is safer to control services by using Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Services (this runs services.msc). 5. You can lock malware items into your registry that you may not see anymore until some point in time where you switch back to Normal Startup mode and now you can cause total reinfection of your PC with the malware. You need to remove the malware not mask it. If you still don't understand why not to use MSconfig, see what Microsoft writes here: The key point is stated as such: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310560

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

Mikie, I didn't know that, but even if I did hit one of those keys, why would I lose all the type? Sometimes a menu drop down comes on, and of course, while I am typing, I don't always catch it in time, and poof all type gone. The puzzle for me is, what keys am I combining to eliminate the type, if I knew that, perhaps I would be able to control things more here? I see where hitting control/all would make the area black as it does, but then, what key am I hitting to take out the type?

UPDATE: On the Monday after Thanksgiving, I phoned Wolf CS and spoke with a service dept pro who assured me the tech coming the next day would evaluate the oven situation to see if a new control board was needed. When the tech came the next day, he removed the door, quickly made a slight adjustment, and all was fixed!! Just to make sure, he began the self-clean mode about five times. Each time the latch engaged properly and the oven began to heat. Hooray! Now I realize why the upper oven sounded differently than the lower when closing it. The side of the metal door was hitting the side of the oven cavity so what I was hearing was metal scraping metal. The lower door, since it didn't hit, made a satisfying, sturdy "thump" noise. The ovens were floor models and then sat in my garage for months before install. Who knows when the door came out of alignment. I can say that I am happy with the customer service I received from Wolf and from the nearly local repair company. On a funny side note, the repairman was very impressed that I thought to check the web about the oven latch, but even more so that a stranger would be so helpful as to suggest the "push against the door" technique that resolved the problem enough to open and use the ovens. Great job, Gary! I sung the praises of GW KF! Btw, every person I know IRL who heard about my ovens (and there were many) now knows that a GW friend named Gary came to my rescue! Thank you, again! On a sadder side note, the holiday wasn't as joyful as usual without my father. I appreciate the thoughtful messages from you all on this thread. Christmas is going to be even worse, but I'm determined to enjoy my kids and make their holiday a magical one.