Were you asked for your product key?

I just looked at the website again... now I remember the first freeze with the new hd was at the license agreement page.

No, it didn't even get that far. And the last few times of trying all I get is a black screen with a tiny white flashing line in the top left hand corner.

flashing line in the top left hand corner

You are in No Man's Land stuck between the BIOS & Windows.

Sorry I have to take a break here / sleep ........

Will be back later.

On my last try I got a black screen with error messages at the top....
Press any key to boot from the cd....
NTLDR is missing
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart

Pressing any key didn't work nor did Ctrl+Alt+Del ... It was froze again!

I sure hope you can figure it out... It's driving me crazee!

As to: NTLDR is missing:
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;en-us;Q314057
Although this no longer seems to apply to you the ME connection remains curious
Also:
http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch000465.htm

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Well I've read thru this thread several times & .......

Just to try & summarize:

Is it hardware or software?

You added new RAM & Video Card?

But the freezing preceeded this?

Then you had ME upgraded to XP?

It only worked briefly?

You updated the BIOS?

The PSU is only 250W?

Do you know what the CPU is?

You have an OEM XP CD that will not load?

Even on a brand new hard drive?

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I would be curious if you can begin to load this CD on another computer?
Don't install it, of course, but see if it will boot you to the Product Key Entry then Exit.

If the CD is OK then I would think that we are back to hardware issues.

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/s...=93935&dlc=en&

I'm not sure if it's hardware or software problems... Yes, the freezing started before I ever did anything, though not as severe, but that's one of the reasons I started the upgrades. I upgraded the Ram to 384 mb, then new video card, win. xp, yes, it worked fine for a few weeks, updated the BIOS, Yes, the ps is 250 watts.
The cpu is 1 GHz AMD Athlon. I don't understand how it could have cloned any other operating system on a new hd.... that's strange... maybe I should try booting from the Compaq recovery disk with windows ME?
Would it mess up my son's puter if I tried installing xp on it? It's the only one working right now... I sure don't want to take any chances with it. It is also doesn't meet the requirements of xp.
Do you think I should start checking around for a repair tech, (just in case)? I know it must be difficult to try to diagnose a problem without seeing it in person and I commend you for that.
Thanks

The hardware/ software question was posed as the question to be solved ... neither of us know at this point ...

I would not try to install the XP on another computer ...
My thought was just to check if your CD was cabable of installing XP ...
If you tried it on another computer would it behave the same?
Will it boot? Will it take you to the Product Key Screen?
As I understand it an OEM CD is tailored to a specific manufacturer.
From where I sit it is hard to tell if you have a valid XP CD.

Have you contacted the individual who put XP on it in the first place?

My other test at this point would be to return it as much as possible to its' original state.

Old hard drive; Old RAM; Old video; & try to run the recovery ME.

At this point there is only testing it yourself or turning it in.

That last person didn't seem to solve anything

Do you think I could "test" the xp cd on another computer without completing the install or doing any harm?
It was supposed to have been made by microsoft... or do you mean contact the person I bought the cd from? I haven't done that yet, but maybe I should.
My thoughts exactly about the last techi... he was supposed to have fixed the problem, reformatted the hd and loaded xp.
Do you think the recovery disk would still work with all the crap that's been loaded on the old hd?
It's worth a try.... what have I got to lose? I can start putting everything back tomorrow and see what happens.
I guess if nothing else I'll have parts to build a new puter.

Yes I think you can test the CD.
It will not do anything you do not tell it to do.
Can you get past the F8 agreement?

Microsoft sells XP to manufacturers such as Dell Compaq HP IBM etc.
These manufacturers then tailor XP to their own systems.
For example your recovery ME is not a Microsoft ME but a recovery disk provided by Compaq.

For example:

Compaq Presario PCs - Using the Compaq Recovery CD

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...935&rule=56917



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