Hey Jephree - since Windows XP has the "Remote Assistance" feature now - can we try that? Can you at least observe me make the registry changes? I would be forever grateful! I mean, what the heck else is the feature for, right? Just a thought...I'm on the edge, Jephree!

I'm sorry if I seem a bit scatterbrained...you have to remember - I've been struggling with these and other issues ever since Dec. 22nd! One thing after the other, IE crashed, MCE crashed, missing .msi drivers, error 1706 (a million times!) - and less than a month ago, ya'll helped me get rid of the GoZilla virus! It's unending and making computing very UN-fun! I have websites I badly need to edit and promote and can't!

I want to tell you and every member of the forum, and those looking for help - I posted my troubles at 3 or 4 free help forums- D-A-L is the ONLY one with the expertise and integrity and confidence to reply and aggressively help me find the answers! I appreciate it so much! And once this is all over, whatever I can, I WILL make a donation!

Geni Hanna

I am near to my end of the day here (meaning I'm about to pass out ) But...

First off if your computer is under warranty there will be some path to satisfaction.

As to the latest details you have a Maxtor hard drive. You can download the Maxtor hard drive diagnostic here: It is called PowerMax:

http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Ma...&downloadID=22

You load this download onto a Bootable floppy disk and then boot it. Then it will tell you if your hard drive is OK or not.

Another possibility of that error you receive is a RAM problem but that is very rare.

See what PowerMax finds. If you need more help in utilizing it don't hesitate to ask

As you mention an external hard drive I would suggest removing it until these other issues are resolved.

I hope I am not being too scattered as it is at the end of a long day

Sorry that I myself have all those Remote features disabled since I never use them and they are possible security risks.

Just to verify again: You tried booting the Recovery disc?

Recovering from recovery discs

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...cname=bph07145

HP Pavilion a1230n Desktop PC

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...&lang=en&cc=us

As to a Registry Back up:

How to backup the Windows XP Registry?

I recommend:

Take a complete registry backup using ERUNT

http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm

[ERUNT] Registry Backup and Restore for Windows
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/


[ERUNT Download URLs]
http://www.aumha.org/downloads/erunt.zip
http://www.aumha.org/downloads/erunt-setup.exe


[Installing & Using ERUNT]
http://www.winxptutor.com/regback.htm
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_eruntuse.html
http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-on...runt/erunt.txt