I am visiting a friend and he has the above problem but also now the computer doesn't boot at all. We get a black screen with some kind of writing in the left upper side of the screen. We can't read it and it will not go any further. I was wondering if I can install XP home on an external drive passport and then hook it up to his computer and possibly boot from the external hard drive? Maybe this way I can get into his computer even if I use safe mode. Also before the computer did not boot any more we ran a diagnostic with one of the disks that came with the computer. It has diagnostics on it with drivers. We got the following codes when we ran the diagnostics. 2F00:0B1C 2F2F:0119 2F0F:136C Would any one know what these codes mean? If any one could tell me either way I thank you in advance. Have a nice holiday. Montana68
