also if you try to reformat/reinstall the operating system with extra USB hardware plugged in it will sometimes restart....but the failing power supply would be the best place to start! In The Matters Of Style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, Stand Like A Rock "People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid."

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I guess I am lost in how to figure out if it's a failing power supply.... it's a laptop, does that make a diff?? .. a whole other ball of wax I don't know how to tackle....

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Look in the bios to see if they show the temperatures and post it. If the bios doesn't show the temperatures you can download a program like Speedfan (free) and it will display them. http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

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Curious.... How do I get to this bios? Would I be able to access this if I pushed F10 at start up?? then where would I find it? I do not know what bios is, sorry.....

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BIOS means Basic Input-Output System. The first screen display shown after turning computer on, is what is called the POST screen. Most of the time, it will show for 1 to 2 seconds at the most. That screen will show what key to hit (at that time) to enter BIOS. Try hitting the PAUSE/BREAK key, on your keyboard, when the Post screen flashes on. That should hold the display so you can make note of which F key to use to get into BIOS at next boot. Then hit ENTER to continue. It will likely say SETUP instead of BIOS. Are you good with using the keyboard ???? You will NOT have any mouse in BIOS.

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"How do I get to this bios?" Often on HP systems you press F2, sometimes F1. Press whatever key repeatedly, don't hold it down, starting very shortly after the computer boots, whether you see anything on the screen at first or not (you may not if you don't have a LCD monitor). A clue is the monitor led, usually green, often first stays on steadily at the beginning of the bios boot sequence - press the key shortly after you see that. Some motherboard bioses will not go into the bios Setup when you restart the computer ("warm" boot) and you won't get the prompt to "Press xx key..." or similar when you restart - you must "cold" boot - Shut Down Windows, if you had already been in it, then boot the computer. If you don't see a prompt to "Press xx to enter Setup" or similar before the HP logo screen appears, which key it is is often in the *.pdf user manual for your model, or if your system is older you may have gotten a small printed booklet with the computer, HP obvious on the front of it, that tells you which key it is somewhere in it.

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"it's a laptop, does that make a diff?? " Yes. Unfortunately we often can't tell whether a HP Pavilion computer model is a desktop or laptop without looking it up, so I assumed you had what most people have - a desktop or tower computer. In the case of a laptop, the power circuits are different and are built in and hard to physically inspect. You can still go into the bios Setup and look at the current voltages, but with a laptop you often will find nothing wrong there, and there is something else wrong. Although, the main battery voltage may be displayed there - it's supposed to be 10.8 volts or thereabouts in your case, if it is fully charged. A bit higher is okay - a lot lower is not. How old is the main battery? They are warrantied for only a year. If it is more than two years old you are likely to have problems because it can no longer hold a sufficient charge. E.g. the computer may not stay on long. I have two friends with laptops - one a HP model about 2 years old or a bit more (Pavilion dv5xxx), the other a Compaq maybe a bit newer but not much(Presario 6030US). Both came with a 4400mah battery. Both batteries became poor at holding a charge before or around the two year mark. Both people have the AC adapter attached nearly all the time - one uses the laptop as his only computer every day - the other uses it part time but does not unplug the AC adapter even when the battery is fully charged and she's not using it. Both, and for sure your laptop model, have the option of using a main battery of twice the capacity - it fits in the same compartment but protrudes from the bottom of the case a bit, such that the latop base is tilted slightly when it is installed. I ordered a clone 8800mah battery on the web for both laptops that cost much less than the HP 8800mah battery and has the same 1 year warranty. It may not last any longer, but in theory you can run the laptop twice as long on the battery when the AC adapter is not being used. If that doesn't concern you, a cheaper clone 4400mah one will do you fine. One thing I noticed with the Pavilion was it was running much slower in Windows than it should have when it still had it's old tired battery - it's fine now with the 8800mah one. A tip - your main battery will last a lot longer if you unplug the AC adapter after the battery has fully charged (the blue "charging" led will be off) when you're not using the laptop. Or if you don't want to fuss with waiting for that led to go out, just unplug it when you're not using the laptop if it was on the AC adapter for a while previous to that. A lot of older laptops will run on the AC adapter alone, but many recent ones, probably including yours, won't. Take a look it the end of the cord from the AC adapter near the plug at the laptop end - does it or the plug look damaged? Wiggle the plug in it's socket in the laptop - does the socket appear to be loose? If there's anything wrong with the AC adapter or it's cord or plug, or if the socket it's plugged into is damaged, the main battery will not charge properly. Going by recent research, the AC adapter is used by many HP dv5xxx models and many other HP and Compaq models, and relatively cheap to replace. The socket can be repaired by any place that repairs laptops. A friend of mine has a laptop in this same dv5xxx series. If the AC adapter, it's cord and plug, and the socket in the laptop are okay, you should see a blue led light up at the left front of the base at least briefly, even if the battery is fully charged, when you unplug it from the laptop and plug it back in. The laptop does not have to be running for you to see that, but the main battery must be installed.

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And as Lurks said, the problem may be in the External hard drive, if you have it plugged into the laptop when you attempt setup. Setup may be trying to use this hard drive instead of the internal one, so make sure it isn't plugged into the laptop when you run the Cd's. Musky If the voices inside my head paid rent, I'd be rich!

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