Ok i'm having a big problem with my second computer. I moved it to another room yesterday and since then i've been unable to get it to work. The original problem was that when i switched it on it acted normarly till the login screen, which didnt appear, all i could see was a black screen and a mouse cursor. At this point i only had the essentials plugged in : Power Cable, Monitor, Speakers, Mouse and Keyboard. After failing to work a few times, i started the computer in safe mode with the same results. I decided to repair the installation using the windows disc, this had the same problem. Then i formated my original 200GB drive and reinstalled windows, this time after finishing copying setup files, it re-booted and got to the installation screen, which again didnt come up, this time all i could see is a blue screen (windows colour, not BSOD colour) and a mouse cursor. By now i was really annoyed so i wipped out the 200GB drive, and put in a old 40GB drive, which was empty, and installed windows. I got the same result; light blue screen with mouse cursor. Now i decided to disconnect anything inside the case which wasnt vital, including spare DVD drive, modem and floppy drive, i also switched the memory banks of the RAM. Guess what? Same result... :( Now i'm at my wits end, this was a computer that was working perfectly a week ago, now it refuses to get anyware near windows after loading (usal screen with loading bar going back and forth) The specs of the computer are: Inter Pentium 4 2.4GHz 533Mhz FSB (Socket 478) Some HP motherboard (not sure which one) 512Mb PC2100 RAM (Single Stick) 40GB 5200rpm Western Digital Drive (Original one was 200GB WD 7200rpm) LG DVD-RW Ati Radeon 9000 64mb Windows XP Pro (No service packs, but this computer is not connected to the internet) Athlon 64 3200+ Asus AV8 Motherboard Gell 1GB 3200 RAM 2 X 512MB Sapphire Ati Radeon 9600XT 256mb Soon to be XFX GeForce 6800GT Maxtor 120GB HDD, 8MB Cache Maxtor 250GB HDD, 16MB Cache

Try clearing your CMOS. AMD Athlon 64 3500+ socket 939 1 GIG PC3200 DDR RAM 2x120 GIG 7200PRM HD's SATA/RAID 0 PNY Nvidia 6800 128MB Lite-On DVD+-RW DL

Very interesting. My first thought would be the RAM. You said this was your second pc - if at all possible - could you take another stick out of the first pc and try it in this one? My second thought would be the power supply going out - not sure what kind (and what quality) HP is putting out these days. Just a couple suggestions though.

How would i clear my CMOS? I tried putting a stick of PC3200 512Mb RAM from my gaming rig into the computer with the same results. Ty, your second point? Are you suggesting it could be my PSU? I think its a software rather than hardware problem, as the computer seems to copy this installation files ok and it loads upto a certain point. Thanks for ur reply's guys Athlon 64 3200+ Asus AV8 Motherboard Gell 1GB 3200 RAM 2 X 512MB Sapphire Ati Radeon 9600XT 256mb Soon to be XFX GeForce 6800GT Maxtor 120GB HDD, 8MB Cache Maxtor 250GB HDD, 16MB Cache

To clear the CMOS, there should be 3 pins somewhere on your motherboard with a jumper on 2 of them. Look for the word CMOS or something like that, mine is like CLRS or something. Here is a link that might describe it better. Scroll down to the first picture and that is where it starts. http://www.dewassoc.com/support/bios/bios_password.htm Clearing the CMOS resets any BIOS settings that are currently setup. Only do it if you think the BIOS may be causing the problem though. AMD Athlon 64 3500+ socket 939 1 GIG PC3200 DDR RAM 2x120 GIG 7200PRM HD's SATA/RAID 0 PNY Nvidia 6800 128MB Lite-On DVD+-RW DL

Sorry, I forgot to say that with those 3 pins and the jumper, you have to move the jumper to the other 2 pins. AMD Athlon 64 3500+ socket 939 1 GIG PC3200 DDR RAM 2x120 GIG 7200PRM HD's SATA/RAID 0 PNY Nvidia 6800 128MB Lite-On DVD+-RW DL

I've cracked it. The problem seems to be with the old Graphics Card, when i put my 9600XT outta my games rig it seemed to work ok, no blue screen and cursor. Thanks for ur suggestions. Athlon 64 3200+ Asus AV8 Motherboard Gell 1GB 3200 RAM 2 X 512MB Sapphire Ati Radeon 9600XT 256mb Soon to be XFX GeForce 6800GT Maxtor 120GB HDD, 8MB Cache Maxtor 250GB HDD, 16MB Cache