I believe I must have some corrupted system files, a problem with my BIOS or a hardware problem. My specific question is should I bite the bullet and reformat and reinstall XP or try something else? Symptoms: 1. Some (but not all) external USB media devices that work on my older computer have stopped working on this one. I tried uninstalling USB controllers in device manager and rebooting but that didn't help. 2. System restore is not working. Everything looks "normal" up and until the system reboots itself but then I get "Your system cannot be restored, try another restore point". I tried several restore points and none of them worked. I removed all restore points by turning off system restore and then back on but the new restore points don't work either. *** Other than the above, the computer seems to be working fine. I have up-to-date Norton anti-virus and System Works running as well as Spy Sweeper and Ad-Aware and except for the occasional "tracking cookie" they have found no problems since the above symptoms started*** Possible causes: Just before noticing the problems I did the following all within a couple days of each other. 1. I attempted to reformat a USB mp3 player in Windows "My Computer". That device is now toast! However, another device by the same manufacturer doesn't work in this computer but works fine in other computers. The SD memory card that was installed in the toasted mp3 player works fine in other computers but appears as "write protected" in this one. 2. I attempted to recover data from my son's crashed computer by installing his hard drives (one at a time) as a slave drive on my computer. One of his hard drives was OK and I backed up it's data to DVDs but the other would not work at all and kept my computer from booting until I removed it. Even after removing it my computer was acting "funny" at reboot but eventually corrected itself and boots normally now. 3. I installed G-Force 6200 AGP 8X graphics card. Had been using graphics controller on mother board.

Virus and Spyware scans work better in Windows Safe-Mode. ---------------- Using System Restore too many times can cause more harm than good. After doing a restore that does not fix a problem, then UNDO the Restoration, and try another restore point, or just do the UNDO. Maybe the following helps: Troubleshooting System Restore in Windows XP Frequently Asked Questions Regarding System Restore in Windows XP --------------------- Try System File Checker: Open the Command Prompt, then type: sfc /scannow note space between the c and / Have XP CD in your drive. Information about SFC

unlike the 10year old machine I'm posting from, a 3.2 ghz p4 sounds like a new machine. Is it still covered by the warranty? larry