[puzzledb]

Hello rschaffer61,
OK I pressed accept and Windows has loaded.
I will send full details soon but must break off for now as my wife wants some help preparing our evening meal.

With best regards,

Dave

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Okey dokey I'll be here for another 8 hours at least.

[rshaffer61]

Okey dokey I'll be here for another 8 hours at least.

[puzzledb]

Hello rshaffer
The main boot screen looks like this:
Left column Right column

Primary IDE master [ST32OO826A]

Primary IDE slave not detected

Also found items marked secondary but these seem to be concerned with the DVD reader/writer.

On chip SATA controller [disabled]

Hope this helps.

With best regards
Dave

[rshaffer61]

Kewl it looks like it is seeing your drive then. It looks like a 200 gig hd?

[puzzledb]

Hello rschaffer61,
Yes 200 Gig hard drive with 1 Gig of memory and a Pentium 4 processor.

With best regards,

Dave.

[rshaffer61]

Ok I'm getting to where I'm not sure what to try next. If trying a true PS2 mouse doesn't work then I will have to research more.

[puzzledb]

Hello rschaffer61
No I have not tried a true PS2 mouse but I did try a USB mouse with a USB to PS2 adptor but that did not work either.Do you think it worthwhile going out and buying a PS2 mouse? They cost about £10 ($16).A miracle,I just drummed my fingers on the back of my PC and then started it up.Windows loaded OK and the laser mouse has power and is lit and it works.I think this has got to all be due to a poor electrical connection some where.Can you suggest any diagnostics that I could while it is running OK.

With best regards,

Dave.

[rshaffer61]

I wouldn't buy one. Is there anyone to borrow from?

[puzzledb]

Hello rschaffer61,
I do not know anyone who might have a PS2 mouse as most have gone over to USB but I will ask around tomorrow as it is now 10:24 here in England.At last I am able to use the PC to write this to you.Since my last post it has frozen up 3 times and I have had to power it down each time.However very gentle drumming on the rear of the case gets it to work.This time it has worked for the longest.But drumming gently on the case is not a satisfactory long term solution.

With best regards,

Dave.

[rshaffer61]

OK you get some rest and we will continue tomorrow. As of this post it is 5:11pm so I'm guessing you are about 5 hours ahead of me.

[puzzledb]

Night night
Dave

[happyrock]

you have a short in the case somewhere...to confirm this you would have to remove the mobo from the case...lay it on some cardboard ...connect the hard drive, monitor, keyboard and mouse then plug it in and power it up...if everything works like it supposed to you know its a short somewhere between the case and the mobo

[puzzledb]

Thank you Happyrock,
Sorry to sound so dumb but what is a mobo?

With best regards,

Dave.

[happyrock]

mobo = motherboard

[puzzledb]

Hello to rschaffer61
Another helper thinks that I may have a short between the case and the motherboard, he is Hardrock.
Computer ran OK late last night and then for about three quarters of an hour this morning but mouse then froze up.Got a PS2 type mouse from a neighbour and it ran OK with it plugged in. But when I swapped it for a USB mouse that also ran OK.Since then the machine has frozen at just about every stage of starting up and I have to turn off by holding in the power buton.On starting up if I see the message "Media test failure-check cable" then I know that the mouse will be stuck.If I gently drum my fingers on the back ,where the mouse and key board go in,then I can get it to work sometines. This working phase can last from just a few minutes to several hours before it freezes again.
May not be able to reply very quickly as my wife wants this laptop to do some work on her creative writing course.

With best regards,

Dave.