If you cant provide a full answer refrain from answering or send a pm too the person whom you think can.Actually, smeezekitty, I was thinking along these lines myself. I will await the details from patio. I have a new XP disk with service PACK 3 and I was thinking of just loading that, then reconstructing what I did before, except for the final mistake.I never did solve this problem. Couldn't wait for the next instruction, so I just REINSTALLED Windows from the DELL disk. Will have to open new post to deal with NIC and video problems. Sorry I am so impatient. Its okay sometimes there just insnt a choice an you just have to do what you can. Thats why a back up is important.Are you still having video problems, Reeder2?Yes, but the title of this post no longer applies. It's a different problem, and I've been searching the forums before MAKING a new post. Thanks for your attention. I will get back to you with a new post. That will be more informative for people who have the same problem. But for now, I have social obligations in the *real world* (sigh).you may need to explain that he seems too have issues UNDERSTANDING that.