HELP! Major Computer Issues! What Do I Do???

[BabyGirl2013]

Ok, I am lost as of now.

I am using an HP Pavillion machine (2150 desktop), 256 MB RAM, Intel Celron Processor 766 MHz, 20 gig HD and yesterday, all heck broke loose! It is running WINXP SP1 PRO.

I was trying to burn a cd with NTI CD MAKER, and while I was doing so, everything started freezing up. It would not read the CD ROM, it would not continue to run, and I was getting shut down messages. I took it upon myself to unistall the NTI CD MAKER and start all over, thinking it was maybe the software itself. Well, when I uninstalled it, it stopped running the machine altogether.

I ended up cleaning it out, and when I did get it to power back up again this morning, I had to reformat the machine, which wasn't a biggie. After reformatting, it read the CD ROM drive just fine, but then when it rebooted the machine, it failed to recognize any CDROM at all. I went into the bios, and it is not recognizing any CDROM at all.

I was able to finally get it to recognize one after about 4 reboots, at which time, I was able to load on my ISP software so I could get online.

After a little while, I got the CDROM back on and I loaded the NTI program again. It was running fine, but then when I went to burn a cd, it once again froze and everything started shutting down. It also stopped burning the cd in the middle of the process and the Shut Down messages started again. First for NTI, then for REAL PLAYER.exe, then for WMCONNECT (ISP). However, they would not shut down at all, they just kept running.

When I rebooted, the CDROM was not recognized again, and since this, it has become slow running, and when I was trying to connect to the Internet using my Walmart Connect software, it logged me off, then gave me the shut down message for REAL PLAYER, and then it logged me right out of Windows, without me touching anything.

It only runs the CD ROM once in a while, and when it does, it only works for a few minutes, then dies.

Also when rebooting, sometimes it will load quickly, and other times it can take 5 minutes before you get from the BIOS screen to the WinXP start page.

I am not sure what else to do. Please someone help me. Let me know what you think might be wrong, or what I can do to try and fix this. Other than only working once in a while, the CDROM is running fine when it does work. I have checked all the connections and it seems to be all plugged in fine.

HELP!

Thanks!

[BabyGirl2013]

Nothing yet??? HELP!!!!

[Gettinbye]

What BIOS version are you running? In order to run XP, you'll need version 1.01.02-you can get it here:
http://h20015.www2.hp.com/en/softwar...etype=software
I must stress: if you're not familiar with flashing BIOS, READ THE INSTRUCTIONS! If you make a mistake, chances are your computer will no longer run AT ALL. There is a link there for instructions on performing this procedure-PLEASE use it. This is NOT hard to do, but it is important that you do it correctly.
If you already have this version of BIOS, or if it doesn't solve the problem, please post back.

[thegladiatorgy]

It sounds like you may have some power issues there. Could be that the PSU is affecting the CD drive & HD in some way. Your cd drive may be dying as a result of this.

[BabyGirl2013]

Now how would I find this out and fix it???

[HeadBand]

first thing i thought was bad ide cables if you have some extras try replacing them

[ragtop]

Did you make any hardware/software changes prior to the problem, or did it just happen randomly??

Assuming you didn't make any recent changes, I would look first at the CDRW since that seems to be at the center of the issue. About the only way to test it is to buy (or borrow) a different drive, install it & see if it works.

Of course, you'll want to check the ribbon cable first, as Headband suggested.