RandyL

It seems your network connection is ok then. Have you checked for newer network drivers? Is Windows fully updated?

Are you logged on as administrator? If so since this is XP do this. I assume Windows is installed on drive C. Go to Start>Run. Tpe in c:\windows\system32\restore\rstrui.exe Click OK.

Not many people besides me have seen a similar problem but here goes anyway. I have personally experienced a slow startup with a faulty CD drive. It seems Windows just kept on trying to detect it untill it finally gave up and booted fully. Yes it was Windows XP. I disconnected the faulty drive and bootup was fast. Installed a new CD drive and bootup and the faulty CD drive was all OK. Just a thought.

Sorry for butting in Nev. Swapping a drive with XP already installed is almost always not going to work or boot. It's trying to boot to the hardware configuration of the machine it was installed on which won't match your computer. I'm guessing your boot sector needs repaired which means you will probably need the installation disk. This Microsoft article has some possible causes and fixes. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297185

KenB is away at the moment but like the rest of us I'm sure he will be glad to hear you sorted it and took the time to let him and everyone else know what worked. Thanks.

I agree with Plastic Nev. Backup then try to get the restore disks from Dell and start completely over. For the record Norton Ghost is old school technology but some old Dells used Norton backup utility. Ghost basically used drive overlay technology which could make it appear as a seperate drive although small. Outdated since System Restore was introduced with Windows Millenium. FAT32 file systems were DOS based unlike newer versions of Windows that use the NTFS file system which is what XP is usually set up as. However a secondary drive or partion of a drive may be set up as FAT. Sometimes a restore partion will be FAT if I'm not mistaken. Either way it sounds like a real mess if you can't access the Dell recovery and have 4 partitions.

If you think someone is actively hijacking your connection it might show if you go to networking and sharing in Control Panel then view the full map. Click on full map. If your wireless router security settings are set up correctly then they would need your router number to connect to you. WPA2 security is usually good enough. There should be something in the networking and sharing in Vista that you can manage your wireless networks to check your security type. I'm on Windows 7. But I'm no expert either. I'm not sure why you would want to know this because if someone is hijacking your signal it will be your ISP. However here it is. http://whatismyipaddress.com/ip-lookup

Excuse me as I try to assist. On that link on the left side of the page you will see Download drivers and software Use that link to navigate to your system drivers. Note that it has to be the exact model and also for your exact version of Windows.

I belive you have: Windows 7 SATA hard drive 160 Gb. The service tag number would help verify this. That is a pretty small drive for a preinstalled Windows 7 but not unheard of. Windows 7 will recognize large drives. So any SATA drive will do. In the past old motherboards or Operating systems could not utilize the full drive size over 128/137 as noted but would see it up to that point. KenB and Jelly Bean are correct on that. However based on what you have supplied (without the Dell service tag number) I think you are ok with any SATA drive. Keep in mind that you will need to reinstall Windows from the disks. So make sure you have a set first. Not just the utility disks which is drivers and such.

HP? Then it should say something similar to mine like HP Pavillion p6230y Do you see anything like the above?

Which brings up the point. What is your computer or computer specs? Perhaps Lexmark is onto something.

Hi Sub Zero. This is an old thread. Can you please start a new thread and elaborate in detail what your issue is. Thanks.

That says your hard drive is working. Have you cleaned the insides lately? Maybe it's a heat issue caused by dirt or a failing fan.

Very odd that everything works fine when you boot from the disk. Try option 2 as you said.

Memory would be my first guess too but this concerns me also. As long as there is no disk in the drive bay the only things I know that can make noise are moving parts. Which means either a fan or the hard drive.

HP is usually pretty good about having the correct drivers at their support site. Here is the USA link. http://www8.hp.com/us/en/support-drivers.html

Have you checked the CD in another computer? Are you sure the drive is CD/DVD? If it's just a CD drive a DVD disk won't work.

Ken and I seem to be working in tangent which is good. Ken knows his stuff. If the connections are good and nothing shows a problem in device manager and you have a known good CD that has been checked in another computer then it might be that your drive is bad. However when you checked the properties you said the the drive was good but you did not say if it showed files on the drive or free or used drive space. Without the requested information it is hard to say if it is the connections, CD, drivers or what. Why did you take it out originally? Was there a problem or reason?

Is there a CD in the drive. What does it say when you right click the drive and select properties?

It's hard to say. Does the light go off on the switch or does it just make a noise? If it's just a noise you might be hearing the hardrive. I have seen failing hardrives cause your first set of symptoms. It might help to run the Dell diagnostics.

Mainstream support has already ended. Extended support ends April 8 2014. It really is time to move on. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/products/lifecycle

I thought I heard before that when setting up a dual boot you should always install the older operating system first. Have you tried running the program in XP compatability mode?

What a mess and yes you may have deleted the drivers. If I were you I would roll back the computer using System Restore since we have no idea what you have been deleting or why.

Glad you got it figured out. At least you didn't need to buy a new monitor.

I've seen strange things like that happen when the monitor buttons were accidentally pressed. Perhaps that is what happened. For instance my grandson turned my LG monitor and accidentally pressed the buttons on the back right hand side that I didn't even know were there. In my case I had a slight color shift on a split screen with a shaded bar seperating it. After contacting LG by chat they not only told me how to fix it they told me how to disable it from happening accidentally. Even though you tried fixing it that way it might be worth contacting the manufacurer to rule that out. It's also possible that you're drivers are corrupt or need updating or that a recent Windows update caused the problem. Windows updates did just recently come out. Then again it might be your monitor or graphics card/chip is bonkers. Try another monitor on your computer and try your monitor on another computer. That's a good place to start trouble shooting.