Dolbette

Thanks guys for the reassurance and sorry for not posting back sooner - I'm rather poorly with swollen glands/bad throat etc at the moment so not felt much like doing anything! However, the enclosure arrived today, so I plan on getting the hard drive out of the machine (I fortunately found a tutorial online for my particular machine) and fixing into the casing... I hope I got a decent case, spent a bit extra on one with good reviews, it also has a fan as I was unsure if there'd be issues with the drive overheating. In the instructions for the casing, it's telling me that the drive must be partitioned before use... I'm presuming that my drive will be? It also says the drive needs to be formatted before it will be recognised with the system, I obviously can't do that, or I'll lose my data - shall I just put the drive in, plug it into my laptop and hope it's recognised? Obviously I'll run a virus scan on it before I try to open anything up. Thanks again for all the help, much appreciated!

I'm pretty sure it wasn't one of the options... but will check again tomorrow. If there's something wrong with the hard drive, do you think I'll still be able to get my photos/music/video files from it when I've got the casing for it?

Results are above, it seems we both posted at the same time :)

RAM #1 was 1GB, if it's relevant. RAM #2 (512mb) - no beeps on startup, takes ages to boot up, wallpaper is enlarged and no longer fits on the screen, then rundll error comes up, saying "checking for solutions but this time doesn't ask me to "close program", loads large sidebar icon on top left of screen and then reboots (albeit slowly!). RAM #3 (1GB) -first I tried it in a different slot, as it was easier to get to, no display at all (I wasn't sure if it had to be the first slot I put the RAM into, obviously it is!), so tried in the first slot, display came on fine, no beeps, booted up, wallpaper no longer enlarged, rundll error comes up, the "close program" window doesn't stay for long, didn't get chance to click on it, no Windows sidebar at all, then reboots itself. RAM #4 (512mb) - no beeps on startup, boots up (can definitely notice the difference in speed between the 1GB and 510mb!), wallpaper is enlarged again, takes ages to boot up, didn't see the rundll error this time (although I had to look away for a short time), then large sidebar icon in top left of the screen, this time says it's loading HP advisor (which used to always run on startup, but hasn't done since this rebooting issue), HP advisor doesn't actually display and then it reboots, again. That's all my RAM tested. Is there anything else to do while I wait for the casing for my hard drive to arrive? Does this indicate that the hard drive has a problem?

With no RAM I had no display, had one short beep, then one long beep... over and over again. Just trying with the first one back in - machine has booted and is taking forever to fully load, it's still busy, but the rundll error has just popped up, it checks for solutions, then asks me to "close program", which I did... it continued to load the large (out of place) Windows sidebars on the top left and now it's shutting itself down. I'll try the other RAM, I may be some time! To add to that, with the RAM in, I have no beeps at all.

Okay, will remove the RAM next... there's four modules, shall I take them all out and try them one at a time as you previously suggested, or just leave them all out, providing the system is stable once they're out? How will the machine run with no RAM? I've just been reading about disabling rundll in task manager... my computer may let me do this, as when it's booting up (before it starts to shut itself down), it'll let me do some stuff - albeit very limited as I have to hurriedly do it before it shuts down, but I may be able to get into task manager, if I know precisely what I'm looking for/doing so as not to waste time. I thought I should also add - Just before the computer reboots, the Windows side bar tries to load, but it ends up all bunched up with the different features on top of one another (I have a calendar, two clocks, the weather and photos), enlarged and in the top left of the screen... could this be relevant (it's never done this before I started having this issue)?

Hi there, before I take the RAM out, I just wanted to let you know what happened when I plugged my monitor in to the VGA port - The computer booted up and this time I'm getting a rundll.32 error message (something like "Windows host process rundll.32 has stopped working". It tries to search for a solution, then reboots as it has been. I've just Googled what rundll.32 does and from one source I've read, it says that it's not normally a threat and is normally located at "is normally located at \Windows\System32\rundll32.exe", unless "spyware is using the same filename and is running it from a different directory in order to disguise itself". Now I have a few questions: How come this error message didn't show before I removed the video card? Does this error message mean that I have a virus which has disguised itself? Is it possible to disable this host process (considering that my PC keeps shutting down before it's fully booted up)? If there's a problem with rundll.32, does this mean there might be a problem with my hard drive and therefore not be able to retrieve the files on it (I ordered a casing to turn it into an external drive yesterday)? I'll wait until I head back from one of you before removing the RAM and once again, thank you!

Well, the first time I turned it on after removing the card, it came on, but not much action from the hard drive, but I pressed the power button and it restarted (I could tell from the sound), this was more like it, the hard drive was active and the green light flashing... However, after a few minutes, the dreaded re-boot :( Will try plugging the monitor into that VGA socket, but I don't hold out much hope, as when I asked the dudes at PCworld (where I bought it from), they said that "that port isn't for use" - plus it doesn't seem to be connected to anything on the inside. Worth a shot though!

Got the wire out, apparently wiggling worked for that too... the machine's powered up, but since I can't see what it's doing, I don't know what it's doing... I personlly don't think it's even loaded up, as there was very little action from the drive when I turned it on and it doesn't sound like it's doing anything. The green hard drive light isn't doing anything either. Whatever it's doing, I'm pretty confident it's not the same as it was doing before I removed the card (doesn't seem to be rebooting), but I don't know if this is because I've damaged something in some way? I have absolutely no clue how I'm gonna get the graphics card back in, as it was so difficult to get it out - it's really stiff! Any advice on where to go from here would be appreciated... in the meantime I've ordered a case for my hard drive, so I can at least salvage what's on there, if all else fails. Shame really, because I was gonna pass this PC on to my son as he's starting secondary school this year! As an FYI, I want to get ino IT as a career, in a couple of years time when circumstances allow - so I guess this is all good practise (I obviously have a lot to learn, lol).

Thanks Nev, card out, but cable connected I can't seem to remove from the video card without damaging it (uhm, help!), the other end is plugged into the motherboard, but there's no cable from the video card to the power supply.

Nevermind, I got the card out (though I'm not sure if I've done damage as I had to jiggle it away from the motherboard ratherly severely and it make a cracking sound when it came out! The card is now only attached by a little white pin with two thin (one black, one white) wires coming out of it. How do I safely remove this pin? Or am I okay trying to turn the machine on with it still attached?

Okay, I've undone the screw and wiggled the video card, but it seems to be attached to something inside the machine... the motherboard maybe (no clue, lol)? It's loosened off at the back of the machine, but I don't know what to do with it from now, the card won't come out :-S I do have a VGA slot, but it doesn't work, as when I bought the PC, it had a plastic cap over it, apparently it doesn't work. Anyway, any more details about taking the card out would be appreciated, many thanks!

Thanks for that, will try it today... Just been searching online for tutorials on how to get the hard drive out (found one, it's a two minute job now I know how!), but at the same time, found this, which gives you a list of parts inside the machine, looks like the video card is removeable after all, as it's the one pictured in this link, I just can't see how I can get it out, as the only screw I can see is situated in an awkward place, can't get to it unless I buy a screwdriver with a really short handle (have tried the little mini-screwdriver set we use for reading glasses, with no luck): http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01420094&lang=en&cc=us&taskId=125&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=3688699&prodTypeId=12454 Anyway, do you think I should first have a go at getting this video card out, or try the RAM? In the meantime, I'll search online for a way to get the video card out! Just for further information, I can't actually remember the last time the machine beeped when you first turn it on, what does the beep mean/do? Thanks again :-)

I stripped the wire (traced it back to the back of the machine, but not sure where it's connected to), taped it together, but it still restarted itself :-(

Thought I should just add to this... I've just figured out how to take the front panel of the PC off (to see if it would help me get the hard drive out - it didn't) and found the wire that got yanked with the top of the machine (the top panel slides off, which apparently, after asking him, the hubby thought he had to remove to get to the insides of the machine, doh!) and found the offending wire, which on close inspection, seems to have been yanked to the point of breaking, away from a wire coming out of the machine, if I can figure how to strip the wire without breaking any of it's threads, will taping them back together with electrical tape work? Could this be the source of my issue?!