Jack Hackett

Install WinPatrol, one of it's many features is the ability to manage Startup applications Disable all but the very necessary applications, necessary applications = AntiVirus, Firewall, Realtime AntiSpyware etc I highly recommend WinPatrol === I would be interested to know how many processes you have running - Open Task Manager (CTRL+ALT+DEL) and look bottom left corner and tell us what the number is next to where it says Processes. 35 or less is good, anything more than that then you have too many unnecessary background processes running and you should trim them down.

So, it doesnt mean that the battery is new or good, it could have been sitting in the stores for a year or more before being fitted in the mobo. have you checked its voltage? Even if it is new there could still be a motherboard problem that may cause the battery to drain prematurely so I recommend you get the multimeter out and test voltages. Whilst you're at it check the voltages of the PSU Driverheaven Guides: testing your psu with a multimeter

Did you replace the BIOS battery with a new one? or did you just remove and put back the one that was in it in the first place. The suggestion to you was to replace with a NEW battery be sure to fit it the correct way up, +positive upwards ;)

5 years old eh.. hmmm Replace the BIOS battery,this will most likely fix your issue

Goku, his PC specifications may not be up to running XP?

Program Checker - Dont you just love good ol' Snake Oil :D

His previous Sophos AntiVirus is still present and it's services running, as shown in the 023 sections of the HJT log these, for now, should be disabled from running by going to their relevant entries in Windows Services. Start - Run - type in services.msc - OK scroll down to each of the Sophos entries in turn and change the Startup type to Disabled, also click on STOP button to stop the service

Hi, go here Troubleshooting Windows XP, Tweaks and Fixes for Windows XP Scroll down to Line 240 - Programs are not Minimized in the Taskbar To use the VBS File: Download .vbs file and save it to your hard drive (you may want to right click and use Save Target As). Double click the vbs file. You will be prompted when the script is done. Running 2 antivirus programs is NOT recommended as they cause conflicts with each other, you have Sophos and Avast installed and running, decide which one you want to keep and uninstall the other

Aside from the HDD issue, even if one was present as it is an older laptop I wouldnt consider running XP on it as it probably isnt up to the job. What are the specs for this laptop, CPU, RAM etc - telling us the make and model would help for a start HDD Issue If you enter the BIOS what is shown for any installed drives? Does the BIOS detect a HDD?

What is the exact wording of this message, Does it mention Virtual Memory?

In IE click on Tools - Internet Options - Advanced under browsing place ticks next to Disable script debugging (internet explorer) Disable script debugging (other) remove tick from Display a notification about every script error Click OK to apply

PC over 5 yrs old... hmmm... may just be a simple case of replacing the BIOS battery with a new one, as a dead BIOS battery will prevent the PC from starting. How To Replace The CMOS Battery In Your PC This would be the first thing I would look at before contemplating any other issue.

BIOS settings aside, you will also have to setup the drive for windows to see it and use it, setting up the drive involves Partitioning and then formatting the drive and allocating a drive letter to it. All the above can be done from XP's Disk Management utility.

Platte Removal Part One 1. Open ‘Task Manager’ by pressing Ctrl, Alt, Del together. the task manager window opens 2. Click on the Processes tab at the top of the Task Manger window 3. Find and ‘ End process Tree ’ for the following two files PM_PROC1 PM_PROC2 so they disappear from Task Manager 4. Close Task Manager Part Two 1. Click Start - Run type in regsvr32 -u pm_dll.dll - OK 2. Click on Start - Run type in %systemroot%\System32 the system32 folder opens 3. In this System32 folder scroll down to the files named PM_PROC1 PM_PROC2 along with any other files called PM_###### and delete them. Part Three 1. click Start - Run , and type in Regedit the registry editor opens 2. Press F3 and type PM_PROC and click the find next button. When it finds a result delete it repeat step 2 again until you find no more results. 3. Close all screens, and delete any platte icons off the desktop. 4. Reboot. Relax and enjoy your Platte free system

Yes Seth, thats the very same one it picked up on mine, part of MS LAN Manager I was helping a friend with this Platte Media (MBS) billing thing only the other day and I was looking at that very same article. I always have a look at the scripting of batch files and vbs files before running them, you never know do you? Always best to check. That easypc company are only a few miles from me, I wonder if they have any job vacancies? Jack