cassie

Firstly, thank you very very much for the replies. Update: this morning i got up and cleaned the small fan and then changed the usb mouse to the original ps2 mouse, and when i turned on pc the mouse worked and i could access all files, photographs etc. I have now reset the time/date as i could not before. However, the keyboard i am using is the original ps2 one, that still does not work, it is saying there is none attached, and i dont think there is much point in trying a usb one as all the usb ports do not seem to be working either, as it wouldnt recognise the mouse in any port and also i have vodafone internet and it will not recognise that in any port either (usually when this happens i can still open the internet link by going through 'connect to', but it wont allow that now). I have put in the repair cd again and when i put the 1st cd in it told me that driver options for my pc were on 2nd disc, so i put that in, selected drivers and then selected keyboard, but it still didnt work afterwards. Am i getting closer to fixing it or would you still recommend a new one?

Please help, I have an emachines 420 running xp. Ive had it almost five years and never had a problem before. Three days ago whilst I was online, it began to flash and then cut out. When i finally got it to start again, it either came up with windows starting up then freezing when it reached my desktop, or with a black screen with following message: Phoenix BIOS 4.0 Release 6.0 Copyright 1985-2001 Phoenix Technologies Ltd All Rights Reserved Version 1.01 CPU:Intel ® Celeron ® CPU 5.20GHz 254m system RAM passed 128k cache SRAM passed System BIOS shadowed Video BIOS shadowed Fixed disk 0 ; Maxtor 4R080L0 ATAPI CD-ROM : HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8162B ATAPI CD-ROM : HL-DT-ST GCE - 8483B ERROR 0271 - Check date and time settings. ERROR 0251 - System CMOS checksum bad - default configuration used Press <DEL> to setup, <F1> To resume. I cannot select either option due to keyboard and mouse having frozen up. When it starts up with this, it makes 2 short beeps, but when it starts up with windows it makes no beeps. The clock had changed for first time ever, so I replaced battery. I dont really want to lose my photographs, as cant replace some, but I have tried to repair and also to restore with cds provided, but i cant pick options due to keyboard/mouse freeze. I took connector out of hard drive and PC said 'System not found' when i started it up again. The pc isnt turning off completely, fan stays on as does a small light on the front, also cd and/or dvd sometimes seem to work. I cant F8 or F12 as neither work. Do I need to get help with this or can I fix this myself? as due to age of pc, may as well replace as have huge bill. Many many thanks Cassie