Originally Posted by: purei guess you gotta put into consideration that windows computers are targeted by much much more viruses than macs.

did you update constantly and have good knowledge of windows xp?

and the problem may have been a hardware one.. not a software one..
like some say dont get compaq.. while others say dont get hp.. and others say dont get dell.. acer etc.. personally dell has never failed me..

but i as well had a compaq computer become an expensive paperweight.. for no apparent reason

I don't know what the heck the problem is. It defies logic.
I push the button to turn it on... it starts up... then a couple of seconds later it shuts off. Then it starts up by itself again... then just as I'm putting a disc in, it shuts down... then starts up.
Meatime, Windows became corrupt so I'm trying to load in the recovery discs. But every time it gets halfway through loading one of them, the computer shuts off again.
There's no cable shortage and the unit is getting continual power because there's a small green light on the rear of the unit that stays on constantly when it's plugged in.

I even tried tearing the whole thing down and reasembling everything just in case there was a cable loose or whatever, but nuthin.
Even now, it's sitting there for like an hour, then it just starts up by itself.
It might stay on for a couple of hours and then just shut off again.

It doesn't seem to be a loose connection for the power button cause I've played around with it for hours trying a variety of ways to get it to start.
I can hit the power button 50 times and it won't start up.
I go outside. An hour later I come back in, and the computer's on again.