"Clue: often, before the computer crashes, I hear repeated "clunky"
noise. The closest I can relate it to is an old fashion hardware
relay."

This is almost certainly a broken hard disk.

--

Regards,

Stuart

PS remove the obvious to e-mail me.


"Franou" wrote in message
om...
Presario 8000 (8LSXE1) Win XP, 256MB RAM

The computer is clean: no virus, worm, spyware, malware, etc. The
primary HD has 42GB of defragmented space.

The problem started a few months ago, when, occasionally, upon being
powered on, the computer would not detect the external Iomega HDD.

The problem worsened a few weeks after I installed a second hard
drive, a Western digital 120GB, the maximum recommended by Compaq.

The computer freezes, or reboots itself unexpectedly. Upon
restarting, it finds only the CD-ROM drives and "No IDE fixed disk
present", or detects everything. I also get: "Non system disk or disk
error" without diskette in the A: drive.

I have changed the power source to make sure the computer receives
adequate power.

I have disabled Windows Automatic Restart

Clue: often, before the computer crashes, I hear repeated "clunky"
noise. The closest I can relate it to is an old fashion hardware
relay.

As I unplugged the second hard drive, the computer is more stable.

The computer is still under warranty and, if Compaq ever follows
through, I should get a new motherboard. But I am not sure this will
fix my problem.

Any suggestions are welcome! Can someone recommend software to
diagnostic my problem?

Thanks!