to KxK - quit trying to burn messages to increae your status - it's very obvious.
tiap & dapunisher - thanks.
Ended up just blowing off the extra few days of data since i probably kept up with my laptop.
Got a new HD, put windows on it, sp2, mb drivers, video drivers, new ide drivers (which by the way solved my Norton Ghost systray problem. Via has a set that solves the Ghost 9.0 problem - it works!)
reloaded my last good backup, updated eveything, and am up and running!
Thanks for the ideas & help.
W