I have a Compaq Presario 7478 that I had given to a needy family.  It 
was running Win XP and was running really slow when I checked it out.  
Restored to the restore point I established when i gave it away in 
January, but then couldn';t get a Start button, or taskbar or anything 
but the desktop screen. Tried reloading XP over the existing 
installation and got the Desktop icons back including Start.  But 
couldn't install any software - missing some critical files. Ended up 
clearing the disk with Killdisk (wrties 0's over the entire disk). Then 
tried installing XP again.  Installation stops every time with a message 
"IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL"  and Windows has shut down to protect your 
computer.
I was able to load Win 98 ok, and then a copy of Windows XP 
Professional.  But when I again cleared the HD and tried to load XP, I 
got the same message.  And I did try it with a different XP CD. 
What can be the problem? The computer worked fine when I first gave it away.

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