Hi, Many thanks to Thomas Mayer, John Steadman and Richard Glazier for your responses to my query. I am not sure if the computer is completing "the boot process", It seems to be checking NV ram & shows a screen with lots of detail on :- floppy drive, amibios date, processor clock, power management, hard disc details, pci devices etc etc etc then bank 0 1 2 3 cpi function enabled CLDR etc. It then displays this message under. Searching for boot record from floppy CDLR is missing Press any key to continue. At this point I think I might have given erroneous information as the screen I am using seems to be clipping the edges of the display and I was guessing the first letter when I said "CDLR is missing" it actually displayed "LDR is missing. So it looks like Rick has put is finger on the problem with his last post and I will follow up the link given during the week-end. I know its an old machine but I was giving it to a friend and thought formatting etc might give me a little experience. Thanks again to you all for your help - it is really appreciated. Kind regards, John. -- I am using the free version of SPAMfighter for private users. It has removed 441 spam emails to date. Paying users do not have this message in their emails. Get the free SPAMfighter here: http://www.spamfighter.com/len The NOSPIN Group is now offering Free PC Tech support at our newest website: http://freepctech.com