compaq tech support rules. i’m back online.
i needed to purchase a new hd but i can send my lappy in with the dead drive (they pay the courier cost) and i should have my machine back in a few days.
the setup cd’s that came with the laptop were a dream. fully functional again after about 2.5 hours of reinstalling stuff. i had to download things (trillian, skype, etc.) from this internet connection that didn’t come with the base machine so that added to the resetup time.