After reading your entire post I came to one amazing conclussion.

 

You are using a HP Pavillion.  You are fucked.

motherboard is asus, also, i would replace the ide cable, remove any pci cards, and disconnect all usb/firewire/media reader plugins internally, also, 80 mb is too much, just use "damn small linux "- 50 mb )

I'd hate to be a disagreeable type of guy, so I'll agree with you. Oh and LOL to you too!

 Oh and for future reference -- you want to avoid any/all computers pre-built like that.

I don't care if it's HP or E-Machine or whatever. They're all garbage. At the very least, they'll have stuff that's all-in-one.

For instance, IBM's would have it so the motherboard, graphics card and audio card were all the same piece o' crap inside, so you couldn't upgrade. If you want to upgrade, then you have to buy a new computer. Save yourself the headache, and build it yourself. You might spend a little more, but it'll give you piece of mind, you'll learn something, it's easier to upgrade and you can do what you want and put in what you want.

 

This is pro advice.  What Horsie is talking about is intergrated boards.  This is their way of saving money but fucking you on quality parts and the ability to replace them. 

I have custom build my own computer since  I was 15.  Sure you pay about twenty percent more than an out of a box computer but you get 200 percent more computer.  You can also build them to suit their new jobs. 

If you are building a gaming computer you want to focus on getting rid of any possible bottlenecks.  This is huge.  Some people buy a dell, put a better videocard in it and waste their money because the computer cannot utilize its performance.   This is true with RAM, CPU's and HD's.  I've seen a lot of scary shit in the past when helping friends fix and build rigs. 

I have to agree.  That's how I ended up with the crappy Pavilion - well, I went into Fry's Electronics to get the HL:Episode One game which was on sale for $13 and ended up dropping fire or six Bennies for the Pavilion because my laptop didn't match the minimum spec requirements of the game.

You have to start with the vid card, as good as one as you can buy without it stinging too much, then build around it if you're going to game.  I have two of three machines built that way now, and all I have loaded on one is Steam, TF2 and an anti-virus program in addition to the bare-bones Windows OS.

My laptop (Nov. 2002) runs everything I need for work and then some.  It just won't run TF2. Other than playing TF2, I have no need for any other computer beyond what my laptop can do.  And there's the cock-rub.  I need to play TF2, so, like a junkie, I needed a new machine(s).  This is all post-Pavilion.

I just had a convo with a female friend who says her eMac?, whatever that is, has a blown tube and she was told that she would either need to replace the cathode tube or she could just hook up a monitor to it.  Oh, IMac?  The one with the computer built into the CRT screen?  Anyway, I explained that if that's what they told her could be done, then she could just find an old CRT monitor with a VGA connector shaped like an isosceles trapezoid.  A trappa-what?

Silly me, I forgot she was a girl, a smart one in all areas, except basic math.  I tried to explain it to her over the phone but she claimed her eyes were glazing over and that we should meet for beers tomorrow so I can draw it out for her.  I'm just going to bring a damn VGA cable to show her, but then again, I think I'm missing the point now that I think about it.  She wants to meet me for beer so I can describe something to her in person that she can find easily on the internets.

-I sure am dense sometimes. This is one time when knowing something about computers isn't repulsing a member of the opposite sex.

Gentlemen, I do believe I am going to get my pole waxed tomorrow afternoon.

If all you want is the files off the HD then remove it and plug it in your new comp.

Uh, I'm standing right here.  In some cultures, it's impolite to speak of someone in the third-person when they're standing right in front of you.  Did you take lessons from one of my former gfs or what?

Firewire.  It's the only machine I have with firewire.  My musical interface needs a firewire port, and I don't want to get another card. 

Besides, it's broken, and it should have been a five-minute fix, two days ago.  What part of OCD do you not understand? 

<----  They don't hand out custom forum ranks around here for nothing.

Cantrip needs professional help . . .