First of all you will need to figure out why the CD Rom does not recognize the recovery disk. The user should put the recovery disk in, then reboot, see if the disk is recognized at that point. If you get the NTLDR message it's still trying to boot from the hard drive. Check the boot order in BIOS. Now come back and tell us what happens and what error is generated when the user boots the computer with the recovery disk in it. Then tell us the user has checked the BIOS and the CD rom is listed as the first boot device. If this computer is back from repair with the same issue I can only think the hard drive is failing....

Just a few days delay and the computer that I had configured is no longer available. So I guess I'll "downgrade" a bit and get one with 3rd generation Intel i5 and on board graphics. Only additions I chose were some USB3 ports on the front and a wireless adapter, both of which added a total of $20 to the sale price. Operating system Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Processor 3rd Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3330 quad-core processor [3.0GHz, 6MB Shared Cache] Graphics card Integrated Intel(R) HD Graphics [DVI-I & DVI-D, DX 10.1] Memory 6GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [2 DIMMs] Hard drive 1TB 7200 rpm SATA hard drive Office software Microsoft Office Trial Primary optical drive SuperMulti DVD Burner Productivity ports 15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB 2.0, 2 USB 3.0 Sound Card Beats Audio (tm) -- integrated studio quality sound Keyboard and Mouse HP keyboard and optical mouse Networking Wireless-N LAN card (1x1) Starting price $619.99* Price epp price icon $607.59* Instant rebate -$100.00 Total: $507.59 Does this sound like a pretty good deal? I'll decide by Monday if I'm going to buy it. I have a Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse and powered Creative speakers with subwoofer. I may need an adapter to continue to use my present monitor, but that shouldn't be a problem. It is 5x4 and I prefer that to widescreen.

Thanks so much for the offer, Bob. We do have Cox Cable, and it is connected to the TV monitor. Our VCR-DVD is a Toshiba DVR620KU, and the TV is a Samsung Led TV monitor, SyncMaster, series 3, TA350 and series 5, TA550, whatever that means. I don't know which letters and figures may be useful, so am repeating them all. I am sorry for not having gotten back to this problem for several months. There has been illness in the family, as well as computer problems, which are now solved, hopefully, with the aid of a friend, and what with personal problems and job demands, I just didn't feel like concentrating on the TV/recording problem. What I want most now, and can't do, is to record TV shows. Not HD or HBO or anything--just a few KPBS or sit-com things. Our TV cable service is basic. A visitor showed me that with an HDMI cable, I can watch tapes and DVDs from the Toshiba unit, a step in the right direction. However, I seem unable to bring up anything on the TV screen that will let me record to either the tape or the DVD. There is no place to plug in a coaxial cable to the Toshiba, so I figure that any recording would have to be from signals sent from the TV. (In fact, even if I could send signals directly from the cable connector in the wall to the Toshiba, there would still be no way to select channels to be recorded.) The problem is that all the ports and other places for hitching the TV to the Toshiba are labeled "IN" and, unlike our old TV, there are none for "OUT". Well, Bob, or any other kind person, does it seem that there may still be a way to record to the Toshiba device? Even to be able to record to VHS tapes would be great.

Have you checked 'System preferences' to see if the fax modem is listed and the drivers show as installed correctly?