} hi and thanks for the replies, here's what i tried and got.. removed ram } to 2 gig, used the boot line as mentioned and when booting and trying to } watch the screen as it scrolls (eyes haven't stopped yet) all looks good } till the mice: PS/2 line and it reboots, sorry iam not much help, been at } this kinda thing for 20+ but kinda new to linux,, (translate -- dangerous } ) really want to get this box up if i can and really appreciate the help - } Chuck, not fully sure what you are saying here. next thing to do is ummmmmmmm, have you used a compaq smartstart cd bootup and setup programs on this machine before even trying to load CentOS? it is used to configure the internals on the unit properly and then the hard drive array etc and then have it tell you all is ok so that you can load the opsys? ummmm unplug the mouse? ;-> please let us know most about the compaq smartstart cd issues and thanks - rh -- Robert Hanson Abba Communications http://www.abbacomm.net