Automatically starts with "diagnostic boot selected" .....

[Guest]

Then, if I do nothing, it begins a series of tests. Passes the first three,
then gets to
"start dst short test" and fails. If I hit Esc, it reboots as normal and
allows me to use it temporarily (anywhere from 1 minute, to several hours)
until it stops letting me type or use the keyboard at all. At that point, I
can still use right-click functions and I can left click to highlight &
scroll, etc, but can't doubleclick something to open it - when i try, it
just brings up "properties". I can open anything by right-clicking and
hitting "open", however! Bizarre! Any suggestions?

 

[Michael T]

My recollection is that this "start dst short test" failure means you have a
bad hard drive.

 

[Guest]

I think you may be right......this will be my 3rd in 3 years, so I've been in
denial

 

[Brian]

If you are going through 1 drive per year, you need to invest in a high
quality surge protector/UPS, or something with built in line conditioning.

Brian Pugh
A+, Network +, MCP