hi puterfixer,

i have tried writing zeros to disk then reformat/reinstall about 3 times read the event log telling me that the SID (i think) had two names associatted with it so on and so on... various installs i made sure there were no naming conflicts
now just when all that was behind me i get the domain/workgroup logon "wierd feature" sooooooooo!!! i am looking at the microsoft trial download site and getting 2003 server as suggested so we shall see
thanks
i can only say that when trying to learn something new it gets terribly frustrating when you follow directions and things fail to work..i dont know if its me or perhaps errors from a drive about to fail or what. thanks again
john