I'm not Dell tech support, so read this first, and then consider whether or not you want to try this. It should be safe...but..I'm not suggesting that this would definitely be the answer to your problem, but there is another restore function you can access through the Help folder on your MS Startup Disk. If you haven't made one yet, go to add remove programs, select the startup disk tab and do that. Then reboot with the floppy in and select the help option at the top of the list. Wait till it loads the blue document--might be good to read it, but if you're in a hurry, hit Alt-F-X to close it and wait for the A:\ prompt. Type in Scanreg and let it run. You'll have an option to set a restore point when it's done (it's pretty quick) select that and set a restore point for now. Then close, reboot from the floppy again and this time type in Scanreg/restore. You should see a menu that contains at least 1 other earlier registry. Restore it to that date. This rolls back your software installation to that date, so be aware that you will need to reinstall whatever you installed after that date. Then reboot without the floppy, and go to the restore point you want. If this fails, you can always return to scanreg/restore and select the point you just created--this should return your computer when you reboot go to the System Restore and pick the restore point you set before you begin the process I've just laid out. Do that before doing anything--shoulda put that first. I've done a bunch of WinME reinstallations recently, and discovered that I get much better results restoring when it gets funky this way. It helps to have both utilities working in unison on your restore jobs. This is only a suggestion, I'm not tech support, but have had the problem.

just got your message. It worked!!! thank you for tacking the time