Thanks for the advice, Ill have a look at the start up, as I found this which may help others with Compaq PCs -
The majority of the problems have to do with windows freezing or locking up. The cause of this is that a compaq computer, right off the assembly line has so many useless programs running in the background the system resources are dragged down to (approximately) 65% available. The system resources should be up in the high 80's. To get this to what is should be:
1. click on START then click on RUN
2. in the box beside open: type MSCONFIG
3. click on startup
4. click on the check marks to remove anything that says "reminder" or "cpq"(useless compaq software) also remove "backweb" and "service connection" if you need help with this give the 1-800 number a call, all of us techs do this 20 times a day just to make the computer usable.
5. click on APPLY
6. click on GENERAL
7 . remove the check marks beside "process config.sys" and "process autoexec.bat"
8. click on OK
9. restart the computer
And Ill keep an eye out for anything on Microsofts site.
On the subject of ADSL modem, after spreading the load over the USB ports (powered USB hub only for the modem!)the situation has improved and its even working correctly after the PC has been in hibernate mode (something it wasnt doing before)