Okay, here's an update.

It's a software issue. I had to use Active@ Boot Disk to be able to get the files over to my external USB drive. The keyboard and mouse works fine in this "windows type" environment so it's not a hardware issue.

I have 4 friends that have Acer laptops and I talked with them about how they liked them before I bought mine. They never had any issues with them. They all run XP Pro on them also.

From day one, I never cared for the Vista platform. It always wanted to make decisions for me and I hate that. The WIFI would turn on by it's self just minutes after I turned it off. Weired things like that.

So, long story short, I really appreciate the response and suggestions from everyone. Once I copied the C and D drives to the external hard drive I deleted the C and D partitions and at this moment I'm installing XP Pro on it. Something I threatened to do and should have done from day one.

Thanks again!
John