Problems starting up (Dell) machine

[stratnumberone]

Hello all,

My PC - which runs Windows XP Home Edition - is experiencing problems when I start it up which means it won't actually come on at all. It freezes. It gets as far as the first 'Dell' screen - there's normally a white loading type bar at the bottom - and simply does not progress from there. I have turned it off (yup, the old o-n-o-f-f reset that us technophobe types use so often) and tried again and it takes up to four or five attempts for it to actually come on and work. Once on it seems fine. However, this can't be good for the computer. Since I don't know what else to do I have tried de-fragging and also disc-cleanup. However, on completion of the disc cleanup facility the PC was unable to restart itself as it said it would...

Sorry about the child-speak explanation - I only hope it's enough for someone to know what is going on with it!!

Many thanks in advance.

KH.

[danzil]

hi there

what i would first try is removing the cmos battery for 20 mins.(this is the big lithium battery located on your motherboard), then put it back in.see if that works.(doesnt always work,i hav had this issue and it was bios corruption)

but unfortunatly the issue you are presenting could also be hard drive failure.

i would try and boot from your xp cd then run chkdisk.

if you are un sure how to do this pleaae post back

regards

danzil

ps what has changed to make this happen..any updates or software installs