A friend recently brought me their Dell laptop with the complaints of a virus and running slow. I reinstalled windows for them and the computer began freezing and locking up. I then re installed windows a second time to which it seemed to be running fine even after I transfer all the data and software back to it. When I go to return the computer it of course starts acting up. It asks to load windows normally or in safe mode with all the options but each option brings up the Windows XP loading screen but it instantly resets and asks all the options again. I'm thinking there is an issue with the hard drive. I'm going to try and run the recovery console later through the windows disk and see what that does, but does anyone have any other suggestions otherwise?

Start by running chkdsk /f from the recovery console or a boot disc. Regardless of what it returns, run a basic diagnostic on the drive. (depending on your manufacturer, you can often download such software from their web site). See if that brings up any red flags. The rule of thumb is, back up the data in two physically different places, scan with several free virus/spyware software programs on a separate computer, reinstall the OS, bring back the data. Make SURE you aren't reintroducing security issues. I've spent weeks battling issues like this on a drive that simply wouldn't return errors. Just because the diags don't return anything doesn't mean the drive isn't suspect. If you have access, try throwing an alternative drive in and installing to that. This will often be the quickest/easiest way to determine what you are up against.