Well, basically ive been having many lock up issues recently, usually when the computer has been on for an extended period of time... but sometimes just randomly. and then more recently ive been getting a lot of Boot Failures when i try and start up XP. its almost like its not seeing that my drives are connected or something. infact when i go into the bios my hard drives dont show up when i get the boot disk failure notice. ive reformatted and reinstalled windows already, yet to no avail. well this is what i have in the machine: 2 Year Old Dell Dimension 1500 1500MHZ P4 256 MB Ram 60 Gig Original HD (partitioned 10gig for windows&programs / 50gig Sound blaster sound card. New 80 gig maxtor HD New Radeon 9600 video card New fan 2 Pci Nic Cards. if any other info will help, just ask thanks, agb0

See if any of these apply . http://www.goodells.net/multiboot/editbini.htm Fixing Windows 2000/XP BOOT.INI Files http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/Q289/0/22.asp&NoWebContent=1 HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP The information in this article applies to: * Microsoft Windows XP Professional * Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition http://sft-cyber.com/Bootini.htm Repairing Corrupted or Missing Boot.ini Files http://sft-cyber.com/Re%20Boot.htm If WinXP will not start, it may be due to a damaged boot sector or a missing or corrupt ntldr or ntdetect.com files. To replace, access the recovery console and enter: 1. Copy X:\i386\NTLDR C: (X is your CD ROM drive letter) 2. Copy X:\i386\NTDETECT.COM C: Try using the FIXBOOT command from the Windows XP Recovery Console to write a new boot sector on the system partition, and then use the FIXMBR command to repair the master boot record. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/default.asp?url=/WINDOWSXP/home/using/productdoc/en/bootcons_fixboot.asp http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/home/using/productdoc/en/default.asp?url=/WINDOWSXP/home/using/productdoc/en/bootcons_fixmbr.asp http://sft-cyber.com/stoperrors.htm 10. Stop 0x0000007B or INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE---WinXP can not locate the system partition or boot volume. This error may occur after repartition or upgrading of the disk controller. The boot.ini file may no longer point to the correct partitions or the hardware may not be configured properly. Try the Recovery Console and use the Boofdfg command to repair the Boot.ini file. =================================== http://sft-cyber.com/Bootini.htm Repairing Corrupted or Missing Boot.ini Files

Try running 'chkdsk' from the XP recovery console, as it sounds to me u have a hard drive error. Good luck