When I boot Windows a broken white line appears across the bottom of the screen & takes approx. 5 minutes before it proceeds on to the main Windows XP logo screen - any ideas???

The line itself is nothing to worry about, if its a thick line that progresses to a full one, but 5 mins is way too long for it to be there! When the normal XP logo appears does that take ages to show the log on screen? If it does it sounds like the hard drive could be on its way out. If you know the make of the drive search for their web page and look for Tools or Downloads and get program to test the drive. It might be worth checking the memory too (though memory failure often causes BSOD). You can get Memtest86 here http://www.memtest86.com/download.html Make a bootable cd and start the computer from the cd. Let the test run for couple of hours. Computers... designed to entertain,help with work but most of all to frustrate you!

Another thing I've just thought about, have you defragmented the drive? How full is the drive? If the answer to the first question is no, then defrag the drive! Open My Computer, right click the drive (assuming its 'c:') select Properties then Tools then Defragment Now. If the drive is more than 75% full, you need to free up some space for the page file (virtual memory). If the hard drive is too full it will slow the computer to a snails pace. Computers... designed to entertain,help with work but most of all to frustrate you!