ANY computer - any Brand can have problems, whether it's new, or used such as yours.  That is not a valid statement or rant.

 

When it starts, do you hear any hard drive activity at all? (does it get to the hard drive). 

 

Do you have any diagnostic lights, that would indicate and point to a problem in a certain area? 

 

Can you press F2 and enter the BIOS? 

 

Can you press F12 and get to the boot menu?

Hi

 

I cant hear the hard drive, dont think it gets to that.

 

The diagnostic lights on the back are lit as green[ABC and DD].

 

I can press f2 and f12, and it allows me to open......bios and set up.

 

All help gratefully received....!

 

It sounds like something has happened to the hard drive.  To confirm this, change the boot sequence in the BIOS so the CD is the first boot drive and then boot from the Windows XP CD.  If you can boot from the Windows XP CD that is another indication it may be a hard drive problem.  I don't recall if there are any diagnostics on the XP CD, but if the hard drive is OK it should detect it.

Excellent, I'll try that, thank you.