after having seen too many ' please tell uncle bill about this problem' errors on internet explorer , i started doing some troubleshooting - found out that hard drive is going bad , thus the random errors.

have used system restore to get me out of a bind before , but all it does now is start to run and then lock up

got new hard drive ( old one is three months too old ) booted from re install cd and it wnet through about 1/2 the files and gave file corruption errors. no luck here.

upon examining the re install cd "p/n 6W896" it appears to have a scratch in the cd itself. tried contacting dell support and an ethnic assistant told me there was no such thing as this part number. previosu similar problem with ibm was resolved when i gave them product id and they sent me a restore cd for my old thinkpad

dell disavows all responsibility and want me to buy a new winxp cr from microsoft -

any ideas - writing this from my TOSHIBA laptop