Thanks guys, it would indeed seem to be a duff hard drive
![bow](https://www.rib.net/forum/images/smilies/bow.gif)
we made a boot disk when we first had the pc BUT put it on a dvd, read today can only do that for Vista and we're on XP, it kept asking for the next disk
![idea](https://www.rib.net/forum/images/smilies/brainbulb.gif)
Thanks for the link Codders,we've bought one, we can put an additional HD in but have got 2 or 3 old ones lying around we've been meaning to clear them for ages.
Thank for the suggestion Mike, we'll have a look at Carbonite.
Rad, no, no van. There's a whole tribe running around here with Kernow this and Kernow that in their business names.