it does not get past stage 1 of 3

This screen is refer to the "blue screen of death" ....it is not easy to fix because it can be caused by both hardware and software issue.

Here are two helpful links to educate yourself, but I would not recommend you trying to fix it yourself unless you are an expert.

http://windows.microsoft.com/e...-errors-in-windows-7

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/...em/ht/stoperrors.htm

clone the hard drive immediately. That is most likely a physical flaw. The computer is trying to recover one of its boot sector. The computer will eventually die from drive failure and your data will be corrupted from crc errors as files fragment.

Amral, I got a notice from microsoft that after April 7, they will not be servicing XP.

I notice that your store is presently using XP... time to up-date my friend.

My Desk Top Computer is XP - 12 yrs old... I have to shop for a new one soon. Lap Top is VISTA... having problems with  the lap top.

Disk check is showing corrupted sectors, you need a new hard drive. Get a new drive and attach it as a slave and copy over the drive or use an external USB drive.

thanks, will try Sunil

not sure if there is room in the case for a second hard drive, the external I have at home. Now what about the original drive, what happens with that.

This is definitely a hard drive issue.  But sometimes if it won't go further than that you will have to use the boot disk it came width. I had the identical problem and someone fix it but I lost all my data.

if I may be a bit presumptuous I would recommend the following.  A computer has a lifespan. If you have a business you should be upgrading at least every 5 years.  Both software and hardware get dated pretty quickly. You also need a data backup system because it will crash one day.  XP works fine but eventually you will have to upgrade to 7 or 8.

yeah we will be buying new computers in 2 months time, this is 2nd register that we use incase we get busy. So fingers crossed.

You will have to break out the old ledger and pencil that doan usualy fail unless yo finga them bruk

the new drive will auto correct. Use the old drive as a door stop.

Cash register software are thousands of dollars. The people here have the market cornered so they gouge the client.

This is the answer to the message you posted, Amral. Failing disk --> attach as an external disk (there are USB kits out there) on a running system and copy your data ---> you will have to re-install all your apps (properly procured or stolen ) and have your licenses at hand.

He should try to clone the drive first. It might be just a few insignificant sectors failing. A recovery to earlier date will address the bad CRC problem on the new disk, NO need to re install.

XP is difficult to bring up to usable state given MS has not supported the auto update feature for awhile and one has to install the ancillary programs ie explorer 8, direct access etc before SP3 can be installed. I think he should clone the drive immediately. If he knows the name of the drive he can get the support for cloning it off the manufacturers website. Otherwise the cost is about $30 for a cable/software kit to do it via USB

http://www.wikihow.com/Clone-(Copy)--a-Hard-Drive-in-Windows-XP

hopefully your system has support for SATA drives or else IDE drives may be expensive to purchase since they do not make many of them. 

If you lack confidence on the cloning process practice on a different machine first. Rule of thumb: buy a different size, make and model of destination drive from the source drive, that way you can easily recognize which is which in the cloning software.

 http://www.wikihow.com/Clone-(Copy)--a-Hard-Drive-in-Windows-XP

Edit link: not sure why it is not linking properly, just copy and paste into your browser or google it

Ide drives are still available and dirt cheap. The can get them via mail order from a computer store like micro center.

Amral, hopefully your computer issues get solved quickly and affordably. Not good if work related computers are acting up.

I have a completely unimportant issue. Similar to how I can cut out the blank spaces between songs when I burn to a CD, how can I do that when copying to a jump drive?

yeah bossman buying new comps in 2 weeks time. Thanks to all for helping

make sure the space white noise before the music is minimal by cropping the MP3 or whatever audio file you are using. You can also adjust that parameter in your burner. I have not written an audio CD in years so I do not know the best ones. I see from my Sony Sonic that there are lots of features to fiddle with.

This is a lot of work/time. While I am not a lazy person, I was hoping for an easier approach. Cheater Converter used to ask if I want to delete the spaces but sadly it does not do that anymore. I don't know if it is because I am attempting to convert an mp3 file to mp3.