Re: Need help for friend's PC
 

I don't know if the poor soul with the problem even has an XP disk. The only clue I see is reference to a system restore way back at the beginning. So possibly it would need a tech or someone with the right flavour of MS media available.

Also there are so many possibilities with an issue like this. Hardware failure, dirty mains power, case full of cat hair..

This is one I'd really want to have in the workshop.