I have an old computer that I was under the impression the video card was going bad (because my Dad's games would not run correctly, SUDDEN SHUT downs) so I bought a new video installed it and then BROUGHT it to the shop cause it was still doing the same thing. The guys there said my Windows 2000 NT was bad(?) so they wiped out EVERYthing (I HOPE, would like to know how to check!?) Installed Windows XP and AVG and when I got it home all 10 times I start it up and it said AVG was not correct and needed to be updated. Updated AVG and the updated XP and started crashing again and again and again. I deleted the AVG and tried to just update windows xp service pack 3. It was going through to the explorer 7 update then CRASHED! Now i cannot boot into ANYTHING! Guys at the shop never gave me a cd to try to boot off of and my laptop is Vista! $300.00 later they are telling me it MIGHT be a bad hard drive? How can I get into the system to check? I dont want to waste anymore time and money on some guys GUESSING!!!! I was also thinking my Dad might have changed something in the CMOS? Is there a standard setup list I can try to check? I reset the defaults would that fix it if it was changed?

I can only tell you that at the boot menu it is: Atholon XP-125 Ghz. AMD, 256 RAM, Geforce FX5200 bios.

HELP ME PLEASE! GOING CRAZY!  under CMOS there should be a tab that lets you conduct a harddrive test to let you know atleast if thats the problem.  Good luckI dont have tabs? Thanks anyway.  Resetting BIOS should do it, if there were any changes.

Did you try to boot into Safe Mode?
What exactly happens, when you turn computer on?

Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

You also need more RAM.I cant even get to safe mode! I can get to the Windows XP loading and then reboots. Can I run hard drive Diagnostics from the boot menu?
Thanks!  Hard drive diagnostic tool will allow you to make bootable CD.If the Shop did not include an official XP CD in that 300.00 price you need to pursue that avenue...
Tell them the folks at Microsoft said it is required.