So TODAY my desktop decided to freeze. A restart brought me to a black screen.

AMD 1800+
1Gb RAM
Gigabyte mobo
XP SP3, or whatever the latest is.

Safe mode hangs at mup.sys like the others.
Booting from my XP install disc hangs at "Setup is starting Windows", after the drivers load.

Nothing seems to work.
What is my next step?Run hard drive diagnostics: http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
Make sure, you select tool, which is appropriate for the brand of your hard drive.
Depending on the program, it'll create bootable floppy, or bootable CD.
If downloaded file is of .iso type, use ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ to burn .iso file to a CD (select "Write image file to disc" option), and make the CD bootable.

NOTE. If your hard drive is made by Toshiba, unfortunately, you're out of LUCK, because Toshiba doesn't provide any diagnostic tool.Well I tried a bootable Ubuntu CD and it didn't work. So I'm not so sure that any CD would boot.

I've pulled the main HD and hooked it to an external enclosure. I'm COPYING data files to my laptop now. Then I'll format it and start fresh.Let us know.I think it is a hardware issue.

I tried a different hard drive and the XP install hangs at the same spot. Will probably PICK up a new mobo/chip combo tomorrow.

I switched out cables for the optical drives and the hard drives. It WONT even load the Ubuntu CD. Ah well, it has been a good 6 year run.