I READ too fast...i thought it was the OP.I agree with Patio's 2nd choice myself. Do a repair-install of XP.

However, you're going to have to do some prep-work beforehand.

Does your computer have any of the following on it:
Internet Explorer 7
Service Pack 3
Windows Media Player 11?

If so, you will NEED to slipstream those three items into your XP installation source as well as an UPDATED version of your motherboard drivers (that's what viaagp1.sys is).

The dilemma here is that Microsoft doesn't support slipstreaming IE7 into Windows XP, but at the same time, acknowledges that you have to remove IE7 before doing a repair-install:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917964

However, you can't remove it, since you can't boot into Windows right now!!!

So...in this case, you'll have to use a third-party utility like nLite to slipstream IE7:
http://www.nliteos.com

If you're going to go through the trouble, you might as well use it to slipstream everything else, too: SP3, IE7, WMP11, and your via drivers, as well as burning to a new blank CD. Use the resulting CD to do your repair.

...........

...

...but then again, GIVEN all the hassle that involves, you're probably better off backing up your DATA and formatting...all that stuff you just said is way over my head.

right now I have my hardrive hooked up as a slave to my wifes system & I am running spyware/antivirus on it.

as far as the reinstalling windows stuff, I have no idea how to do that. Roger that.

In that case, go ahead and copy any valuable data to your wife's hard drive for now.

At that point, you can then format and reinstall XP (I hate telling people that, especially since that's becoming a cop-out trend...), but since you're already in a position to do this, and like you said, slipstreaming and repair-installs are beyond your technical knowledge, formatting is the next best choice (and a lot easier).

http://www.pcworld.com/article/129977/how_to_reinstall_windows_xp.html
or
http://tweakhound.com/xp/installxp/installXP1.htmok I have another question. I have a spare harddrive laying around would it be possible to load my windows XP onto that one? & than make that one the master in my system & run my old one as a slave?That's most certainly a viable option.