I have an E-Machines mini tower RUNNING Windows XP. The SYSTEM had turned off (like a power failure) then rebooted several times. The last time this happened, the system was very slow so I restarted and now I get a message as FOLLOWS: Press F2 to enter BIOS setup and press F10 to enter CMOS setup (neather enter the setup). I replaced the power supply thinking that was the issue, however, it has the same screen. Could this be the hard drive or mother board and if so how can I verify prior to PURCHASING replacemet parts?I suggest you try changing the CMOS Battery (on the motherboard).

Also, if you enter the BIOS, can you see the Hard Drive listed anywhere?Yes, I finally got into the BIOS and the hard drive is listed. Attempted to start in safe mode (no luck) but was able to get system booted. Ran SCAN disk attempmted to do system restore (did not take). So you think the mother board battery may be the cause or replacing? I'm willing to try that...should save some $$$$.

Thanks for the info!Just the battery, not too expensive.

You can try removing it for about 10 minutes first and see what happens.

If it doesn't work, replace it.