Help:pc Loads Succesfully After Two To Three Attempts

[MadMonk]

PLEASE help me, i have an old p4 1.5 ghz on an original intel 845 motherboard with two optical drives- cd reader and a dvd writer with an ati radeon 1650 pro . the problem is that the screen starts blinking during the os load process and the computer is unresponsive however after three tries(I SWITCH OFF USING THE CPU BACK SWITCH) it works fine.... this occurs on xp sp2 and on fedora 7(i have tried a fresh install of both)
i think it is to do with the hard disk ( 40 gb seagate ata )AND born because live cds work at the first attempt if anyone knows what the problem is please help
AND sorry about the bad formatting , as i am writing this from my k510i

[DigitalDude]

most probably a bad sector in the HDD

[MadMonk]

DOES anyone know how to check for bad sectors in fedora 7

[DigitalDude]

get a utility disk like 'Hiren's boot disk' it has a lot of tools..
boot with it and check the HDD... bad sectors can be marked.. but if its in the bootsector then I dunno if you can use the HDD..

anyway the best solution is to try with a diff HDD from your friend and see if its the real problem...

[MadMonk]

Okay I Ll Try It Out This Saturday