Windows XP
My friends computer has two choices at start up it says something like "windows XP home edition" for both choices one goes further the other doesn't the one that works has 3 choices 1 gets you to another menu with about 12 options another is regulsr start up and I forget the rest but he has tryed all of those options and his computer freezes at all of them. I dont know much more because im not there and he can't start his computer. What should he do?

Use the choice that starts up properly!

Sorry I made it sound differnet than it is the one that get further dosen't work. He's selcted each one and left it to sit for about an hour

There is a bungled reinstall on the system, by the sound of things. If so, the best course of action is to wipe the lot clean, and install fresh. See the link in my sig for advice with installing it all again.

i dont know if that would work you dont actully get to windows it freezes before that

eerrr..... uummm......

Did you read the topic I suggested, and the articles linked in it? To wipe the hard drive clean and install freshh, you don't boot into Windows. You make a change in BIOS setup, (if necessary) and boot from the Windows CD, instead of from the hard drive!

what cd would he use for hp pavilion windows xp he cant seem to find it

A HP Pavilion would have had a 'Recovery CD' or similar shipped with it. Read the product documentation to find out how to restore the system installation to its original state.

(He DID keep those leaflets, booklets and CDs, didn't he?)

He got a new mother board today. And in his Hp books you need to get to a blue screen that says hp pavilion but the new mother board does not get him to that screen and stilll has a problem thus I don't know what he should do did waste $160?

If he has fitted a new motherboard, then the system is no longer a HP Pavilion. (Unless it is a replacement motherboard supplied by HP of course).

If it is a motherboard purchased from a PC components supplier, then the system needs to be booted from a Windows XP CD, the partitions on the hard drive deleted, new partitions created, and then Windows installed. Drivers for the new motherboard should be installed, and the HP Pavilion CDs would be no longer relevent to the system.

Again:

If that is a different motherboard to the one originally included, then it is no longer a HP Pavilion, and the disks and books are useless now!