Computer freezezs at XP logo on start up

[marcopolo1966]

Hi All,
I wonder if anyone can help me at all. I am not technically minded when it comes to computers so your help would be much appreciated. I recently bought a tower off ebay which was listed as working and had XP installed. When using the tower I noted that things like a system restore point was missing and also the recycle bin. When going into start up to access all programmes, the usual long list did not appear. I therefore contacted the seller who in turn sent me the XP disc to re-install. Today I was going to do this but when starting the computer I encountered a problem. It started up as far as the XP logo with the blue lines flashing from side to side and then went to the next stage showing just the XP logo on a blue background. The egg timer then vanished and the screen stayed like that. I have read some articles where they suggest trying to start in Safe Mode after pressing F8 but I cannot find the Safe Mode that way. All this gives me is a list of 4 boot devices. Can anyone think of a way that I can correct this error. Alternatively, I have purchased a Windows Vista disc and would like to install this but can I do that from turning the tower on or do I need to have a Windows package running already?
Regards
Mark

[xxxviking]

i think you should format your computer..!!

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[sittas87]

hi marco
previous poster is right also
you can make it dual boot to retrieve data that you didnt backup or wanto loose. and delete old/current OS