so this is for an older pc I have to repair for a friend.

The pc has an hdd of about 60 something gb, It uses win xp and let's say 60-70% of the boots it hangs on showing only an underscore bilking line after bios screen, rest of the times it boots fine or the computer shuts down on xp loading screen.

Sometimes if you let it alone while the underscore is blinking, it will boot after a while, like a few minutes, some times it won't boot at all even if you give him more time, like one hour.

When it boots successfully the pc seems to work fine.

I think it's a bad hard disk and i'm about to suggest buying a new one and switching it but I don't have enough experience and i would hate making him buy a new hdd and not solving the problem.

anyone has any tips?

I know there are other topics about blinking underscores or cursors while xp is booting but the issues about the pc shutting itself down or sometimes booting really freaks me out.

Can't format everything and re install until about 10 days from now, cause the dude has some program for his business on this pc and I have to migrate it when the next computer arrives, however he needs to use it until then.

so please advise, thx.