I might have gotten it just in time?

I probably mentioned I got the external backup HD for the Dell system.
This morning my nieces come over and the oldest turns on the desktop. It
freezes at some point during bootup on that little animated progress bar
screen. So in a panic like I always do when something acts up other than
expected behavior, I take the seat and figure out what to do. Which was
hold the power button in and force it to shut off. Then I get that
screen that XP brings up when the last start up wasn't completed and I
tell it to start normally. It comes up this time.

It was the first ever time the 'puter did anything like that. It's
always started fine. It could be that with Road Runner light and the
computer being on for longer periods that it's affecting the system in
some way. Some research turned up that it's possible a cable to the HD
might be a little loose. If the startup freeze happens again, I will
certainly check that. I should check it for dust anyway about now.

I did make sure it wasn't anything else, and a couple warm restarts and
one cold start showed it does work like it should. So I'll say shrug and
wait until it happens again. I think the drive in there now is a Western
Digital drive. The designation in the hardware specs show WD so it could
be one. I'll make sure to replace it with something else. Maybe a Maxtor
or Seagate anyway.

I'll have to find our Dell reinstall CDs to make sure I can make a
complete system reinstall when I need to. I did it for a bro in law.
(Except he didn't like me putting one piece of software on there that
would NOT have affected the use of Kodak's bloatware. Sheesh, some
people.)