If Windows Home XP was originally on your machine, a bona fide computer repair store should be able to reload the software for free. I have had many computer crashes on my computers and never had any problems reloading. After reloading, buy a backup drive and copy everything on your computer to it for safe keeping. Take care.
Thanks for all the responses. I never got a copy of XP Home, but I ended up with a couple of copies of XP Prof. We did get the laptop reloaded but it's still doing the same thing. I was hoping reloading windows would have been a fix.
Anyone "borrowing" a Windows XP install disk needs to be careful to use their old "authenticity key" when installing. If you use the key associated with the borrowed disk, your OS will be detected as nonauthentic by Microsoft and will not update as needed. Been there, done that!