Nothing sticks out in your post except that XP Pro OS. Was that factory installed/supplied?
No cure, but ideas...
1. The repair step failing is not a good sign.
a. Is the BIOS current?
2. Rather than the repair step, how about
SFC /SCANNOW
???
3. The usual pests and parasites the antivirus doesn't fine. Let me state that if you don't eject them all, then problems usually continue.
arasite removal programs.
http://reviews.cnet.com/5208-6132-0.html?forumID=32&threadID=1313&start=0 notes the five scanning tools and removal tools that are fairly safe. If one does encounter an issue, its always been damage done by the MALWARE. The most common issue being Layered Service Provider replacement which you can use LSPFIX (Hint: use http://www.google.com to find).
The thread has follow on discussions about new links if you don't want to use Google to find an item.
Bob
PS. All the tools are free.
I've been having sporadic boot up & shut down problems - my laptop would lock up. Ran many tests & cleanups: hardware, defrag, scan disk, antivirus, memory, motherboard, updated BIOS & chipset drivers, etc. there seem to be no problems. I seem to be able to bootup sucessfully if my laptop has been rested for awhile. I thought it was a heat problem at first but the more I looked into this problem it seem to be more of a problem relating to the way the disc read, write, store data or some sort of cashing. When I tried to do a repair with my WinXpPro CD, I always got stuck at the "Welcome setup page" & it would lock up.
Sure enough, when I ran Bootvis (which I just downloaded & installed), the report on the Disk I/O section gave me a warning: "WARNING! DISK WRITE CASHING IS DISABLED". However when I checked my HD properties, the disk write cashing IS abled. I reset (unchecked & checked again) this option, reboot & ran the test again & I still got the warning.
Is there a way to fix this problem? Would a replacement of the HD remedy this situation? - hardware test shows no problems however. I appreciate any help. Thanks.
My Specs: Gateway 600XL Laptop, WinXp Pro SP1, Pentium 4, 2.2 GHz-M, 512MB Ram, 60G Ultra ATA Hard Drive (43G Free Space).

Chowhound
Comic Vine
GameFAQs
GameSpot
Giant Bomb
TechRepublic