WinXP Home startup problems

When XP loads, the black background screen with the scrolling comes up normally, stays for maybe 15 seconds as it should, but then it goes to the Welcome screen and sits there for about 3 or 4 minutes (maybe more) before the first of many 'Delayed Write Failed' error messages pop up. The message reads as follows: 'Delayed Write Failed. Unable to save the data for the file %filename%. The data has been lost. The error may be caused by a failure of your computer hardware or network connection. Please try to save this file elsewhere.' And the filenames are as follows- 'C:\$mft' , 'C:\windows\system32\wpa.dbl' , 'c:\windows\system32\wbem\Repository\FS\MAPPING1.MAP' and '...FS\OBJECTS.MAP' and 'C:\Program Files\Symantec\Norton Ghost\Agent\Norton Ghost 9.0.log.txt'
Eventually, after clicking on the user name, the desktop loads, with the same error for file 'C:\$Mft' again. I just started working on this PC about 30 minutes ago, so I haven't really gotten into yet, I'm just kind of looking for suggestions, ideas.... maybe someone else has seen this before?

hopperdave2000

 

Thanx for the link! The problem is with SATA drives (2 x 160gb). The PC's owner said there was no RAID set up, but the BIOS was set for RAID. I'm thinking he had it set for RAID, he didn't know it was set for RAID, and started messing with the BIOS settings and changed it from RAID to IDE mode and back several times, totally screwing up his filing system.... I'm still trying to straighten this out. I have yet to load to a usable desktop. The PC is always locking up, or not even loading completely.... :banghead :banghead The filenames listed in the error message vary with each boot attempt. A few of the same files are mentioned, but different ones show up too; even some 'C:\windows\inf...' files show up... what a freekin' mess!

hopperdave2000