Reviving a DOA 5050

Hi, am hoping I've come to the right place for this question:
what can I do to revive a 5050 that shows some signs of life, but doesn't boot beyond the intial splash screen?

I've been given the machine with the explanation that it

• was crashing a lot;
• was doing a self-initiated chkdsk at every startup, finding repairable errors every time;
• got part way through an XP re-installation when it crashed from failure to find a particular installation file;
• will start, show the acer splash screen, then go into a suspended state with a cursor the upper left.

is this

• a DOA hard drive;
• a repairable OS error;
• some other recoverable state;
• time to call in the priest?

all responses gratefully recieved!

 

OK.

Thanks!

 

This question is impossible to answer.
If it doesn't get past boot screen (POST/Acer logo) it means OS is not at fault but as for the rest you'll have to check what components you can for errors.
HDD seems to be suspect if there were previous errors.

Check in another computer- SMART status should be helpful and if it isn't conclusive- full SMART test.