Could this be a hardware problem?

I can't reinstall Windows XP on my Aspire One.

About 4 months after I purchased my machine it wouldn't boot into windows. The log on screen would appear but it wouldn't go beyond it. In fact that machine would hang and not go off unless I pressed the power button for 7 or 8 seconds. I contacted Acer Support and after explaining the problem to them they instructed me to mail it back to them, which I did. Unfortunately, when I got it back, it was in the same condition that I sent it in, although there was a note saying that they had fixed it.

Since I had had the machine for more than 3 months they woudn't send me the recovery CD without an additional fee, so I downloaded and used an "unofficial" version. I tried the repair option, and it restored my machine's full functioning, and my data was just as I had left it. Happiness.

Unforutnately, the problem reocurred. I thought I was ready for it because I had prepared a bootable usb flash drive with the xp set-up files. Unhappily it didn't work. The first (text-based) pass works, but the second (GUI) pass, doesn't. The machine hangs as usual. Using the complete CD doesn't work either. Most recently I tried Ron's TinyXP with the exact same result. (And, yes, I checked, the files were written to the hard drive.) It just won't boot past the welcome screen.

While I am unable to reinstall XP, I haven't had any trouble installing ubuntu on my hard drive and booting up and using various linux programs. So the basic functioning of my machine seems to be just fine. Why then can't I get XP to work again? Could there be some hardware issue? Is there something hardwired into the system that is creating a problem with XP?

Bottom line: Those questions aside, can anyone tell how to get XP back on my Acer AOA150 (BIOS 3305)?

 

Sounds to me like a hardware failure your harddisk or SSD.