it's back, my computer is still acting up, i brought it in to get it fixed, and that did nothing. well it worked jfor about two weeks. when i boot up i get a screen that says, award bios boot block and then says check sum error, it then asks for a system disk in drive A: (floppy)
so i have tried doing everything but just giving the computer what it's asking for, a system disk. occasionally when i turn the power on and off about five or six times it will eventually boot sometimes. when i get it to boot i was going to make a system disk for it, but don't know how with windows xp. so i googled it and got directions for making a boot disk, is this the same thing as a system disk? if not how do you make a system disk?

What did the tech do to the system? I'd like to know that before we continue on this.

going from what it says on the invoice he replaced the cmos battery on the mother board, i did that myself too and it worked for two or three boots. then he installed service pack2 for windows xp, i had most of the updates already, so i don't think i got alot for $70

Smells like the drive itself is flaking out or the mainboard itself is dying.. Check the caps on the board for any kind of discoloration or deformities. Also, reseat all the drive cables to be on the safe side.

does it pay to replace the hard drive, the mother board for it cost the same as a new computer. capacitors look ok

It does, especially if the rest of the hardware is in good shape. Take it to another tech for a 2nd opinion, fill them in on what the 1st one did before he gets started in on it.