I've "Recovered" my XP desktop 4 times in a month, crashed last night again! help!

I have a Gateway desktop which I have had to "recover" with the recovery disk over the last 5 years quite a few times. But recently, around the beginning of November, it has crashed 3 times, and when I turned it on, it would lead me to the page where I have to pick how to "start up" the computer ex."Start Windows Normally, Last good configuration, Safe mode." I have recovered it 3 times, but at this point I am getting fed up, and wanted to know if there is anything I can do to fix this computer ex. new parts? Please respond. Is it just getting old?

 

Do a scandisk (with the boxes to fix errors checked). If the computer is having abnormal shutdowns with the computer shutting down while programs are still writing to the hard drive this will cause the problem.
Many times a corrupted drive will still bootup but it won't run with the best performance.