Trouble with laptop

So, a friend from work asked me to look at his laptop for him. He first complained of random restarts and BSOD

It's a Toshiba a45-s120 running windows xp.

When I turn it on, it tells me Windows didn't start successfully and gives me the options of safe mode, safe mode with networking etc.

Selecting any of the options available I get the error:
"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\system32\l_intl.nls"

Then it proceeds to tell me I can attempt to repair this by starting Windows Setup using the original setup CD-ROM

The problem is, when I try to access the BIOS to set the cd-rom first in the boot order, it just hangs. Nothing happens. I've let it sit there for several hours, and it's just stuck.

I've tried entering the BIOS with the hard drive removed from the laptop, speculating the hard drive is possibly going bad with l_intl.nls being corrupt along with the restarts and BSOD.

I even tried moving the single memory stick to a different slot, and it still just hangs. Unfortunately I don't have any laptop memory to test with.

It seems to me that either the hard drive or RAM is the culprit of the problems, but I'd like to hear some more input. Also how I could possibly access the BIOS, and what could be causing the hangs?

If the BIOs is hangning it could mean that the laptop is becoming defective. Which may have caused the corruption of that Windows file.

With that said, make sure that no USB device is attached to the laptop. Also take out the battery and plug the laptop into the wall. Remove the CD drive and hard drive if you can. Then try to boot into the BIOS.

I've tried entering the BIOS with no USB devices, no battery/wall plug-in, and no hard drive.

I'll try it all once again along with the cd drive removed too.

Do you (or possibly any one else) know if there is a jumper to reset the BIOS for a Toshiba a45-s120? Pretty obscure information I'm asking for, I know.. but it worth asking heh.

Try clearing the CMOS as well.

Ok, tried entering BIOS with no external connections, no battery - just power cord, no hard drive, and no cd-rom and it still hangs. Have the thing almost completely apart right now and I can't find any on board batteries to remove to clear the cmos, nor any jumpers that may reset it.

Is the damn thing just dying?

Sounds like it

Thanks for all the help and the quick responses. I appreciate it.