prefab compaq hard drive failure=paperweight?

[descarteseffigy]

ok, so i'm not the most technical person in the world. but my friend's compaq presario (unmodified except for a CDRW) is crashing hard. it's down to a message that reads 1720-Hard Drive imminent failure, and nothing--including a factory restore cd and attempts to reinstall windows 2k (it's originally running Me, is there a difference? if so, what?) has worked. Can't get into BIOS

Please any suggestions, before my friend is stuck with a deluxe compaq doorstop?

also tried reformatting from DOS mode. it won't allow it and gives a bad command or filename msg.

[Lemon]

It sounds like the PC has S.M.A.R.T for the hard drive turned on in the BIOS. Open up the case an look at the hard drive. Look for the manufacture name and visit their web site. Many manufactures have software that you can download that can determine what type of problem you are having.

[osprey4]

You might want to look at THIS.

[descarteseffigy]

thanks osprey but i don't think it has given any message like that... all it did before it committed suicide was freeze up a lot, first just when it was idle for too long, then half the time at random intervals, then it crashed totally after about 3 hours online... now if it loads anything at all it is the windows Me opening screen and then freezes on that. usually we can't get it that far. it gives the 1720 message and at the bottom corners of the screen are two boxes that direct you to press f1 to boot (which doesn't work) and f10 for computer setup (which is also a waste of time). grrrr!!!!