A co-worker gave me a used computer, (her daughter bought a new one),they took the hard drive out but I had a few lying around so no big deal, anyway I decided to set this computer up for my step daughter as the one she is using now is the first PC I bought new, ( a dell inspiron pentium 3 800MHZ), the new/used computer is a Compaq, pentium 4, 1500MHZ, 512mb ram, so I put a 30 GB hard drive in, format it, install windows XP pro, convert XP to a legal version, download and install all the updates, now it has SP3. So I started to install some programs that my step-daughter has on her computer now and everything is fine, I run disk defrag, compress the drive all is still ok, I run the error checking scan for errors and it says it needs to run at restart so I restart the pc, next thing I know I get a black screen saying the HD is in imminent danger of failing, press F1 to boot, so I press F1 and the PC starts fine, goes to the desktop everything is running fine, next time I turn it on I get the same black screen and the same message, any idea why this may be doing this? If it turns out the HD is shot I will use the one in the other PC and format it, install windows etc. just want to see if anyone knows why that message is coming up now. Thanks

Did you try to do a BIOS update ?
I had trouble with a PC once , luckely after the update it was fine
I don't know too much of this cr@p though

Why compress the drive? I'm all my years, I've never had to use that and/or run out of space.

that 30GB is probably on its last legs anyway, it has to be what, at least 10 years old???

Dump it and buy a new HD or something 200GB plus, most failures are because of a bad RAM stick, bad power supply, and failing HD's. This sounds like a bad HD to me.

<this presented to you by someone who has built/fixed/upgraded at least 400 computers over the last 10 years 1/2 of which where mine>

with Kitt. Even if the drive isn't making the ticking sound of death, the computer might know more than you.

However, there is always the possibility that Compaq is checking for a specific drive for that computer. Compaq is notorious for being one of the worst brands to upgrade or change. Take the drive out and put it in another computer (if you can) and see what happens. Of course you'll need to do a fresh installation again.

But, I'd say you have about an 80% chance the drive is about to go.

My suggestions.
Swap the MB Battery,install new Ram.I have often run into these type of problems with bad ram and weak MB Batteries.
The 30 GB should be as Kitt said 10 years or nearing that... even if it isn't bad now it will go soon.

I've seen this message on Compaq pcs before (Intellisense detects imminent drive failure) basically it seems to be Compaq's version of SMART drive error detection. It probably is correctly detecting that certain monitored parameters of the drive are outside acceptable limits, and therefore there is every chance the drive going bad. Like others have said, with the cost of HD's these days the 30gb may as well go straight in the trash (I certainly wouldn't trust my data on it) and stick a nice new drive in. Make sure the bios is as up dated as possible as a P4 1500 system may not support a large (200gb) drive, or just stick a 120gb in to be safe.

thanks for all the replies