I'm hoping the problem I'm having is a software issue, rather than a hardware
one. The OS is Win98SE (all updates) and I've encountered a problem with disc
defrag. It hangs at 90% and informs me that it can't read a portion of my
drive. Scan disc hangs near the end  of scanning sectors, and Norton System Works
2002 does not open from the shortcut (although it will open in
Start\Programs\System Works). I enabled a full scan on bad shutsown, hit the reset button
and when in DOS, Scan Disc indicated there was a bad sector at the end of the
drive. I haven't tried going through all of my programs and files, but at least
one application hangs and forces a reboot. In addition, now the computer will
not shut down. I suspect that the HDD is on the way out, but if I've
overlooked something, any help would be appreciated. TIA.

Chris Ryan
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