My first PC computer that followed my Commodore 64 was the original 444Kh processor IBM PC. When it was about a year old the media on it's gigantic 10Kb Seagate hard drive started to intermittently stop spinning. I found that banging it on its top caused the motor to start spinning again and the computer to function normally until the next stoppage. It was easy to give it a wack because those old PCs had a hinged door on the top that you could lift up to give you internal access. Instead of replacing the hard drive, I told my wife the computer could not be repaired (it actually could) and used that an excuse to buy the parts to build a new Intel 286 processor based computer.

Now here's how this applies to your problem. If you replace the hard drive and that does not solve the problem, you effectively have spent good money after bad. So you have noting to loose by taking a screwdriver and rapping the top of the suspected hard drive sharpley with the handle to see if there is a similar issue. If your computer starts working, you have confirmation that the hard drive is the problem and you save the cost of a new computer. If it does not, you have lost nothing and have more information to assist you in making your decision.

It appears my PC is dead. it comes on but continues to crash and will sometime restart for a few minutes then down again. it goes thru a repair sequence but to no avail. I am thinking the HD is DOA. but, is it possible there could be a virus causing this? machine is 7-8 yr old. I have been usung pc's since 1985 and have built and added hardware but not good at finding problems. So if I find it is indeed dead does it make sense to replace HD (1TB) and update to win 10, or buy a new machine? it would have to be a basic machine since my budget is slim with current conditions (and retired), I also just bought a $2,000 laptop for wife. I am looking for options and will probably have to call repair shop on monday. My basic needs are internet and PSE. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks