Problem accessing hard drive at startup

When I turn on my Inspiron 9300 Laptop the only icons appearing are as follows: (Many more should appear)
My Computer
My Network Places
My Documents
Recycle Bin
Microsoft Office Outlook
Internet Explorer

Windows Recovery runs automatically
5 errors detected:
1) Hard drive doesn’t respond to system commands – critical error
2) Boot sector of the hard drive disk is damaged
3) Read time of hard drive clusters less than 500 ms
4) Bad sectors on hard drive or damaged file allocation table
5) 32% of HDD space is unreadable

It is almost continuously hitting on the hard drive

A "Hard Drive Failure" (Message box) eventually appears with the message
The system has detected a problem with one or more installed IDE/SATA hard disks. It is recommended that you restart the system.

Clicking Fix Errors in the Windows Recovery Dialog Box resulted in “failed to fix” in regards to each of the five errors.

Clicking the START icon in lower left of screen produces the graphical screen menu however nothing shows up as a START UP program and the All Programs menu is (empty)

System Info
BIOS version: A02 (02/23/05)

Processor Info
Processor Type: Pentium M
Processor ID: 06D8
Current Clock Speed: 1.60 GHz
Minimum Clock Speed: 800 MHz
Maximum Clock Speed: 1.60 GHz
Processor Cache Size: 2048 KB
Hyperthreading Capable: No

Memory Info
Memory Installed: 1024 MB
Memory Speed: 533 MHz
Memory Channel Mode: Dual
Memory Technology: DDR2 SDRAM

I have used the Utilities available by F12 and everything checked out as "passed". I have also attempted to Start in Safe Mode.

Any suggestions for returning the computer to functionality?
I am sending this from a Dell Dimension 8200 Desktop. Is there a way to link the laptop to the desktop to access files on the laptop? Or transfer them?

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

I have limited knowledge of the means by which an HDD can be connected to the motherboard of another computer. What is the easiest, least expensive, way to accomplish this? If the two computers are 'networked' would I be able to use an RJ6 cable to 'see' and/or transfer data from the laptop to the desktop? Or is it too late to communicate with the laptop for it to even be made a part of a network?

 

I think this might be a virus/malware. I don't like the vagueness of "The system has detected a problem with one or more installed IDE/SATA hard disks".

Does this screenshot look familiar? http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-windowsfixdisk

***
I may be wrong on this but the hidden files and the hard drive errors while running Windows seem unusual.

 

sach2 I believe you are correct. Everything has occurred as the text describes. I still need some help figuring out what to do. So far I have started the computer and again experienced the supposed WindowsRecovery mess. I was able to go by way of My Computer to the Folder Options. I first selected the radio button for "Show hidden files and folders". The dot disappeared from "Do not show ..." and appeared correctly for "Show hidden ...". However, the WindowsRecovery seems to have kept itself running and I can no longer make any change to the Folder Options. Each click on any part of the Folder Options dialog box simply results in a sound tone. Occassionally the "Hard Drive Failure" message box with the IDE / SATA problem being identified.

I can't get the WindowsRecovery to close.

Any ideas?

 

I have restarted in Safe Mode and now all icons appear but the "Start" is still empty of any startup programs and the hovering over "All Programs" results in "(Empty)" appearing.

Ideas?

 

Greetings, geeker42.

If there is data that you wish to salvage before going any further, one thing you might try is booting to a Linux distro (Mint, Puppy and Ubuntu are all nice and easy). Download the .iso file, and burn that file as an image to a CD/DVD (ImgBurn is a good .iso burning software if you don't already have one).

A quick tutorial for the image burning process is located here.

Then boot to that disk, and run the OS as a live environment (in other words, don't install it - just run it from the optical drive). While in the Linux environment you should be able to transfer any important data to a portable medium such as a flash drive.

Once you've accomplished this, then I strongly suggest you go through the Malware Forum's Read & Run Me First thread, perform all of the suggested steps, and attach the requested logs to a new thread in that forum.