windows Vista will not start

Yes, the  hard drive is faulty (it fails the internal self-test) and yes, you will need to replace it.

This is the third time this has happened to me since I bought the computer.

I have an "Inspiron 1720".

After going through the self-help guide, I ran a diagnostic a few times. The first time I got error no. 2000 0142, the other times I got an error no. 2000 0146.

Does this necessarily mean my hard drive is faulty? Must I replace it?

The MediaDiraect seems to work fine.Plays music and DVD.

Unfortunately I was stupid, the first two times the computer crashed it was still under warranty, but then I just thought (as my friends told me) that it's probably the windows Vista. I formatted the computer and reinstalled everything.

I didn't even contact costumer support.

Now it's been over a year and the warranty expired... :-(

Thanks to anyone replying to this...

I was getting a the same error codes and couldn't get Windows to boot up at all.  I went to BIOS set up (restart your computer and hit F12 when the BIOS screen comes up), went to onboard devices and changed the SATA Operations from ACHSI (don't know how it got there) to the factory default setting ATA.  Then I started up in "repair mode" (which was an option that was coming up when I tried to boot up before but never worked) - it went through a repair check and went to login screen. 

Prior to finding this - I tried several things including start up from the Reinstallation disc, but nothing worked.  I was ready to buy a new hard drive, but don't have to.  Works fine!

Not sure what caused the problem to start with.  It is an "Inspiron 1520"