Dell inspiron - 3847 - hard disk failure after dell update

I allowed a dell update after being repeatedly prompted to do it, and then it did an automatic restart, to which I ended up with a black screen with hard disk failure, yada yada yada.  So I could get to the blue screen, but that's too involved for me as a novice.  However, my son said, did you try unplugging it for awhile...and I laughed...but I did it, and after an hour, turned on my dell, and it started properly, but within 1/2 hour it took me to the dell logo, and then again, I got the hard disk failure thing.  Any ideas on what would be causing a hard disk failure after working ok, but 1/2 goes by?  Is it something wrong with the update that dell forced?  What should I do next?  thanks!