Error code 142 while running 32 bit diagnostics

Hello,

My daughters Inspiron 1501 laptop is having major issues.  It will not finish starting.  It gets to the windows screen, but then it just sits there and does not open, or it will open after about 30 minutes but there is nothing on the screen but her back ground picture.

We went to the dell support page and have been trying to run the diagnostics recommended, when you hit f12 to get into them, and it either shuts off or we get the message that says

Error code 142

Message error code 2000-0142

message unit 0

drive self test failed status fight =0

Any suggestions?

Thanks