HD521-2W Failed Short Self Test

[Newts G]

I have recently acquired a PC, that has not been working properly for some time. I managed to sort out the viruses that were on it, but the PC still runs really slow, so last night I did some checks and received the Failed Short Self Test HD251-2W error for my hard drive in the results log.

I have googled it and there seems to be a number of wildly differing stories about what to do when this error happens. Although the main direction seems to be, bin the hard drive and install a new one albeit when you can not boot from the disk, however I can boot, so I am not sure this is the same problem for me.

My PC is running slow, it is usable, it boots without problem, but this error has shown up. It only has 512mb of ram, but I am running XP home with no programs (that I know of) running and yet when opening internet explorer it is taking 15 seconds to load, or even when clicking the start button there is a 5-10 second delay for the menu to appear. I am not even sure that the 2 things are related in all honesty. I have checked the processes in the Ctrl-Alt-Del pop up screen and there seems to be nothing hogging the system.

So if anyone has any advice on this, it would be very much appreciated.