HD vs. IDE controller problem

I have an old (but previously good) HP ze5170 notebook. The hard drive
is making bad noises and increasingly frequently failing to boot. When
that happens, I can enter the BIOS setup and/or boot other OS'es from
the CD, so I suspect either a hard drive or IDE controller problem.
The first can be replaced. I'm not so sure about the second. Any
hints? How can I distinguish between the two problems short of simply
buying a new hard drive and experimenting. Thanks.

RBM <> wrote in
news::

> The hard drive is making bad noises

That's a big clue that the drive is probably the culprit.

One way to be sure would be to remove the drive, attach it to another
PC and run the drive manufacturer's diagnostics, which you can
usually download from their web site.