Go to "Start->Settings->Control Panel->Administrative Tools->Event Viewer

This is a log of your machine.

If you have a hard disk problem, you will see a whole bunch of Red Xs under Applications or System (not sure which) indicating that the computer had trouble reading from your disk. If it's a CD-Rom problem, it will tell you there too.

Look around both of those for any Red Xs, and maybe you will find the culprit.

It sounds to me like something is bad. Either a driver (it could be your bus driver for the hard disk  or CD-Drive bus) or the device itself is bad. Bad disks usually show problems relatively shortly after you start using it- however, if your machine only started using the region where there are bad sectors, it wouldn't have had any reason to complain before. Also, a bad connection can cause all sorts of problems. Open the machine up (or have a friend who doesn't mind doing it, if you don't feel comfortable) and check that all of the wires are firmly seated. These can come lose during any sort of travel.

Good luck. This doesn't sound fun:(

eric