Hard drive running constantly

[Country]

My hard drive has been running constantly. The only way to stop it is to enter task manager. It has gotten to where I can’t run scandisk, defrag, nor burn CDs.
I’m running 98 with 256MB of ram.
I ran Compaq diagnostics and the RAM passed all test, but the hard drive failed a test called the “Drive protection system test”.

[chade]

When you say 'running constantly' I'm going to assume you mean it sounds like its always working, and the seek/access light on your PC is always on.  I'd like more information on how it stops when you enter the task manager.

This sounds like (most likely) a problem with your HDD - I'd be expecting to buy another soon.  It could also possibly be a problem with the operating system (unlikely if it boots into windows fine) or your IDE controllers (unlikely if you can load windows fine and also unless you're getting crashes).

Yep, sounds like a HDD on its way out (in a more unusual way).

[Country]

You assumed right with the exception of it only stops for a couple of seconds after it boots up then starts again. As for how it stops running when I enter task manager. As soon as I hit Ctrl+Alt+Delete, the noise stops and the seek/access light is no longer flashing. I made a backup on an external hard drive when it started, so I should be safe.
is there a chance that some of the RAM could be bade and be causing it to thrash.

[merlin]

spyware or a trojan can also cause this..but you have said this>I ran Compaq diagnostics and the RAM passed all test, but the hard drive failed a test called the “Drive protection system test...what  is the make of your hard drive..?and have you got psp progam on your pc like kazza?