Help with hardware problems

Hi, I have a problem with my computer running vista. Lately, it hangs so you can still move the mouse, but when you click on anything, it is unresponsive. Then after 30 seconds to a minute, it starts working again. When I see my CPU widget, I can see for the last 1 minute, both CPU's % used fell to 0%. So, I'm not sure what's the problem. I built my PC a year ago, and installed vista 2 weeks ago. Lately, its starting to happen more often. Another note is that, when my computer boots up, it freezes on "detecting IDE drives" and eventually goes to the nvidia boot agent and says "media test failure, check cable...exiting nvidia boot agent".

The strange thing is that if I switch the power of the power supply off, and turn it on, then boot everything up, it works fine. But then, the same thing happens again. I have not added any new hardware either.

This is what is once said when vista booted up again; "Problem caused by a hard disk drive error
Windows was temporarily unable to read your hard disk drive. We do not know the exact cause of the problem. In most cases, this type of condition is momentary and does not indicate a serious problem, but sometimes it means that a hard disk is failing."


I have a nvidia nForce 680i SLI motherboard, 8800 GTS video card, 2 GB ram, intel E6750 2.66 GHz 1333 MHz processor, 600 watt power supply, and a WD 10,000 RPM raptor HD.

I would appreciate it if someone could please help.