T40 issues - please please help

[viscous]

So, I finally bought a used T40 in really good condition after using a used T30 for about 2.5 years. T30 worked amazingly. Unfortunately, the shop keeper ripped me off by selling me a defective unit. The problem arose after the warranty period expired i.e. 30 days.

The problem is with the hard drive. The 40g hard drive I got with it stopped loading windows. I would try to install windows, it wouldnt simply work. Tried to transfer data from it to my desktop via USB hub, worked at a slow speed. Before getting busted, my hard drive was making weird sounds that were NOT loud. like klunk klink klank etc. When the sounds were made, for micro seconds my mouse cursor would freeze as well indicating that the whole system as frozen.

In any case, I bought a BRAND new hard disk. Put it on, its giving the same noise. klink klank. I installed Falcon 4.0 allied forces game. It runs perfectly except when it freezes for microseconds. I think same hard drive problem.

Can you please help me with diagnosing the stupid problem with this laptop before my second hard drive gets busted!

[zdriver]

If you suspect the new hard drive, boot up pc doctor and run diags on it, for that matter - on the whole T40. If the new drive is defective, return it for a new one.
As for your game, a quick check of Falcon's specs show that the minimum required video ram is 64 - you have 32, recommended is 128. This alone is a dealbreaker aside from processor speed and ram requirement.
The T40 is a solid business class notebook but was never designed for any modern games.