Unable to boot into the Predesktop Area on a ThinkPad G40

[BorisTheSpider]

I recently acquired a ThinkPad G40, and I have somehow made it unable to boot into the Predesktop Area. Just about the first thing I did with it was boot it into Parted Magic and check the HDD's SMART data, and it didn't look all that good, so I removed the original hard drive and attempted to clone it using ddrescue on my bench PC. I couldn't get the bench PC to boot properly, though, so I ended up putting it back in the G40 and I now find that I cannot access the Predesktop Area at all. Has anyone else ever encountered this sort of problem? Is there any way I can regain access to the Predesktop Area?

[Screamer]

Just about the first thing I did with it was boot it into Parted Magic and check the HDD's SMART data, and it didn't look all that good

Very vague, but I would assume that the HDD is close to death. A second assumption is that part of the HDD which stores the Predesktop Area's data has been corrupted. That may explain the inability to boot into the Predesktop Area.