Is my HD dead? HELP!

So, my girlfriend was using my One, and it decided to just shut off.

Now, when starting up, it goes into Hard Drive checking mode, which gets to about 3%, and then shuts off again.

I was able to make a bootable XP USB drive, in order to run chkdsk, but alas, the comp. shuts off before the USB is able to load.

I don't know if this is even relevant, but I also flashed the BIOS during this whole debacle, but it doesn't look like it changed anything.

Is my HD dead? Am I correct in thinking that I could replace the HD with any 2.5" laptop drive (as long as it fits physically), and then boot XP (or 7) from USB?

Is the HD that is inside portable external HDs the same as laptop HDs? As in, I could buy a USB powered SATA portable external HD, take it apart, and put it in the One?

Thanks, any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Shudowns between 30 and 60 seconds are normally fan failures.

Press F2 and sit at the Bios screen and; 1) time how long the unit stays running 2) Listen for fan noise.
Then if needed replace the fan.

 

Thanks, I'll try that when I get home. I have a feeling 30 seconds is being much too generous though, I think it tends to be more like 10 seconds. It hardly makes it past POST.