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hard drive - Error "a disk read error occurred" on Windows XP

Around a week ago I sometimes had trouble bringing up Windows XP profile (so it would boot into a temporary profile directory). I ran CHKDSK three days ago on boot and didn't find any bad blocks.


Starting yesterday, my desktop (Windows XP SP3) became really weird. After I booted up it seems like something was eating up my CPU (though I didn't see anything suspecting in the resource monitor fired up using Ctrl + Alt + Delete). The computer booted very slowly, and applications started very slowly. My real video files which used to play smoothly was lagging. My phone dial up had trouble logging into most web sites while some (like Slashdot and google) seemed to be more or less fine.


Was there problem with the network? My girlfriend's netbook running behind a home gateway (which dialed pppoe for her) connect to the web just fine! So this ruled out the possibility.


Today I booted up again, and the same thing happened. At first I suspected it was a virus. So I changed my BIOS settings to boot up on another physical disk (the OS wasn't MS Windows). Something was very weird, it still had the same network connectivity issues. I scanned my Windows C partition. Clam AntiVirus claimed that there was this executable resting on my Windows desktop directory containing a trojan whose name I cannot recall now. I tried to go into the directory to check the file, but I suddenly couldn't get in. So I rebooted the computer and tried to switch back to Windows only to find out I cannot boot!! It says "a disk read error occurred" and ask me to press Ctrl + Alt + Del to restart.


I wasn't suspecting a disk error! The disk is relatively new (two years and four months). I ran CHKDSK at boot around three days ago. The event log told me I have 0 bad block! So I am now in shock that suddenly I can no longer boot, nor mounting the disk from the other OS. I tried to unplug the SATA cables and replug it to no avail.


So here are my questions!




  1. I don't know why the network connectivity is weird as it is. If it is the trouble with Windows or the hard disk, then this other OS on the other disk should run just fine. But it turns out that it runs fast, but network is still a problem.




  2. Given that there probably isn't any bad block in this disk (right?? I hope), and I desperate need the data in there and I have no back up, is there a good chance that I can bring it to some shop to recover my data?




  3. Could there also be other possibilities that problem is not related to virus or disk? Such as a motherboard problem?




  4. What can I do myself to recover the data?



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