Yes it is a small part of the issue. This PC has been used for
my ham radio efforts after it was given to me with a bad hard
drive. I did have an extra which I used loaded with 10.04, then
11.04 then 11.10. It then failed and I found another old drive
I used again until it has failed. They do wear out I guess. I have
tried a couple of the local computer repair shops to see if I could
find a 30 or 40 GB drive to no avail yet. I may end up trying one
of the on line shops to see if I can get something to add back in
to the box. Then I got to thinking about a work around. I suppose
I could maybe use a dedicated ham live CD, but I thought that I
could get a USB drive of about 32GB which would be a little faster
than the live CD but not as fast and the hard drive, and it would be
writable too.
And it allows me to keep learning and thinking.