my desktop is less than a year old and apparently crippled. ugghhh

[Remodeling Maidiac]

I'm doing a factory restore now but I think its a lost cause. It says a hard disk failure is imminent and that I need to replace it.

When it's done, turn off the computer and unplug it, open the side panel and look to see how many hard drives are in there.
If it's only one then:
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

I've never repaired electronics. I can tear a car down and rebuild it but is this something I can do without training?

 

[Ringel05]

I'm doing a factory restore now but I think its a lost cause. It says a hard disk failure is imminent and that I need to replace it.

When it's done, turn off the computer and unplug it, open the side panel and look to see how many hard drives are in there.
If it's only one then:
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

I've never repaired electronics. I can tear a car down and rebuild it but is this something I can do without training?

I taught myself how to build and repair computers out of necessity, like you I worked contracting. When I built my first one it was almost a let down because it was so easy. Look on the front face of your desk top, the model number should be prominently displayed, that would help me determine how hard or easy replacing the hard drive would be.
To remove the side panel look on the back right hand edge and you should see what looks like two thumb screws.
Back the screws out, they may or may not come all the way out.
Push the panel back and it should just slide off.

 

[syrenn]

I'm doing a factory restore now but I think its a lost cause. It says a hard disk failure is imminent and that I need to replace it.

If it is less then a year old..it should still be under warrante.