HELPPLEASE....Laptop will not boot....Dell

Hi, I have a Dell Inspiron, It is a year old purchased directly from Dell. It has run great since I got it, I use it mostly for school work and gaming *World of Warcraft and You Tube and stuff". I have updated virus software from Norton that is given to me by my internet provider, Comcast. Last night my brother was playing ball in the HOUSE when the tennis ball landed on the right bottom corner of my laptop. Everything seemed fine, no apparent damage, I kept playing WOW. I shut down to go have dinner and when I went back in my room to play again my computer went on, went to the initial first dell load page, the page offered me to push F2 or F12, then went to a blank screen where it would stay for approx 1 minute they back to the Dell load page. I will cycle like this indefinitely. Never starting Windows.
I looked around on forums and decided to find the boot disk, I think that is the Dell Operating System disk and I told the computer to boot from the DVD first. Then I have an option to Repair or Install, I repaired. For hours it loaded, then when it restarts the same cycle from before happens all over again. So I figure, I don't care if I lose everything as long as my computer works so I choose to install windows. It takes me to a screen that seems like the partition screen and it has two separate sections, one is the recovery section and the other one seems to be the actual OS. So I choose the OS and hit next and it says I need to load the drivers for the hard drive put in the other CD. So I do and it says it can't find the driver for my hard drive These are the CD's that came with the computer.....I am lost, I tried other things that I don't remember. One odd thing is that when I hi-lighted the OS partition on the hard drive a message came up that said: The disk may fail soon. If other hard disks are available, install windows to another location. I have an option to delete this partition, is that what I should do? I am lost so bad......help....I am a charity case but I do appreciate any advice you can give.......Neffi

Don't mess with your partitions or do anything of that nature until we find out the cause of the problem - you may make things worse. And it's a bit early to decide to restore the system to factory settings as well - that's more of a close to last choice option. Let's start simple with what Dell provides.

I believe your system is equipped with a diagnostic tool. Here's the procedure: How do I run Diagnostics on my System? | Dell.

Check that out and see if it shows anything and then post back here with results.

I hope this helps at least identify the cause. If not, we'll move on from there.

Good luck!

Lorien, thank you so much, I ran the diagnostic and I think this is what you need:

Error Code: 0146
Msg: Error Code 2000-0146
Msg: Hard Drive 0 - self test log contains previous error(s)
The given error code and message can be used by Dell Technical Support to help diagnose the problem

Error Code: 0142
Msg: Error Code 2000-0142
Msg: Hard Drive 0 - self test log contains previous error(s)
The given error code and message can be used by Dell Technical Support to help diagnose the problem

And that is what came up,thanks so much for your help, I going crazy not having my computer....Neffi

This means it seems to be a hardware problem and your hard drive has problems and you need to contact Dell Technical Support Welcome to Home User Support for assistance in diagnosing the trouble and seeing if it can be fixed or if the drive needs to be replaced. There's nothing further we can do here to help you until you do that.

I'm glad we found the problem and sorry to hear that it seems like a hardware issue that requires support from Dell. I hope they can help you.

Good luck!