Thinkpad T400 with Vista OS won't start up

Hello all,
I'm a relatively non-proficient computer user with a T400 that is having some issues with starting up all the way. For some background, this is a pretty old computer obviously, and has had its share of trouble already. It has had one battery die and one hard drive die. Lately, it has been sporadically over-heating and turning itself off. I wouldn't be surprised if my present dilemma is the result of multiple interacting problems, but I would really appreciate if anyone could help me out.
My laptop is set to hibernate when it's closed, and today when I opened it up it was just a black screen - not a black screen like the computer was off, but like the black screen shown during start-up when no words are shown. This wasn't alarming to me because I often have to turn the computer off via the power button and then turn it back on, because opening the screen sometimes doesn't seem to force it out of hibernation. But when I did it today, I started getting this problem.
If I press the power button and then do nothing, it goes through the initial boot stages and eventually comes to a "Windows failed to start" Windows Error Recovery screen, suggesting that I launch Startup Repair. If I do launch startup repair, I get to the "System Recovery Options" window but there are no operating systems listed. When I click "Next" I'm informed I must log in to access System Recovery Options, and then I'm forced to restart, repeating the process. On the other hand, if I select to Start Windows Normally, I get that same blank black screen.
I am able to access BIOS. Here's what I have tried so far -
1. Burning Lenovo Diagnostics (http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/downloads/detail.page?&DocID=DS025448) to a bootable CD and attempting to run it on the T400. The T400 won't boot from the CD. I definitely burned it as an .iso file, and I sent the DVD-RAM drive up to the front of the boot order, and I also tried pressing F12 and selecting the drive specifically. I also changed SATA Controller Mode to "Compatability" - I don't know what that means, but I read it as a possible solution. No matter what I have tried, I hear some whirring from the CD drive during start-up, but then it stops and I end up at the same Windows Error Recovery screen.
2. HDD diagnostic program in BIOS. When I do this, the test doesn't progress at all and I get "Error code 0000: Read verification failed."
Any ideas? I've been thinking it may be time for a new laptop, but if there's a possibility of prolonging this laptop's life then I feel I might as well. Thanks in advance for your help.
Edit: Another thing I noticed is that a lot of people have T400 start-up issues due to a broken USB port. I do have a broken port, but I made sure that none of the pins are touching each other or either side. So I don't think that's the problem either.
Solved!
Go to Solution.

That drive is going bad, and fast. Read verification failure usually indicates a rather deadly flaw.
You *might* be able to insert the drive into an USB enclosure and get the files from it on another PC, but it should be done sooner than later.
Time to start shopping for a new hard drive or SSD.
Good luck.
Cheers,
George
In daily use: R60F, R500F, T61, T410
Collecting dust: T60
Enjoying retirement: A31p, T42p,
Non-ThinkPads: Panasonic CF-31 & CF-52, HP 8760W
Starting Thursday, 08/14/2014 I'll be away from the forums until further notice. Please do NOT send private messages since I won't be able to read them. Thank you.

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+-- Logical Volume Group B8C99B8C-D7C4-4E0E-8AD3-BA68035C6584
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    Status:       Online
    Size:         209999998976 B (210.0 GB)
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1: EE 1023 254 63 - 1023 254 63 [         1 -     409639] <Unknown ID>
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00000000 33 c0 8e d0 bc 00 7c 8e c0 8e d8 be 00 7c bf 00 |3.....|......|..|
00000010 06 b9 00 02 fc f3 a4 50 68 1c 06 cb fb b9 04 00 |.......Ph.......|
00000020 bd be 07 80 7e 00 00 7c 0b 0f 85 0e 01 83 c5 10 |....~..|........|
00000030 e2 f1 cd 18 88 56 00 55 c6 46 11 05 c6 46 10 00 |.....V.U.F...F..|
00000040 b4 41 bb aa 55 cd 13 5d 72 0f 81 fb 55 aa 75 09 |.A..U..]r...U.u.|
00000050 f7 c1 01 00 74 03 fe 46 10 66 60 80 7e 10 00 74 |....t..F.f`.~..t|
00000060 26 66 68 00 00 00 00 66 ff 76 08 68 00 00 68 00 |&fh....f.v.h..h.|
00000070 7c 68 01 00 68 10 00 b4 42 8a 56 00 8b f4 cd 13 ||h..h...B.V.....|
00000080 9f 83 c4 10 9e eb 14 b8 01 02 bb 00 7c 8a 56 00 |............|.V.|
00000090 8a 76 01 8a 4e 02 8a 6e 03 cd 13 66 61 73 1c fe |.v..N..n...fas..|
000000a0 4e 11 75 0c 80 7e 00 80 0f 84 8a 00 b2 80 eb 84 |N.u..~..........|
000000b0 55 32 e4 8a 56 00 cd 13 5d eb 9e 81 3e fe 7d 55 |U2..V...]...>.}U|
000000c0 aa 75 6e ff 76 00 e8 8d 00 75 17 fa b0 d1 e6 64 |.un.v....u.....d|
000000d0 e8 83 00 b0 df e6 60 e8 7c 00 b0 ff e6 64 e8 75 |......`.|....d.u|
000000e0 00 fb b8 00 bb cd 1a 66 23 c0 75 3b 66 81 fb 54 |.......f#.u;f..T|
000000f0 43 50 41 75 32 81 f9 02 01 72 2c 66 68 07 bb 00 |CPAu2....r,fh...|
00000100 00 66 68 00 02 00 00 66 68 08 00 00 00 66 53 66 |.fh....fh....fSf|
00000110 53 66 55 66 68 00 00 00 00 66 68 00 7c 00 00 66 |SfUfh....fh.|..f|
00000120 61 68 00 00 07 cd 1a 5a 32 f6 ea 00 7c 00 00 cd |ah.....Z2...|...|
00000130 18 a0 b7 07 eb 08 a0 b6 07 eb 03 a0 b5 07 32 e4 |..............2.|
00000140 05 00 07 8b f0 ac 3c 00 74 09 bb 07 00 b4 0e cd |......<.t.......|
00000150 10 eb f2 f4 eb fd 2b c9 e4 64 eb 00 24 02 e0 f8 |......+..d..$...|
00000160 24 02 c3 49 6e 76 61 6c 69 64 20 70 61 72 74 69 |$..Invalid parti|
00000170 74 69 6f 6e 20 74 61 62 6c 65 00 45 72 72 6f 72 |tion table.Error|
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000001c0 ff ff ee fe ff ff 01 00 00 00 27 40 06 00 00 fe |..........'@....|
000001d0 ff ff ac fe ff ff 28 40 06 00 d8 7c 72 18 00 fe |......(@...|r...|
000001e0 ff ff ab fe ff ff 00 bd 78 18 20 5f 13 00 80 fe |........x. _....|
000001f0 ff ff 07 fe ff ff 00 58 ba 19 00 08 7e 03 55 aa |.......X....~.U.|
00000200
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