Possible Hardware Problem?

Hello,

I'm using a Dell Inspiron 1545, Intel Core 2 Duo 2 Ghz, 3 Gb Ram, 320 GB HD, with the Intel 4 Series Mobile motherboard and Windows Vista Home Basic.

My laptop's not made for gaming- Well anyway, I was playing Pro-Evolution Soccer on it. I'd been playing for about a month- it'd hang occasionally, when I'd restart. But today, it hung and I heard a snapping sound from inside the laptop. And when I restarted, it just wouldn't stop hanging. I wouldn't be able to use it for more than a minute. I tried all tests- No spyware, no viruses- this as checked by the latest versions of MBAM, and Avast.
I did the diagnostics tests for hardware problems, it found some SATA DST short test errors, I tried doing system restore to an earlier date, but it didn't help the problem. I tried all repair tools that need to be opened at the time of booting, and nothing seemed to work. Even in safe mode, it hung once, and once while the diagnostic tests were running.

So I figured it must be some hardware problem, and decided to try restoring it to its factory settings. Which surprisingly seemed to do the trick. Laptop's working now, but it seems a little slow, its taking some time to react to commands. And I also noticed, that while windows loads, the progress bar on a black screen that comes up, with the Microsoft Corporation Ltd. written below it. That text wasn't really very clean, seemed rather low-res. So I'm a little concerned. Could it have done some damage to some hardware? Laptop working perfectly now, just a little slower.

Any help will be highly appreciated.

Thanks

 

Run the diagnostics tests now, if you haven't done so.

One of the only things you can easily check is the RAM. It will have one module of 2GB and one of 1GB. Read in the manual/User Guide about how to access the expansion slot(s). You can remove one module and test how it starts then. Replace the module if that seems to be the problem. RAM diagnostics
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp
run them overnight.