InstallShield (and Defrag) woes. help!

[JustTed]

I really don't know what causes this, but recently InstallShield (not WISE Install) is acting up in my PC. Every single application that uses it can't be installed or uninstalled. It passed the "<program name> Setup is preparing InstallShield" box fine, but on the next one it just stops and my HD sounds like it's working on something. No matter how long I wait, nothing happened.

What can I do to fix this? Reinstall something?
Any input is greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

P.S: I'm using XP Pro, by the way.

Edit: I just noticed that I can't run Defrag. Whenever I clicked on "Analyze" or "Defrag", it won't do anything. When I run it through the command line, it gave this error: "Windows cannot connect to the Disk Defragmenter engine." What the heck? Help please.

 

[egale]

Your hard drive is probably dying. Try and run chkdsk /F to find and fix any problems but if it finds bad sectors, you should backup anything important and replace the drive asap.