My parents are running windows 98. they turn on the computer and get an error message that states c drive is probably about to fail. it gives an option to fix but their cursor has disappeared. they have tried restarting and got the same results repeatedly. Any ideas?

take to a local tech, he can clone it into a new drive.

Replacing the drive is not had but DO IT NOW or you'll lose everything on there and have to reinstall the operating system, programs, etc, and all their data will be lost.

STOP USING THE COMPUTER except to try to get data off the computer! It has a short life left; don't waste it.

Get Acronis True Image and a new drive, connect the new drive (temporarily) and use TI to clone the drive. Then remove the old drive and put the new one into the machine.