Windows ME boot and run problems

I have a family member that is using windows me. The computer seems to hang up using any program including the internet and microsoft games included with the program.
When the computer is first booted up it goes straight to suspend or it appears to be suspend anyway you can't get the computer to boot up. You actually have to power off and then power on usually 5 to 7 times to get the computer to boot up.
I think that maybe the harddrive is going bad but I am not sure any help would be appreciated I don't usually work with windows me so I don't know the peculiarities of it. Thanks for the help.