Well, Mark, I tried your suggestion, (thankyou heaps) but I think it didn't work (see the log below) and so I guess I am faced with having to buy a new drive. No really big deal I guess, since I always planned to put a much bigger drive in the Empeg anyway. Just means the need is a bit more urgent now. Thanks again for your help, I know you must be a very busy man, so that makes the time you give here so much more appreciated.

(This is the log while trying to fix the problem)
empeg:/empeg/bin# dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/hda3 bs=512 count=1
hda: read_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=133057, sector=0
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:03 (hda), sector 0
dd: /dev/hda3: Input/output error
1+0 records in
0+0 records out
empeg:/empeg/bin#

(After next boot - this part of the log seems to confirm it)
player.cpp : 385:empeg-car 2.00 2003/04/01.
hda: read_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=133057, sector=0
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:03 (hda), sector 0
hda: read_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=133057, sector=0
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:03 (hda), sector 0
Prolux 4 empeg car - 2.1434 Mar 26 2003
Vcb: 0x4086d000
hda: read_intr: status=0x59 { DriveReady SeekComplete DataRequest Error }
hda: read_intr: error=0x40 { UncorrectableError }, LBAsect=133057, sector=0
end_request: I/O error, dev 03:03 (hda), sector 0