[Grml] How to use GRML to check whether a hard disk is failing

Hello, I am wondering whether GRML can help me here. I have agreed to check a computer (tomorrow) for someone as it isn't booting properly (its a windows XP computer). By the sound of it I suspect the hard disk is failing or totally failed or windows has become corrupted to the point it won't boot. So my question is, how (if) can I use GRML to check whether the HD has failed? I know that the BIOS probably will give suitable warnings, but I am visually impaired and so BIOS is inaccessible to me, GRML is good from that angle as I have a way of accessing a computer without relying on what's on it.

Thanks for any information.

Michael Whapples