Routine checks reporting hardware failure?

[Call My Function]

Alright, well, you guys know how Ubuntu runs automatic hard-drive checks every few start ups. Well, in the recent two or so scheduled scans, I've noticed that these scans seem to "stop" at a certain point.

Here's what happens: It runs the scan, the little "updates" at the bottom of the screen flashing by. When it reaches 89%, it stops for about a minute or two. Then, the screen goes black, and I see a message (in white text) about something I can't quite understand... part of it contains a bunch of numbers and letters (hex address of a section of memory?) that goes something like f34s4-failed345s342d-23jse Etc.

Then the screen "flickers" again, and Ubuntu loads like normal.

Is this a problem? I haven't noticed any issues with this computer -- it is old, but it doesn't seem any slower than it normally is. My Disk Utility app reports that all of my hard drives are healthy and have passed self-checks.

Can anyone tell me what's going on?

[Lithum]

I had that happen to me on my old laptop, spoken shortly, whatever is failing the test is dieing.