Firstly, I'm not sure I'd immediately assume that your HD is playing up - the symptoms you report could be caused by a lot of things.
Secondly, a flashing question mark in a floppy icon is telling you the machine can't find a system to boot from. If you got a flashing X inside a floppy icon it's telling you it can't find a device with a system to boot from - that's what you would normally get if the machine couldn't see your hard disk.
The first thing I think I would do (particularly since the machine has just been shipped to you, connections can work loose) is check and reseat all the connections inside the computer, that includes RAM, Video Card if it's got one, SCSI and power cables to the HD etc. Make sure you follow the advice on static discharge and ground yourself before you start fiddling inside the machine.
The next thing I'd do is look up and check the HD jumper settings particularly the SCSI ID and termination settings on the internal HD and make sure they're correct. The first and last devices in a SCSI chain need to be terminated.
Once you've done all of that and you're sure in your own mind that everything is connected and terminated correctly and the problem persists, you can start to trouble-shoot what might be causing the erratic start up problems.
Secondly, a flashing question mark in a floppy icon is telling you the machine can't find a system to boot from. If you got a flashing X inside a floppy icon it's telling you it can't find a device with a system to boot from - that's what you would normally get if the machine couldn't see your hard disk.
The first thing I think I would do (particularly since the machine has just been shipped to you, connections can work loose) is check and reseat all the connections inside the computer, that includes RAM, Video Card if it's got one, SCSI and power cables to the HD etc. Make sure you follow the advice on static discharge and ground yourself before you start fiddling inside the machine.
The next thing I'd do is look up and check the HD jumper settings particularly the SCSI ID and termination settings on the internal HD and make sure they're correct. The first and last devices in a SCSI chain need to be terminated.
Once you've done all of that and you're sure in your own mind that everything is connected and terminated correctly and the problem persists, you can start to trouble-shoot what might be causing the erratic start up problems.