Problem with format reload of XP

[fenderzone1200]

I am working on a laptop that crashed a couple of days ago. It would not boot up at all, not even in safe mode or by cd rom. I decided to format and reload. just before the setup was complete the computer rebooted by itself. Now of corse it will not boot from hdd. when I try to boot from cd and load windows it will to let me do anything with the partition. when I try to install windows on the existing free partition I get an error message ( error occurred while setup was updating partition information ) I am just about ready to order a replacment hard drive, but I wanted to get a second opinion first. Any help would be apreciated. Thanks......

 

[Sharkfood]

Do you have an old, crusty Windows 98/98se or ME bootable install disk by any chance?

As you described it to be a laptop, I'm also assuming it's an ATA/IDE drive.. the below tests wont work on advanced controllers (i.e. SATA or SCSI without some BIOS support or tricks).

If so, and you obviously do not need any data off the drive, boot off this for "Command Prompt with CD Support" off the 98se/me cd. Then run FDISK /MBR at the command prompt. Reboot then a normal FDISK,

I'd try fooling with this to see:
a) how much space it reports
b) if dos/fdisk MBR mode can even write to the partition table.

In general, if a FAT partition cannot be made, the drive is toast.

(Note- you can do this similarly with the system restore console of XP, but it's a bit less verbose with primary track errors and doesnt attempt a verify pass after partitioning)

If fdisk works okay in DOS mode, you may simply need to use Maxtor's special partitioning software.