XP Will Not Install On Laptop

[shelley.bowman]

I'm trying to fix a laptop (Toshiba Satellite), here's what happened:

After getting a virus, the person plugged in the laptop and was running
Windows ME install from a Toshiba recovery disk. Someone unplugged the
laptop and it cut off. Upon reboot, the user got a black screen with a
cursor in the upper left corner. They called me.

I got into the BIOS and set it to boot from CD first, then tried
installing XP. During the reformat process, it hung at 62% and got a
disk error hours later. I tried both NTFS and FAT32 (non-quick
formatting). I also tried Windows 2000 just in case, I deleted the
partition, created and tried to format a new one. Same thing. Is this
HDD hopeless? Is there anything I can do besides get a new HDD?

Thanks,
Shelley

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Locate the Toshiba's hard drive diagnostic utility.

If there is none, find out who made the drive and check with them for the
utility bootable CD.


You need to check to see if the hard drive is ok. If the diagnostic utility
states that the drive is failing or has failed, then you could look for a new
hard drive. If the diagnostic passes successfully, then the hardware problem
may be with a different component.

 

[frodo]

I'm working on bringing a Tosh back to life too, after much grief (as you
have discovered, trying to reinstall, diagnose, etc) it appears that the
HDD failed w/ SMART errors. [Hitachi Disk Fitness tool confirmed this].

The HDD has a 3-yr warrenty, but TOSH's is only 1 year - consumer screwed
again. The unit is only 2 yrs old, Hitachi drive, it shouldn't have
failed! [It belongs to a HS/College student, and by the looks of it, it
wasn't exactly pampered...]

Anyway, $65 for a new drive and it's now rebuilding...

Good Luck w/ yours...