Cant load windows

[rav4gaz]

I am trying to reload windows on a friends computer but keep getting the following message.






Setup was unable to format the partition. The disk may be damaged.

Make sure the drive is switched on and properly connected to your computer. If the disk is a SCSI disk, make sure your SCSI devices are properly terminated. Consult your computer manual or SCSI adapter documentation for more information.

You must select a different partition for Windows XP.

To continue, press ENTER


I thought the disk was damaged so went out and and bought a new one .Low and behold i get the same message again ,surley this cant be wright .I am going to try to load windows on one of the hard drives on another computer to see if it works.
In the meantime can anybody tell me what might be the problem with this computer considering i have tried two hard drives or is it the motherboard or some other problem.

Os is XP home

regards
Gary
system is a P111 1.2 gh, 256 mb raml

[rjfvillarosa]

Make sure the antivirus is disabled in the BIOS, run memcheck on the ram.
Does the BIOS see all of the old and new harrdrives?

[rav4gaz]

Yes the bios detects both of the hard drives.Only one drive is being used,not master and slave setup

[rjfvillarosa]

What make and model are the two harddrives?

[rav4gaz]

Well after a search around the forums and answer to this thread i noticed all mentioned to check memory. I removed one stick of ram and replaced it with a spare and ran installation of windows again and no problems it all installed beautifully .Oh well i now have a spare hard drive.My experience of fixing and diagnosing computers has increased markedly .thank you for your help