maybe if you want to ask on bargainshare they might have ideas I don't know, but here is what happened the boxes and everything I had up froze.....err....so I hit the button on the comp . to shut it down and start it back up...well, it was after that it wouldn't start up again, and I can't even remember what it was doing, but it wouldn't let me on, so I got the recovery cd, so I could boot it up from that, but for awhile, it wouldnt even do that.....I would get a message that said "error loading operating system" so then I just turned everything off, and let it cool down for awhile, cuz it seemed like it was almost overheating ( ?) anyhows so after awhile, I tried again, and did get it to boot up, but couldn't get it to repair or anything, so I went for the installing windows xp choice, and tried the quick one first, and got a message after it formatted, saying tis " setup was unable to format the partion. the disk may be damaged. ( what disk...I don't know ) Make sure the drive is switched on and properly connected to comp. If the disk is a SCSI disk make sure your SCSI devices are properly terminated. You must select a different partion for Windows XP .........so I went back and completly got rid of that one, ( deleted it, so everything is gone ( again) .......errr.....so okay then I tried the regular way of formatting ( not the quick one ) and left it going all nite, cuz it was taking so long, I got it to load everything, and it gets to the page where it says Windows xp is formatting please wait, and there is a % number at the bottom which says how far along it is, and so after leaving it on allllll nite, when I got up it was only at 1% ....so I tried things again this morning to no avail. Soooooo that is where I am at now with it....if you want to try to find out who I could call....it is a Micron PC and it says Transport GX3 on it and it also says Intel Inside Pentium 4 on it.......

any ideas would be appreciated!

I have an idea - paragraphs & indentation!

Sounds like a bad hard drive to me. I'd suggest changing it then reinstalling Windows again. If the same issue happens then it's something else.

Edit: The Transport GX3 is a notebook. Could definitely be the hard drive. If it were me I'd run the drive manufacturer's diagnostic program to see if it reports any problems.

I would check that none of the cables are loose first.

well I just cut and pasted..I didnt write it..she has had issues similar before but has been able to reinstall windows
I am leaning to a new hd in my thinking as well but it could be just a complete format needed

I know it was someone else - I kept reading it and thought "did Iam go loopy on cold medicine today"? You weren't exactly clear that it was a C&P of someone else's email, but eventually I figured out it must be.

It's got to be a HD error. Like Alan said, run manufacturer's diagnostics. Too bad it's not easy to try a replacement HD.

Didn't she try to reformat and it didn't get past 1%???
Yupp:

well thats true..but it has worked before, just not this time

maybe a new hd is needed

i would put her msg in a quote to avoid confusion between if it was you who typed that message. but like others, i agree it's most likely an hdd problem.

//krunk (^_^x)

She can try formatting it the old fashioned way by using a Windows boot disk, running fdisk to create a partition then format. PITA, especially if she never did it before, but it may work. however, from the info provided I'd say it's a hardware issue.

get a new hard drive. If it hasn't gone yet, its about to.

An ending of sorts to this story and unbargainshare like ..Best Buy put in a new hard drive for her only to charge mega bucks

Thats ok though she is still my dear friend

Freinds don't let friends service their computer at Worst Buy!