Setup unable to format the partition

Problems installing Windows XP. I have been reading all over the place in these forums and such but I haven't come across this. I drop in the XP CD and get to windows setup screen. hit enter to go to installation of windows xp. f8 to agree and all that. then show my partitions which is c: partition1<fat32> and i choose to delete the partition. hit y to delete then takes me back to the screen showing partitions again. this time just show unpartitioned space. i hit enter to install in this partitioned space. it begins and shows that it is formatting with the yellow bar showing the format progress at the bottom of the screen. It goes completely through to 100% then goes to the next screen which reads with the following: "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 have also tried doing this through the Recovery Console choice. But I end up with the same error message. I contacted microsoft for help but they weren't any. They said that the version I have is an OEM version and that I must contact the manufacturer.

I'm kind of stuck now and am looking for help. My system currently has windows ME and I'm installing windows XP Home full version. It's a Dell pIII with 20.4 gb SPIRE 6.0 for windows with 384mb ram 133MHz

 

Try formatting it as fat32 instead of NTFS. I would look for a BIOS update, too.

 

Adrynalyne - thanks for the post. I have tried in both fat32 and NTFS but both end with the same message. I updated my BIOS about a month ago, do you think I need to update again? Is there a possibility I've got a bad sector that I can use scandisk to find? I don't know, just guessing at this point. I'm stumped! Thanks!

 

Have you tried booting with an old 98 floppy and using FDISK to set your partitions and then format from there before attempting to Run the CD

What make of hard drive is it maybe try running the drives diagnostics from a floppy to check for errors