format says 100% done but has wiped zero

bought a laptop with 40g hard drive wouldn't boot when I recieved it and so tried to format, it froze at 85% and so restarted and installed xp all seemed fine but noticed a few problems and so tried to format again 100% successfull
but to my surprise operating system was still present on the disk. I then tried to do dskchk /p /r this said it found problems on the disk and fixed them so I again tried to format 100% done but still has not wiped the disk can anyone enlighten me as to what is going on have only just bought item on ebay and would like to tell seller what is wrong with it as it may be insured.
thanks all

thats a strange problem, are you sure you can still access the HD after the format?

hi thanks for looking I can start win xp from hard drive after formatting have done this three times even though it says 100% formated tried on last time to view files while still in dos prompt using dir command could not see any files typed exit in dos and xp started up even my photos were still on the desk top
I have logged on using a different identity as password not recognised that is on this site not my laptop

hi m8 get a windows startup disk and when it loaded it type a:\ and then pres enter then type "fdisk" without the speech marks then press "y" to enable large disk support then a menu will come up have a look through this menu until you find you hardisk partition/s then remove it. after removing it restart your computer with the startup disk still in and agin type "fdisk" and "y" again then find the one in the lists that says create partition make it 100% if you only want one partition.after tis is done restart again with the starup disk type "c:\" without the speech marks the type "format c:" and press enter press yes then enter for none and let it format. after its formatted reinstall xp and there you go done!! if you need any extra help post back and i shall go into more detail. hope this helps Dave :good:

thanks Dave for your input tried all that but still no joy.
deleted partition all well and good formated drive took ages but could see no files and so thought all going well until I tried to install xp the installation told me that it was not a good idea to install two operating systems on the same partition I ignored this and tried anyway it then told me that I needed to format again as maybe wrong file structure did this then it told me that there was a folder marked windows on this partion what to do create new or overwrite the files I chose to overwrite half way through it said could not copy a file to disk tried with several different copys of xp but would not copy the said file at that point gave in and reformated again this time using the quick option xp installed no problem, there is some sort of problem that will not let me do a full format and will not destroy the old operating system some one please advise as I have run out of Ideas have tried lots of different software to check disk but all freeze up.

What make is your hardrive because there is some diagnostic programs on the websites you can download and boot up off. these talk directly to the hardrive and chek for faults and repair them. also you can do various types of format such as low level formatting which should do the trick i know that maxtor as defiently got one out. post back with the make Dave. :good:

Hi dave the make is fujitsu I have already downloaded the tool from fujitsu's site fjdt 6.2 but this fails to even find a hard drive on my system, also tried their program erase which should wipe every thing back to 0's this didn,t work either I have done a low level format which allows me to run a operating system but I want to find out the problem not slip around it. I have tried several other software programs they all freeze at roughly 85%

Fujitsu are know for some very crappy drives, I'm afraid to say.

Something to do with the varnish eroding the circuit board on the drive. (Long story)

If you can't format it, it could be on its way out.

Goto the downloads section, download "Kill Disk" follow the instructions on how to install the program to floppy disk, reboot your computer and use the program, this will remove ANYTHING on your hard drive.

If that still does not work, try and delete the partitions using the FDISK command on a bootable floppy disk, then once you have all the partitions completely deleted, recreate 1 partition, and format the partition, then see if it works. (do this after using Kill Disk) :D

Hope this helps.. Boot Sectors can be a nightmare if had a manufacturers install ;)