when i install winXP to a 20 GB HDD, on its finalisation stage (7min remaining) the computer stops and freezes completely. EXCEPT. the HDD is still running and sounds off a loud 'reading disk' noise, but the computer is really frozen ie. mouse won't move, num/caps/scroll locks dont light up..eg.. anyway i formatted and formatted using FAT32 because i heard NTFS is really fussy about bad sectors, which i obviously have (1.32MB). How do i get it to install???

How are you attempting this install? a] upgarde from Win 9x b] clean c] another What is the error message?

Why would try to install on a bad HD? If you have bad sectors, your drive will not last long. XP is trying to install on top of those bad sectors. Scan disk may say they are bad but your FAT (file allocatition table) tells the OS it can write to it. It can't(needless to say), so I don't think you will be able to install unless you boot to an A: prompt and create another partition that the bad sectors are not on. I hate to give you that much hope because I don't think it will last that long if you do get it up and running.

[Brian Rignall} :i am doing a clean install and tried to updgrade from 'ME' but the same error occured or same system state ie freezes during finalisation stage. {seat6} :umm, how do i know if i have bad sectors, because i'm assuming that it has, i tried running scan disk but it stop while checking cluster app. 17,843 and restarts the system unexpectedly, then comes up with "INVALID DISK BOOT SECTOR PLEASE INSERT SYSTEM DISK".