Hard drive - "disklabeltype unrecognized"

[Sam__]

Im having problems with an old 20Gb maxtor HDD.
I put it in a machine and went to install windows. As usual it asked if i wanted to re-format the drive, i clicked yes - ntfs.

it stayed at 0% for about 15mins and then i got bored and switched it off and tried again but the same thing happened.

so i tried a linux live disk and it came up with a "disklabeltype unrecognized" error.

I tried to change the disk label but it couldnt.

HELP! thanks in advance.

[aja]

Try format with FAT32, see if that works

Also, use FDISK or whatever to delete the partition and recreate it.

There was a DOS command to restore the master boot records (MBR) to original status, but I can't remember what it was. This helped me revive old 4GB and 10GB drives that used to have fedora on that would not allow you to format them...

[aja]

I believe the MBR is where your problem lies.

Read THIS WIKI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_boot_record) on what it does and THIS (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/69013) on how to fix it

You dont really have to read all that, but it gives you an idea...