[PhoenixIreland]

Disclaimer: My computer knowledge is basic, talk to me in laymans terms Technical Specs are after the blurb explaining the problem.



I bought a new hard drive for my laptop to replace a damaged one.
..this is what used to happen:

1.I put the windows CD in and start the laptop up
2.The typical windows installation screen did not appear, and instead a screen appeared, but "WINDOWS IS LOADING FILES", as if windows was already on the hard drive and I was simply booting from the CD instead of the hard drive.
3.The installation finishes, the laptop reboots, and begins the installation process all over again.
4.When I take the CD out and try to go into windows, it informs me there is no operating system installed.
It continued in this loop again and again.

This went on for a long time, and I gave up trying to fix it, I gave it to soemone to fix and he could not fix it, says it was the first time he got a laptop he could not fix. I tried looking online before, nothing helped. I decided to try it again since my Dell is on its last legs and I don't' have the funds to replace it, so was hoping the repair the Advent, but...

When I turn it on now the following happens:

• An otherwise blank screen says “press any kep to boot from CD or DVD”, then within a few seconds “a disk read error occurred, press cntrl + alt + delete to restart”.
• When I do so, it restarts and brings upthe same screen with the same disk read error, loops seem to be this laptops theme.

It came pre-installed with Vista, I was only allowed burn one backup copy to a dvd, which became corrupted and worthless. Someone suggested to me I can only install the type of installation CD coded for this exact type of computer, but I'm not buying that CD (yes buying, [bleep]ers want me to buy it) only for it to turn out that's not the problem.
Tried to install a new copy of Vista on the machine, it went into the loop.
Tried installing UBUNTU on the machine, it went into the loop.

Would replacing the hard drive have any effect?
The motherboard? Memory? Seriously what is the [bleep]ing problem with this laptop, it seems to be cursed.




Tech Specs:
Advent 7113

CPU: Intel Celeron M 430 (1.73 GHz)
BIOS: Phoenix BIOS.
Chipset: Intel 943GML
Memory: 1GB DDR2 PC2-4200 533MHz SODIMM (2 memory slots. Max 2GB)
Hard Drive: 80GB Hitachi HTS541080G9SA00 ATA
CD Drive: Optiarc DVD±RW

Screen15.4" widescreen TFT (native resolution 1280x800)
Video Card: Intel 943GML (up to 128MB shared)
Sound Card:Realtek AC'97 audio
Modem: Agere systems AC'97 modem
Network Card: Realtek 8139 / 810X (Onboard)=RaLink Wireless Network Card **
PC Card: 1x ExpressCard/54 slot (also supports ExpressCard/34)

Touchpad: Synaptics Touchpad
Power Supply: Lite-On PA-1700-02
Battery:
L51-3S4400-C1L3 (10.8v 4400mAh)
L51-3S4000-S1P3 (10.8v 4000mAh)
L51-3S4000-C1L1 (11.1v 4000mAh)
L51-4S2000-C1L1 (14.8v 2000mAh)
L51-4S2000-C1S2 (14.8v 2000mAh)
L51-4S2000-G1L1 (14.8v 2000mAh)