Hi, my lapotop has gone bananas yesterday. It won't boot basically and when I put in the Windows XP CD and try to reinstall the thing, it comes up with a blue screen and the following message:

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

The problem seems to be caused by the following file: partmgr.sys

PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed. If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software. Disable BIOS memory optins such as catching or shadowing. If you need to use safe mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Setup options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x00000050 (0xF7A924AB, 0x00000000, 0xF7A924AB, 0x00000000)

*** partmgr.sys - Address F7A924AB at F7A90000, DateStamp 00000000

Also my BIOSseems to come up with "Hard Drive C = 0MB" and I think at some point the Windows installation also came up with the fact that I have no hard drive.

I haven't installed any new sw or hw recently but this screen has been coming up for a while - it always just restarted my computer so I kind of ignored it until now when it won't actually let me start/reinstall Windows any more.

Any ideas what to do with it? Thank you

What is the exact make & model of the laptop?
Have you checked the manual for Recovery Options?

Partmgr.sys is the native Windows partition manager.
Download and run the floppy based hard drive diagnostic utility from the hard drive maker.
Perform the most complete scan the software allows.

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287

Also test the RAM:

http://www.memtest86.com/

Also, depending on what type of XP disk that you have, if you can boot into the Recovery Console:

In recovery type: DiskPart
In DiskPart delete the partition(s), then create one, then press Esc key.
Then type: FORMAT C: /FS:ntfs
When its thru type: EXIT
Reboot to XP cd and select Install.