Computer Help... Think this thing is shot...

Alrighty than. I've got an HP laptop running 2 gigs of RAM with Media Center. Was having iTunes problems (didn't recognize any songs/apps/files purchased by my account). It worked before the last time I reformatted, so I decided to reformat again.

Last time I reformatted off the repair disk that came with the computer, it would shut down every time I got to the screen where you pick the partition to delete and confirm deletion. When I got through the screens quick enough, it allowed me to delete the partition and then went fine from there when it started to format, other than after I finished reinstalling I found that instead of being the C:\, my repartitioned drive had become the E:\. This was maybe a month ago.

So. iTunes isn't working right and hasn't been working right off and on since then. I decide to reformat and reinstall tonight to try to see if possibly the issue is I no longer have a C:\. This time, I get through deleting the partition, but now the computer is shutting down during formatting as well. Any ideas on what could be causing this or how to get around it shutting down? I don't know anything about the BIOS... could this be a BIOS issue of some sort? I've now got a computer with the primary drive wiped...

Thanks for any help in advance.

Edit: I should mention that I've had no other problems with the computer or signs that the hard drive could be bad.

 

Well, tried it a few more times, and this time it appears to be running. Any advice on why this may have happened would be appreciated. Also curios why windows was recognizing the primary drive as the e:\... The repair disk was seeing it as the c:\.

 

No suggestions?

Also... Don't know why, but after getting the primary drive. Ack to being the C:\, no more issues with purchased files.