My hard drive likes to hide.

I bought this kickass ultraportable from a corporate reseller. It's a Fujitsu with a touchscreen. I've been running the preinstalled Win2000 since I got it, but recently is started clicking and the operating system was failing occasionally. I'm guessing it was a virus since I didn't have any security software.

To fix the problem I decided to test the drive with a clean install of Vista. Well, it worked until it said the drive could not be used. A big error message popped up to halt the installation and force me to quit.

I then got a copy of Ubuntu out and tried to install it. A similar error message popped up and forced another quit.

So, finally convinced that my drive is trashed I ordered a new Seagate drive. After swapping them I cranked up the Ubuntu installation CD again just as a test. It was moving along fine, then out of nowhere the same error message came up again with a brand new drive in the bay.

Anyone have any idea what part has failed (an HDD controller or something)? I really like the laptop and I don't have the money for a replacement.