windows 7 can't create/locate a system partition

20 gigs is a little small, what size is the hard disk? Would recommend at least 40 gig.

oh the hard disk has plenty room
the size of the boot partition doesn't really matter as long as i have it separated from the rest

the setup doesn't work any better with a 40GB partition tho

Well, if you can make a 40gig partition for 7, then thats what we'll do.

1. with the hard drive that you want to install 7 on connected to the PC while running XP, go to disk management (right click Computer, and choose manage, from the left plane choose disk management).

2. Right click on the hard drive partitions and choose delete.
Delete all partitions on the disk that your installing 7 on.
Added: Make sure its the right disk, it should Not Be disk 0.

3. Then Right click on the empty space and choose make partition.

4. the partiton wizard will open, for partition type, choose "primary" then click next.

5. the next page should be were you dedicate the space, in your case to make a 40 gig partition you want to enter "40960". By entering 40960 you will make an exact 40gig partition when it gets formated later on. Click next when done.

6. The next page should be drive letter, choose do not assign drive letter, then next.

7. this step should be format, choose not to format. then click ok.

Let me know how you make out when done.

i'm sorry but there's no XP install left on my system
it is currently completely OS free
if the only solution is to install XP first reformat the drive properly and then reinstall win 7 then i will try that tomorrow
unfortunately i don't have a working floppy drive so a dos format doesn't work for me either
i was experimenting with this hp tool HP Drive Key Boot Utility - HP Business Support Center
to reformat the drives from a usb stick without an OS with no success so far

i'm beginning to suspect it is an issue with my sata drives as the setup would initially start from an old IDE drive
a bit into the installation i got a BSOD tho so it may be this HD is damaged

unfortunately i don't have any working IDE drives left to verify this :/

You said you have xp on it, that its the os your typing on right now???

Is there any way you can connect the hard drive to the system your using to type here?

no this OS is on another machine
and it happens to be a notebook so swapping drives won't work either :/

Well, that kinda makes it a little harder and I'm not sure how to set up the disk from a windows 7 DVD yet. I've not yet had to set up a disk from the windows 7 dvd.

When your running the install where does it stop?
Have you disconnected every thing, but the power, keyboard, mouse and monitor?

Sorry, thought you had XP running on it. Not sure if this will help, but take a look in the tutorial section here and maybe you'll see something that will help.

Clean Install Windows 7

yes i tried unplugging everything save for the screen and keyboard

even the mouse as it's a usb one and i heard some people had issues with usb deviced being connected during installation

on an sata drive the setup doesn't even start
i'm stuck at the screen that lists my drives in order to choose one for win7 and when i try to i get the error message in the topic title
the (apparently damaged)IDE drive got to a point where the win7 setup was about to copy files to it then it crashed
it's getting late here so i'll try to format the hard drive properly at a friends tomorrow (and even try to install it.. i know the install won't work here due to driver incompatibility but it's worth a try) and then i'll check back here

thank you for all the help so far!
it's really appreciated

good night

Looking at the tutorial, step 7 click on advanced, then I would highlight all the partitions on your disk and click delete. Then click new, and set up the 40gig primary partition. After you see the partition highlight it and click format, then continue with the install.