Problems with a format

[djluvsgod]

I am having a big fight with my laptop at the moment. I wish to Install Ubuntu, the whole hard drive is already wiped except for one file. Whenever I try to redo my partition, it will not format my ext3 section for the OS, it always gives me an error, or if it does do it, the old one is still there. I have tried everything I know in Gnome Partition editor, from my Ubuntu live cd. I have tried to redo my partitions via the command line and fdisk, I set everything up and tell it to write, but it give me the error that the table is in use, even after I unmounted the hard drive. What do I do to get rid of this stupid partition?

[budman7]

Have you tried rebooting right after deleting the partition in fdisk?
Maybe you could try a different live cd such as gparted to setup the partition.

[djluvsgod]

I'll look at getting a different cd. What I really need is a program that doesn't give a yahoo about permissions and restrictions and will just get the job done.

[MikeTbob]

I'll look at getting a different cd. What I really need is a program that doesn't give a yahoo about permissions and restrictions and will just get the job done.

Like budman said, try gparted, it will hump your disk into submission quickly.

[djluvsgod]

Yea, great program/cd, unfortunately, it doesn't beat the crap out of my disk. You see, every time I format this disk, it never gets wiped, the one folder that refuses to be deleted always comes back.

Here's what I did, I booted the gparted cd, configured my hard drive the way I want it, then I boot up with the Ubuntu cd, when I try to install however, as it goes to set itself up on the hard drive, my hard drive mounts and opens a window displaying the folder that won't be deleted, and then I get an error message telling me there was a problem formating the ext3 partition.

[MikeTbob]

Yea, great program/cd, unfortunately, it doesn't beat the crap out of my disk. You see, every time I format this disk, it never gets wiped, the one folder that refuses to be deleted always comes back.

Here's what I did, I booted the gparted cd, configured my hard drive the way I want it, then I boot up with the Ubuntu cd, when I try to install however, as it goes to set itself up on the hard drive, my hard drive mounts and opens a window displaying the folder that won't be deleted, and then I get an error message telling me there was a problem formating the ext3 partition.

That's very interesting, I have never encountered anything like that. What kind of HD is it? Did it fall from the sky? How big is this "file"? Is it currently an NTFS or fat32 partition?
I don't know what to tell you buddy, If fdisk/Gparted won't delete it, I wouldn't know how to get rid of it. (Obviously).
After this part

configured my hard drive the way I want it

Did you save the settings and reboot, before installing Ubuntu?

[r3g]

What you need to try is DBAN - Darik's Boot and Nuke (Hard Drive Disk Wipe)

This program is designed for wiping disks clean of every trace of data from previous installations.

If that doesn't remove your rogue file, then your drive must be fried.