George Toft wrote:
> 
> Jim,
> 
> Think about what you are asking.  "Can I bypass a protective feature so I can
> install
> Linux on defective hardware and give myself headaches in the future?"

ROFLOL...  ahem.  now that IS another perspective on the problem ;-)

another question is: how much is your time worth compared to your
pocketbook...

How about booting a CD-version of Linux to then run fdisk/etc. on the
thing and search for bad blocks, etc.  Once it is lowlevel formated and
verified you may be ok.  if it dies, then I would seriously think of
replacing the disk.  

  EBo --