Hard drive sounds currupt
how new is the laptop (if new check for sata drivers)
if old (try another hard drive!)
If that dont work get a bootable distro of linux boot it up go into a partition manager and scan the hdd the format it as NTFS.. restart and then install fresh
Download XP live disc, copy system file and system text doc from another comp and put on a stick, boot to the disc, replace file from usb stick, and restart, removing live disc, it should work then.