Ubuntu :: SSD Partitioning A Solid State Drive On A Dell Mini 9

I'm having a particular problem trying to partition a solid state drive on a Dell Mini 9; I'd like to install Ubuntu Netbook on the computer. The machine came with MS Windows XP on it. When I try to use the automated installer, it fails and quits at the partitioning stage. I have tried both fdisk and parted but both of these also fail and quit with errors when they try to write to the disk. I've also tried using Fedora and Knoppix to install and they both fail as well. I did check in the BIOS that the drive, supervisor and user passwords are clear.

Some technical bits that fdisk chucks out;
[ 1913.488878] ata1.00: exception Emask 0x0 SAct 0x0 SErr 0x0 action 0x0
[ 1913:494318] ata1.00: failed command: WRITE SECTOR(S)
[ 1913:500232] ata1.00: cmd 30/00:02:3f:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 tag 0 pio 1024 out
res 51/05:02:3f:00:00/00:00:00:00:00/e0 Emask 0x1 (device error)
[ 1913.511226] ata1.00: status: { DRDY ERR }
[ 1913.517018] ata1.00: error: { ABRT }

can get access to partition the drive or diagnostics to tell what is the problem with the drive?