Solaris

I am trying to install a downloaded copy of Solaris 10 on my home PC (currently running Windows XP Home edition). I purchased a copy of Partition Magic 8.0 and have created a new partition. Over the last several days, I have been trying to get the system to recognize the partition, and to load Solaris, all to no avail. Does anyone have any suggestions before I open up my Craftsman Tool Box and run a deconstructive hard drive/system format (I think that an 8lb sledge hammer will do the trick here)?
Thanks in advance.

The first thing you should do is check that all your hardware is listed in the HCL - if it isn't, then you are fighting a losing battle.

A simple way would probably be to install from cd images. Using PMagic or whatever similar tool create an empty partition (with no file system) and the install to that empty partition, the installation program will create all necessary file systems.

A quick update to the situation....
I was finally able to load up Solaris on my HP Pavillion 750n, at the expense of Windows XP. I am still not sure how I was able to get it to work.
I had to set the NTFS partition to FAT32, before I could set the new partition to "Active" (and have it stay that way), but I wasn't able to get Boot Magic to run. I inserted the recovery disk for Partition Magic, but was not able to do much in the console mode (couldn't set the XP partition back - oh well, it was a sacraficial O/S to me anyway). When I exited the program, it tried to load from the blank partition and hung. I cycled the power on the PC and inserted the first Solaris CD into the drive, and low and behold, it started to install. It has been a nightmare over the last several days, but things are definitely looking better.
Thanks for the responses on this.