Comment 20 for bug 387272

qwertinsky, that windows based tool is no different than zeroing the disk using "dd" on Ubuntu. Zeroing the disk doesn't "fix" or change anything other than wipe the contents out. There seems to be some misunderstanding about what a "low level" format is, and does.

The issue seems to be a kernel one introduced between the version shipped with Jaunty and that shipped with Karmic. You said yourself you wiped the disk and went back to 9.04, and thus you wont see the same problem because the problem on manifests itself on Karmic (9.10).