MBP shuts down while formatting partition for Boot Camp. Now what?

First off, I'm new to Macs. Have a MBP 15, 2.53/4g/320HDD aluminum body unit (about 10 months old) that I just got on EBay. While trying to use the Boot Camp program (and Mac Disk) to format the intended partition, the unit turned itself off! It was right in the middle of formatting. When I picked the unit up, it was extremely hot! I let it cool off, then tried to restart it. All I got was a black screen with a flashing DOS-like cursor in the upper left of the screen. I figured out how to get the Mac Disc out. Now that it's cooled off, I restart, get the normal white prescreen, the gratuitous few Mac "notes", then the screen goes black again (with the cursor) and stays there. I held "C" down while starting with the disk and I get the OS wanting to reinstall, but there are no destinations when I get to the "Select a Destination" screen. Need help because if this is something wrong with the unit, I need to return it. Otherwise, I'd like to get on with this thing. Thanks for any wisdom.

Can you boot the machine back to OS X? (hold down option key after startup chime sounds and select your Macintosh HD to boot from)

Once back in OS X, start the Boot Camp assistant again. Select create partition, then select restore. That should get your hard drive back to 100% OS X. Reboot the machine and start over by running the BC assistant again and create a new partition for Windows. Proceed to install Windows.

If the same problem occurs - that is the machine shuts down while formatting the Windows partition - it may be overheating. An overheat condition will cause the machine to immediately turn off to prevent damage to the CPU and other components. If that happens, return the machine to the seller and get a refund. Hopefully you dealt with a reputable seller on eBay.

Regards.