Format C hard drive...could not do it

Svnla

Lifer
Nov 10, 2003
17,986
1,388
126
Client has a generic Pent 4 that stuck at the windows XP logo screen. I checked all the hardware and we think the problem was the hard drive.

I boot up the XP cd, ..hit enter to reinstall windows....all good until it up to the "setup windows" screen. It will blink then showed the blue screen with these:

Driver_IRQL-Not_Less_Or_Equal...then a bunch of stuff such as Stop:0X000000D1(0X827C........

NTFS. SYS - address F812 base at F8124, Datestamp 41107

All I want is to reformat that hard drive and reinstall OEM XP Pro. TIA.
 

StopSign

Senior member
Dec 15, 2006
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Memory problem...?

Try to take the drive out and plug it into another computer. Format using Partition Magic or something.
 

corkyg

Elite Member | Peripherals
Super Moderator
Mar 4, 2000
27,370
239
106
All of the above suggestions are good ones. It is very possible that the drive is bad. I would also consider running the OEM's equivalent (for the brand involved) of the Drive Fitness Test (IBM-Hitachi), MaxBlast, etc. It might require a complete low level format first. That is usually an overnight job depending on the size of the drive.
 

zest

Senior member
Jun 2, 2005
382
0
0
Is this the initial boot from the CD or is a subsequent reboot during the install process. If it's the initial install, you could manually copy the i386 folder and run winnt .
 

LouPoir

Lifer
Mar 17, 2000
11,201
126
106
YOu could format the drive in another machine as suggested. But it does sound like you have another hardware problem -