Getting a '0x80070057' Failed to format Windows error when I try to clean format!

[ahmadka]

Hi guys ...

I have a Windows 7 system which has a 250 GB Western Digital SATA drive ... I haven't used this system in like 4-5 months .. I recently wanted to format the system, so I used my Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Installation CD to try a clean install ... I removed the previous partitions and let the Installer create new partitions. However when I choose to format the newly created partition (so that I can install Windows on it in the next step), I get a '0x80070057' Windows 7 error which tells me that it cannot format the drive.

I also tried using 'diskpart' utility to first do 'clean all', and then try formatting using 'diskpart'. Again I get the same error.

To test is the drive is faulty or not, I ran Seagate's Seatools v2.23 DOS tool (excellent tool for Hard Drive testing!) to test the drive. I did both Short and Long tests, and both tests passed without reporting any drive problems.

I also found a Windows guide on this error, but what it suggests is what I'm doing in the first place anyway, so it doesn't really help. Here's the guide anyway: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2476568

So what's the issue here then ?

 

[phis6]

You can try changing your RAM sticks or diagnose it with Memtest86. I have encountered several issues like this before when installing Windows OS in a PC. You can try installing Linux also and find out if it gives you the same error.

 

[KeithP]

If you have external USB drive attached to the system try again with it unplugged.

-KeithP