Hard drive format problem

[Greyd]

I'm formatting someone's computer and its freezing at 40%. I've tried using XP and 98 hoping it will make a difference. I've also tried quick and full formats - to no avail.
Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks

 

[amdskip]

Try a different cable or ide channel

 

[oldman420]

repartition and then reformat

 

[imported_Pipeline]

Try a different partitioning application (i.e. Partition Magic or Paragon Hard Drive Manager)

Apps like these should be able to remove any prior partitioning software and partitions.

Thanks.

 

[Ryoga]

It's possible the HDD may be bad. Go to the website of the HDD manufacturer and download their HDD diagnostic tools. Run them to see if the HDD has failed in some way. You can also generally zero-fill or "low-level format" a drive, which will reset the drive to the way it looked when the it came from the manufacturer.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Greyd
I'm formatting someone's computer and its freezing at 40%. I've tried using XP and 98 hoping it will make a difference. I've also tried quick and full formats - to no avail.
Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks

250GB HDD, trying to format with XP non-SP1?

(More details, please.)

 

[Greyd]

15G HDD. Tried to format with XP SP1 and 98 SE. I think the hard drive has gone bad. It froze exactly at 40% each time.

 

[PsharkJF]

bad sector, perhaps?