Ooops, My Bad ... Please Help !

[MyFlyGrl]

Hi, I'm new and I could really use some help
I was trying to install Windows XP on a 2nd pc and
I accidently deleted the only partition ... I think ?
I used the same method that I did on another pc
Except I think the other pc had 2 partitions listed and
This one only had 1 and I think I wiped out everything

This is what the screen says ...

Please wait while setup formats the partition
C: Partition1 [New <Raw>] 57231 MB <57231 MB Free>
on 57239 MB Disk 0 at Id 0 on Bus 0 on Atapi [MBR]

What are my options now, if any ?
I hope I wasn't to confusing, if so, please let me know

Thanks, Michelle

 

[Tarrant64]

Welcome!

Did you already go through with the format? Or did you just delete the partition? If you went ahead with the Windows install, than things could get quite difficult. However, I think if you just deleted the partition, the data may still be salvageable. I can't answer how to do this off the top of my head, and I'm at work, so my mind is elsewhere. Hopefully, someone else can answer this for you!

Good luck!

 

[MyFlyGrl]

Thank you for responding so quickly !
After the above message, it just stayed at 0%
I noticed 2 hrs. later that it was at 4%
But I had to go to bed and by morning
The screen was black, I moved the mouse and
Nothing happened, so I shut it down

I don't know any details about this pc
My son got it from a friend because it didn't work
I want to learn about troubleshooting computers and
This seemed like a good victim to practice on
I tried to use my XP cd, to reformat and install Windows
Like I did on my personal pc, but it didn't go so well
The only difference I can think of is that on my pc
It had 2 partitions and I reformatted the 2nd partition
On my victim, I deleted the only partition and
Maybe that started all the problems ... you think ?

Here is what I did the next night:

I found a Windows98 boot disk
I selected: Start Windows98 Setup from CD
It started scrolling a bunch of info and
Then it said: Windows98 setup files were not found
At the A:\ prompt, I typed: fdisk
Next screen: large disk support ? I put yes
Next: should NTFS partitions on all drives be treated as large ? yes
Next: Choose 1, create dos partition
Next: Choose 1, create primary dos partition
Next: Use the max. available size for a primary dos partition ? yes
Then reboot with floppy and format

Well, I had to go to bed so I rebooted the next morning
When I turned it back on, I didn't know how to format
So I started over and went through the process again
When I tried to create a primary dos partition
It said that a primary dos partition already existed
There are 2 partitions, this is what the screen says:

Partition: 1
Status:
Type: NTFS
Volume Label:
Mbytes: 57232
System:
Usage: 100%

Partition: c: 2
Status: A
Type: PRI DOS
Volume Label:
Mbytes: 7
System: Unknown
Usage: %

I think I need to change the above info
Anyways, I figured out the Format c: command
After I hit enter I get: Bad command or File name

My head is spinning and I just need some advice
So if you or anybody has any ideas on what to do
I'd really appreciate it !

Michelle

 

[Markbnj]

Hi, Michelle. Welcome to the forum. If the last set of messages represent the current status of the system, then it looks to me like what you did was create a primary DOS partition on 7 megabytes of space, and marked it as active (the partition that Windows 98 will boot from). As far as I can see the NTFS partition is still there, but is no longer marked as active.

It would help to know what your intent here is. Are you trying to install Windows 98 on this system? Windows 98 has some NTFS support, and there are better alternatives available from places like SysInternals, but in general for home use I don't think I would go this route.

So at this point I would recommend: a) don't do anything else to it yet ; and b) tell us exactly what you want to accomplish.

 

[furballi]

It appears that you may have created one primary partition (could be wrong). If you don't have important stuffs to recover from this HDD, then the best strategy is to go to the Seagate website and download the zero fill utility tool to quickly wipe your HDD. Now go into the BIOS and set the CD ROM as the 1st boot, and HDD as the 2nd boot device. Save and reboot PC with windows CD in the CD ROM drive.

Follow on-screen instruction to load windows.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Windows XP setup should have been able to format the partition on the first attempt i think. You said that it progressed slowly through the format and then crashed sometime during the night. This sounds like HDD failure to me. What kind of problems was the computer having BEFORE you got your hands on it. That could be a clue as to why you're currently having trouble installing WXP.

 

[MyFlyGrl]

Thanks for the Welcome !

SlitheryDee:All I know is that when I got the pc, it didn't work at all
When I turned it on there was an HP logo screen and
Then there was just a cursor blinking on a black screen
Windows XP did begin the process and
Then it just seemed to hang at the format
I thought I killed it when I deleted the only partition but
There obviously seems to be 2 partitions on the pc
So maybe all is not lost after all

furballi:There isn't anything important to save on this pc
When I last tried to load the Xp cd, It didn't do anything
At the Boot from the CD screen, I hit enter and
All I got was the cursor blinking, nothing, nada

Markbnj:My only intention is to try and get this pc running
Unfortunately, my Tools and Knowledge are extremely limited
Ok, here was the game plan:

- Run XP to Partition, Reformat and Install Windows
When that failed
- Run Win98 Boot disk to Partition and Format
- Then load XP cd and hopefully install

Something went wrong ! :shocked:

I'm thinking that maybe I need to get the Partitions in order first
Maybe delete the 2nd one and make the 1st one Active ?
If so, Please give me detailed instructions on how to do this
I know that I tried to delete the 2nd Partition earlier and
Yet it's still there !

I feel that if I can get the right Partition Formatted
Then hopefully the XP cd will load
Your probably thinking: Silly Girl ! :laugh:
But for me, this is a learning experience
I started with a blank screen and a desire to learn
I have already gotten further than I could have imagined !

 

[Markbnj]

That desire to learn is no problem at all, as long as the data on the disk is expendable .

Yes, I think you want to make the NTFS partition active, and either delete the 7m DOS partition or at least make it inactive. Unfortunately I don't do this enough anymore to advise on the precise steps.

If the data on the disk is truly expendable then reformatting might be a good solution. Otherwise someone else will need to talk you through this step by step.

 

[MyFlyGrl]

Ok, I deleted the 2nd Partition and made the 1st one Active
At the A:\ , I type: format c: and I get bad command
Then at A:\, I type: c: and I get Invalid drive specification

In my post above, Partition 2 said: Partition: c:2
How do I get Partition 1 to become --> c:
I managed to do it with Partition 2 because
I made it a Primary DOS Partition
This is so confusing !
Any ideas ... Anybody ?

 

[Markbnj]

From reading your posts you never successfully completed the installation of the operating system, so even if the NTFS partition is active, it doesn't have any logical drives associated with it (i.e. c. Thus the "invalid drive specification."

Also, A: is a floppy drive. Unless you have format.com installed on the floppy that is in the drive, then it can't find the program when you type "format." Thus the "bad command."

At this point I am not sure whether you want to save the data on the partition or not. I'm afraid that if you try to install Windows XP it is going to tell you that you have an unformatted partition and offer to format it. Might be worth running the XP install again to see what it says. If it offers to assign a drive letter to an existing formatted partition then you can probably do that without losing any data. But if it sees an unformatted partition and offers to format it, agreeing will mean the loss of the data on the drive. If that is the only option XP offers you then I would drop back and post it here. There may be some other tool you can use to bring the c: drive back to life.

 

[furballi]

Use the zero write software from Seagate to wipe the HDD. Next set the CD ROM as 1st boot, and HDD as 2nd boot. Reload with windows CD and follow on-screen instruction. You can also download BOOTITNG to format the HDD. The software has a free 30 day trial.