Reformatting HD question:

[BlizzardWolf]

I have the Windows XP boot up cd , however when I use my harddrive, it will not take me to the login screen... Did my hardddrive crash? Is it possible to reformat a crashed harddrive?

I already tried deleting the partition and making a new one (which was successful), but somehow when I tried to install Windows XP, the progress bar always stayed at 0% even after 30 minutes.

 

[Fern]

I don't do XP, but umm after creating a partition you've got to format it b4 you can install an OS. Like I said I don't use XP, I would've thought it would prompt you to do that automatically? (shrugs) I still use fdisk

Fern

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Originally posted by: Fern
I don't do XP, but umm after creating a partition you've got to format it b4 you can install an OS. Like I said I don't use XP, I would've thought it would prompt you to do that automatically? (shrugs) I still use fdisk

Fern

Yeah, after i deleted the old partition, i think i formatted it to NTFS right?

 

[BlizzardWolf]

anyone?

 

[BlizzardWolf]

can anyone help me

 

[tiap]

Sometimes if the xp cd won't fly you can boot with a win 98 floppy, use fdisk to create partition(s), reboot with floppy and format drive. Then boot with xp cd and install from there. You may want to convert to ntfs after install.
Best would be to use the hdrive manufacturer disk to at least test hdrive first and if you wanted to, most will partition and format as well, a lot faster than fdisk.

 

[BlizzardWolf]

Originally posted by: tiap
Sometimes if the xp cd won't fly you can boot with a win 98 floppy, use fdisk to create partition(s), reboot with floppy and format drive. Then boot with xp cd and install from there. You may want to convert to ntfs after install.
Best would be to use the hdrive manufacturer disk to at least test hdrive first and if you wanted to, most will partition and format as well, a lot faster than fdisk.

how do i use fdisk and are there any guides on booting form win98 floppy?

 

[Jiggz]

I suspect the HDD has corrupted Boot sector or could be a virus. The best fix is to download a hdd utilities and either fix the mbr or zero the hdd. After zero'ing the hdd you need to partition it and then format it. Then you can try installing XP again. You can find the hdd utilities from the net or from the manufacturer's homepage.

 

[Fern]

Your HDD manufacturer has free utilities for the d/l which will both check the HDD for fitness and partition and format (and a zero-fill or "low-leverl" format, the correct term is zero-fill as LLF are really only down by maufacturers IIRC). These are generally easier to use than fdisk.

Like Jiggz said, the zero fill may clear up bad sectors.

If you wanna play around with fdisk (a very good utility, but has limitations on HDD size) just google it. There are a lot of guides out there. I prefer fdisk when creating more than 3 parttions on a single HDD as I have experienced difficulties with other proggies (ex. Norton Clone can't seem to read more than 3 created by Maxblast)

Fern